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Lynda Finn: "Bingos Schmingos"

1st Lynda Finn easily Finn-ished off her four opponents, ending up with a 4-0 +237 record despite playing only three bingos.  For a player who averages a bingo and a half per game, a drought of this magnitude is very unusual. She got two of those bingos out of the way earlier when she defeated Charles Reinke 429-387, playing ENDITES and CORNIER against Charles' TAGLINES and OVERMANS.  The third bingo, MESHING, went uncountered as Lynda beat Helen Flores 380-309.

2nd Charles Reinke used his first-round defeat at the hands of Lynda Finn as the needed fuel to power a dominating performance the rest of the way, finishing 4-1 +742.  His smallest win in the span was a "mere" 462-316 victory over Shayla Dunn.  New father Renato Umali was not spared Charles' wrath; when the dust cleared, a final score of 569-350 told the whole sad story.  Renato played BANDEAU, but the tile gods otherwise smiled fully upon Charles, allowing him to play GASELIER (alt. spelling of GASOLIER, a chandelier with gas burners), AUDITING, STILLED, and ANARCHY (prompting the comment, "anarchy is always fun."  Indeed).

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +235, putting together a solid three-game run before running up against Lynda Finn in the deciding game.  The Bryaniac started off with a bang, defeating top expert Thomas Reinke with authority, 412-334.  Thomas was held bingoless as Bryan played three such words: SNARLER, SLINGER, and UNTINGED.  He also notched his fifth-highest game ever when he crushed Chris Vergeront 528-341.  Again, his opponent didn't manage to bingo as he used up the good tiles with plays such as EROTIZE (v. to give a sexual meaning to), WANIEST, MANDOLIN, and BLUNDER.

Dave Gilligan: Bingos Schmingos part 2

1st Dave Gilligan saw Lynda's small bingo total, said "I can do better", and ended up with only two bingos to go with his 2-1 +37 record.  He pulled out a close one, 332-316, against Sue Goldstein, with his bingo of CREDITS making the difference.  Dave took down Barb Besadny 360-308 for his other win.

Shayla Dunn got word of the week with her 167-point triple-triple of BLOWGUNS, which she used to tranquilize Thomas Reinke, 567-416.  She also played BARMAIDS, RETOOLS, and a 72-point non-bingo JERKINS in a primal display of dominance.  However, that 567 score was not the highest of the night: Andy Bohnsack scored a whopping 572 against Susan Vergeront, one of seven 500+ games played by club members on the evening.

Thomas Reinke Gaining Ground in Club Standings, Much to the Dismay of a Certain Player Who Does the Write-Ups

1st Thomas Reinke's 4-0 +686 record was far-and-away the best performance of the night, given that he was also Bingo King, as well as possessor of the highest average (493).  His first three wins were all blowouts of a grandiose scale, with only his brother Charles managing to put up much of a fight.  That game ended 406-388 in Thomas' favor, with three bingos for the winner (ANDESITE [n. a volcanic rock], SNARLING, and TALIPEDS) and two for the loser (DACITES [n. DACITE, a light gray rock] and ABREACTS).  His highest game (and the highest game score for the whole evening) was against Lynda Finn, 556-318.  AERATION was Lynda's attempt to stay in the game, but her effort was effortlessly overcome by Thomas' three bingos: INSECTS, DELIRIA, and the triple-triple EARNINGS.  In the one game where Thomas was outbingoed, he still won by almost 200 points, which just shows you what kind of night he was having.

2nd Bryan Benwitz had a 3-1 +1 record, identical to that of Peter Schmiedicke's.  Luckily, they did play each other, with Bryan winning the tiebreaker by bingoing out with a triple-triple ORIGINAL.  The final score ended up being 515-404, with Bryan getting an additional two bingos (BUILDERS the 9-letter DREARIEST) and Peter responding with three bingos of his own (GARPIKE, PARTITE [adj. divided into parts], and INDENTS).  Continuing the trend of high-scoring games, he took down Betty Hasselkus 451-425, resulting in Betty's highest losing score ever!  She had two bingos, MEASLIER and JINGLES, but again, Bryan was one with the tiles and played three bingos: RIVULETS, ACETOSE, and the phony ROTUNDER.

3rd Peter Shmiedicke, as mentioned, went 3-1 +1, not putting up the insane scores of the two above players, but continuing his run of solid play.  He has now won 25 of his last 30 games and has overtaken Andy Bohnsack for third place in the club standings.  In a portent of things to come, he took down Andy 391-367, a relatively low-scoring game that featured only two bingos: Andy's TEARING and Peter's SADIRONS.  In a more typical bingo-happy contest, he defeated Chris Vergeront 422-404, using NITRILES and EASIEST to overcome Chris' REEDITS, GRANULAR, and REFUTALS.

Sue Goldstein Trounces Opponents Without Regard For Their Feelings

1st Sue Goldstein held her opponents to a lowly 301 points per game while averaging 375 for herself.  Thus, her 3-0 +223 record should come as no surprise.  Helen Flores was just one of her many victims, losing 308-340 and playing the phony bingo UNEASING to counteract Sue's perfectly valid BROWNING.

Peter was absolutely unstoppable and dominated every category. He was undefeated in 4 games, had the most bingos, with 3 per game, had the high average of 453 and high game of 501.