Blog

Peter dominated HyVee club with 18 bingos in 6 games. He went 4-2 with a 432 average and had a high game of 530 with 5 bingos. No wonder only a rare few show up to take that kind of scrabble heat. 

Bryan Benwitz Bamboozles Bewildered Opponents, Now Averages 400 on the Year

1st Bryan Benwitz climbed unimpeded to the top of Mt. Scrabble with his perfect 4-0 +184 record.  His ascent was not without obstacles, however; his first game was a high-scoring 441-409 affair with Susan Vergeront.  Bryan's bingos of INCITES and the ever-useful ESTRONE (n. ESTRONE, an estrogen) were offset by Susan's BROGUES and WEEPIEST.  Visiting Oshkoshian Marty McCarthy came closest to beating Bryan, but it was not to be: Bryan prevailed in the end, 384-375.  Only in the last game did Bryan begin to flex his muscles, dropping 497 on the unsuspecting head of Mark Kenas, who didn't score too badly himself with a 387-point showing.  The bingos were expectedly plentiful in that one: Bryan played HERETIC, DOMAINS, and ANDESITE; Mark responded with WAILSOME and REDRYING.  Thus the question remains unanswered: what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?

2nd Mark Kenas averaged 462 points per game while going 3-1 +504.  His sole loss is detailed above, but otherwise, his opponents averaged well below 300 points per game.  Thomas Reinke was the first to match up against Mark's immense skill and also the first to be trounced, 442-302.  Thomas was limited to zero bingos as Mark hogged the good tiles for himself, playing HONEYING, URINOSE, and REMINTS.  Mark again got three bingos (PENTADS, CULVERIN, and the nine-letter TOPSIDERS) against Chris Vergeront, the final score being a lopsided 527-297 despite Chris' TERRAIN and TOASTIER. 

3rd Peter Schmiedicke also finished 3-1, his spread of +323 easily beating out Chris Vergeront, who had the same record but a -54 spread.  Peter neatly beat Andy Bohnsack 419-376, helped along by his finds of NEATENS and ALTERANT.  However, the winning margin of that game paled in comparison to the 248-point win he secured over a stunned Richard Lauder.  476-228 was the final, with all three bingos on the board being played by the victor: HARDEST, ETERNITY, and the phony PAREVES (PAREVE is an adjective; REPAVES is the valid word with those letters).  Peter's only loss, a 405-417 match against Marty McCarthy, also saw him play three bingos (FEIJOAS, ANEURINS, and STIBINE).  Marty got down BURSTER and used other methods of scoring to make up the bingo-count deficit.

Peter Schmiedicke Puts Together Reinke-Esque Performance

1st Peter Schmiedicke averaged 459 points per game while cruising to a perfect 4-0 +289 record.  He piled on a whopping 553 points against Charles Reinke, who only scored 375, a winning margin of 178 for Peter.  The trounced twin only played one bingo, AREOLATE, while Peter played four: TOPLINE, TONSURE, DEVIANT, and AURICLE (n. an ear or ear-shaped part).  Not everything was that easy, though; Peter sweated out a two-point win against Mark Kenas, 445-443, their high scores attributable to their three bingos each.  Mark played REINVEST, PETUNIAS, and MONOLINE; Peter got down GRAVITY, STATICS, and LOOBIES (n. LOOBY, a large, awkward person).  In all, Peter was co-bingo king with eleven bingos, all of them seven letters long. 

2nd Mark Kenas went 3-1 +413, one-upping Peter by averaging 460 over his four games.  Mark got things off to a good start by dismantling Richard Lauder 495-260.  The bingo disparity was not as great as the scoring disparity; Richard played WATCHES and Mark countered with TAMBOUR and RENEWING.  In all the rest of his games, Mark played three bingos, earning his co-bingo king honors along with Peter and Richard Lauder.  One of those games was a sound beating of Chris Vergeront, 454-364, with IMMERSE, DINEROS, and BATISTA (ABATTIS is good) pavin the path to Mark's dominance.

Co-3rd Helen Flores finished 3-1 +116, averaging 404 points per game, a healthy fifty-point increase over her yearly mark.  She notched her third-ever win against Thomas Reinke, scoring 437 to his 412 and throwing down three bingos: INTONER, PRIVIES, and OUTLINER.  Thomas got FROMAGES and PREBOUND, but it was not enough to forestall the upset.  Helen also made easy work of longtime foil Richard Lauder, 390-290.  Richard had to play STRINGS and the phony OENERIC (ONEIRIC is good) just to get close to the elusive 300-point mark.

Co-3rd Mary Becker also went 3-1 +116 to tie for third place.  Her highest game came against Dave Gilligan, 437-312, with just one bingo for each player; Dave got ARNICAS and Mary got BUSTING.  She only got one more bingo the whole evening, proving that bingos are not the end-all be-all of scoring points; that bingo of TARGETS came in a 361-352 victory over Shayla Dunn.

5th A mouse ran through the playing room and was so successful in distracting everybody that he might have affected the outcomes of a few games.  He (she?) might not have the brain capacity or physical ability to play Scrabble, but we're glad he joined us.

Thomas Reinke played the word of the week, APIMANIA, defined as "an excessive interest in bees."  Strangely, APIMANIAC is not a word.