Blog

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.

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.