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Bryan leads the HyVee pack with 3 wins. He had the high game (484), high average (406) and the most bingos (8).  Richard came in second with 3 wins as well. The most closely related bingos were Bryan's DIGITATE and Richard's FINGERER.

Dave Gilligan Finds that Phonies are Just as Good as Regular Bingos if Nobody's Going to Challenge You

1st Dave Gilligan went 3-0 +141 for his first-ever undefeated night of Scrabble.  He also averaged 393 points per game, over forty points better than his yearly average.  His improving word knowledge must have had a serious indimidation effect on his opponents; out of the four bingos he played, three of them were phony.  In his 415-390 defeat of Richard Lauder, Dave played his only valid bingo, FEINTED, while also playing the phony ANODISE (later pluralized by Dave for another 60 points).  Richard, despite his own uncomfortably-high phony percentage, managed not to get swept up in the phonying phrenzy, playing the perfectly acceptable MOANERS.  In the course of Dave's victory over Betty Hasselkus, 387-334, Dave played the oddly-familiar phony MEANISH.  It is familiar because Richard Lauder played the same phony two weeks ago.  The valid word in those letters is HAEMINS.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1, with his obscene +591 spread easily putting him on top of three other players with the same record.  Recent returnee Gail Salm was not shown any mercy in her first game back, with Thomas emerging victorious, 556-298 on the back of his three bingos: COENURI (n. COENURUS, a tapeworm larva), PORTIERE, and ISOLINE.  Three bingos were again in order against Betty Hasselkus, with ROARING, ATTAINS, and SONNETS propelling Thomas unhindered to a 560-285 win.  For wins that weren't blowouts, one simply has to look to Thomas' battle against twin Charles; that game ended with a tame 67-point victory for Thomas, 425-358.  The lesser twin played IMPOSTER; the greater twin got down HYMENIAL (the HYMENIUM is a tissue layer in fungi) and ARSENATE.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-1 +319, placing him ahead of Bryan Benwitz and Richard Lauder for third place.  His application of smack upon Bryan was the largest contributor to Peter's spread; that game ended with the lopsided score of 418-225.  Peter held a monopoly on bingos in that contest, playing three (PINBONES, DIESTER, MOURNER) to Bryan's zero.  In less high-scoring news, Peter attained his lowest winning score ever when he beat Thomas Reinke 310-301.  Peter's TARSIER was the only bingo played, a far cry from the roughly four a game that are played when those two players meet.  Richard Lauder was the sole impediment to Peter's quest for perfection, with the former squeaking out a win, 405-395.

June Scott Takes Intermediates in Convincing Fashion

1st June Scott went 2-1 with a paradoxic spread of -74.  Her highest scoring game was a bingoless 334-262 affair versus Harwinder Dowd.  Despite having beaten Sue Goldstein in the first game of the night, the rematch didn't go as well, with Sue scoring a personal-best 462 (to June's 264).

Mark Kenas Dominates - The Rest of Us Can Only Hope to Be Spared His Wrath

1st Mark Kenas finished as the only undefeated player with a 4-0 +324 record.  He started off the night in classic Mark fashion by slapping around Richard Lauder 510-328.  Richard got all four S's and both blanks (using them to play EMULATED and OVERRATE), but such good fortune was nought in the face of Mark's might, a might which yielded bingos of SANCTIFY and TADPOLES.  Andy Bohnsack suffered a similar fate, losing 338-419 and being held to zero bingos (more on Andy's bingo situation later).  Mark, meanwhile, played three: OUTCLIMB, SERVANTS, and LANGUOR.  Mark is seemingly making a habit of spoiling other players' perfect nights, handing Charles Reinke his only loss in an extremely tightly-fought contest, 423-420.  Another tri-bingo effort was the key to victory, with Mark playing EROSIVE, RAINOUTS, and SALIENCE.  With his perfect 4-0 performance, Mark overtakes Thomas Reinke for second place in the yearly standings.

2nd Andy Bohnsack went 3-1 +650, in the process averaging an easily club-leading 485 per game and playing an even dozen bingos.  He handed Thomas Reinke his largest club loss ever, 576-236, a 250-point margin!  Thomas played HORSTES (n. HORSTE, a portion of the Earth's crust), but this feeble effort barely impeded Andy's easy journey to victory.  "Mr. B." ended up with four bingos: HIDEOUS, MODERNE, BREWING, and the triple-triple LIGHTING.  However, this goodly amount of bingos was not enough for the maniacal Andy, who craved even more.  He got his wish when he unleashed a stunning five bingos against a dumbstruck Bryan Benwitz: DAMPENS, NOTARIES, INERTIAS, LATICES, and OUTSANG.  The outcome of that game was predictably a blowout in Andy's favor, 549-298.  However, Bryan still owns the lifetime series 11-8, having won four straight prior to this crushing loss. 

3rd Charles Reinke finished with a 3-1 record and a modest (for him) +118 spread.  He beat Peter Schmiedicke in a close match, 409-387, his PRETENDS and TETANIES (n. TETANY, a muscular condition) outscoring Peter's ENLIVEN and ENTASES (plural of ENTASIS, a slight convexity in a column).  Peter understandably missed his 10-letter bingo of REFILTERED (through ERE) to win the game.  Charles also was played extremely tight by Richard Lauder, who got things off to a hot start with his 100-point double-double SHADIER, and later made a calculated one-tile fish for TURBIDLY, which he played for 101 points.  However, Charles played ASTRINGE (v. to bind or draw together) to win the game 410-386.

Aki Miura Doesn't Quite Dominate - But, Hey, First Place!

1st Aki Miura finished 1-1 -59.  Susan Vergeront put him in a hole too big to dig out of when she beat him 406-259.  However, Aki made a valiant effort to regain some of that spread when he defeated newcomer Betty McMurry 340-252 for his highest game this year.