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Charles Reinke Takes Gold In Men's 400M Freestyle Scrabble

1st Charles Reinke finished 4-1 +411, snagging first place from the outstretched hands of his brother.  Charles was easily bingo king with twelve such plays through his five games.  Four of them came in his 513-296 win against Barb Besadny: ABROGATE, CAVIARES, AYURVEDA (n. a Hindu system of medicine), and ROUNDLET.  Simultaneously, he played the word of the week YATAGAN (n. a Turkish sword, also YATAGHAN and ATAGHAN) while defeating a good-natured Sue Goldstein 473-303.  Only 23-year-nemesis Thomas Reinke was able to interrupt Charles' winning ways, doing so in dramatic and emphatic fashion: 335-529 was the score after the fists stopped flying.  Thomas played RINGWORM, RELOADS, and ROUTINES; Charles got CORODIES to regain a small amount of the pride which had been forcefully taken from him.

2nd Thomas Reinke, surprise, ALSO finished 4-1, but his inferior spread of +326 relegated him to a disappointing second-place finish.  He had his brother met twice on the evening; details of the first match are above, but the second match had a much less favorable result for Thomas: a 354-376 loss.  Thomas did have the nice find of JARLDOMS, but Charles' baby-bingos of REMATES and DASHEEN proved to be too much.  Other than his 500-point game, Thomas' only score over 400 was also the only game in which he didn't get a bingo; Betty Hasselkus played ILLNESS but still lost 340-405. 

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +209, overcoming a tough Reinke-given loss in the first round to win his next three by an average margin of 135.  Helen Flores bore the brunt of Bryan's fury, getting trounced 324-471.  Worse, she had to endure unplayable bingos on her own rack while Bryan was fortunate enough to play three of his own: REINCITE, STIFLERS, and TIPSIER.  Birthday girl Mary Becker didn't fare much better; Bryan clobbered her 410-325 with the assistance of his dual bingos CLOBBERS and PERSONA.

Charles Reinke Goes 4-1; Win Percentage Goes Down Anyway

1st Charles Reinke's previous 81.5% winning percentage took a hit as he finished 4-1 +625.  Dave Gilligan receives credit for Charles' sole loss, toughing out an eight-point win, 381-373.  The only bingo on that board, BULLION, was also Dave's doing.  Barring that unfortunate (and thankfully temporary) tile drought, Charles enjoyed a dominant evening, his victories coming by margins of 93, 148, 178, and 214.  Barb Besadny was the victim of the 214-point defeat, with even her bingo of REINTERS doing little in the face of Charles' might, evidenced by his bingos of ENCHASED (v. ENCHASE, to set a gemstone into) and CARITAS (n. love for all people, although it also sounds like it could be a tasty menu item at Taco Bell).

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +199, running off three straight wins to start the evening before getting toasted by Charles Reinke 355-448.  The Bryaniac did play two somewhat distasteful bingos (URINALS and SLEAZOID [n. a person of low morals or character]) to propel his bingos-per-game mark closer to that elusive 2.0.  Bryan's highest-scoring came against Peter Schmiedicke, 448-346, a lopsided score considering both players received good enough tiles to play two bingos: Peter had SEDITION and IODATED, with Bryan getting REFUTED and REGRANTS.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke fell just short of Bryan on spread, going 3-1 +188.  A good chunk of his positive spread was a result of his trouncing of Mary Becker, 497-251.  The words BIPLANE, ANECDOTE, and RAMJETS (n. RAMJET, a type of engine, not to be confused with a SCRAMJET, TURBOJET, or PULSEJET) were used by Peter to collect some much-desired 50-point bonuses.  On the opposite side of the spread spectrum, Peter got the closest win of the night when he snuck by Thomas Reinke 374-369.  The T-Twin was held to one bingo, GIGLOTS (n. GIGLOT, a playful or wanton girl, also GIGLET), with Peter playing two: the useful ESTRONE (never, ever play RETONES, RESTONE, or RENOTES) and RETAINER.

Barb Besadny also went 3-1, but her spread of +42 didn't quite get her into the top three.  If only some jerk hadn't beaten her by over 200!

Sue Goldstein: One Win Is All It takes

1st Sue Goldstein's final record of 1-2 -112 was good enough for first place in a small Intermediate group.  She beat fellow Intermediate June Scott 357-325 in a battle of the bingos: Sue had JAILERS to counter June's DOUSING.

Peter led the session with 3 wins and 2 losses. Peter and Lynda tied for the most bingos, but Bryan had the most bingos per game. All players averaged 400+ points per game. Want to know more? Join us on Sunday February 23rd at HyVee.