Blog

Thomas Reinke Terrorizes the Tiles

1st Thomas Reinke averaged 501 points a game, with his undefeated 4-0 record a mere sidenote to his domination.  But, alas, said domination was tainted: in his 580-294 win against Mary Becker, he played the phony triple-triple PETITELY .  In Thomas' defense, it is a very wordlike nonword.  He won his other games with varying degrees of dominance: a 494-343 victory over Lynda Finn was his next biggest margin.  Three bingos were the fuel that propelled Thomas to his win: WIDEOUT (Winner of $0 for most Super Bowl-y word), GUSHIER, and RUSTABLE.  Lynda played DERATED and TWOONIE (n. a Canadian two-dollar coin, also TOONIE), but apparently didn't score enough for them.

2nd Charles Reinke enjoyed a 3-1 +252 performance where his highest-scoring game was also his only loss.  Shayla Dunn bested the C-twin 505-494, with each player playing four bingos.  Brace yourselves: JADEITE, AURICLE, STRAYER, and PREDICTS were Charles', while Shayla played AERATION, BOOKIES, MUSTANGS, and ELOINED.  Their combined score of 999 is good for tops so far this year (beating out combined scores of 991 and 990), and Charles' 494 loss is the highest losing score so far this year, besting (worsting?) Peter's 483 earlier this year.  If only all losses could be so fun.  Charles avenged his loss by beating Richard Lauder 469-386 with the timely assistance of three bingos: SIGHTSEE, NARCEINE, and BATSMEN (n. batsman, a batter in baseball, a totally different definition from BATMAN).  Richard played EPILATE to reduce the damage.

3rd Chris Vergeront used the power of the beard to go 3-1 +18 and bring his yearly winning percentage back over .500.  As evidenced by his spread, all of his games were relatively close.  The beard must convey powers of clutchness as well; Chris bingoed out with the find of ENURETIC (n. one afflicted with enuresis [involuntary urination]) to beat Bryan Benwitz 393-342.  Bryan used his own beard-powers to play OVERSAD and PARRAFIN (PARAFFIN is good).  Chris' only defeat came against, who else, the T-Twin, 342-421, despite Chris' bingos of COURIERS and DAUNTERS.

4th Mary Becker missed out on third place by eleven spread points, and she was sick besides, so she gets a bonus mention in the writeup!  I guess we should be glad she wasn't healthier or she would have been unstoppable.

Andy Bohnsack played the word of the week, the nine-letter OVERLADEN.  Close runner-up as Thomas Reinke's double-double IMPARKED.  It sounds like something that would happen in a parking lot, but it is actually used in reference to animals being enclosed in a park. 

Sue Goldstein No Longer Underdog...Maybe Overdog?

1st Sue Goldstein finished at 3-1 +44, defeating two expert players along the way.  A close 353-347 win against Barb Besadny was a good way to start the evening, but she ended with an even bigger bang: a win against Lynda Finn by the score of 422-373.  Both combatants got two bingos: Sue played UNITERS and THORNIER, with Lynda unleashing RASPING and TOPLINES (n. topline, the outline of the top of an animal's body) in response.

Charles Reinke: Undefeated; Charles Reinke's Opponents: Defeated

1st Charles Reinke is going right to work on a winning streak of his own, going 4-0 +286 for what is now eight straight wins.  None of his games were blowouts, but none were exactly close, either: his winning spreads were 65, 67, 74, and 80.  Helen Flores came closest to beating the club leader, losing 375-440 while playing the bingo DESCENT (Charles had GREEDILY and RHETORS [n. a teacher of rhetoric]).  He also handed Richard Lauder his only loss, turning a tight game into a 459-379 victory thanks to a well-timed find of the nine-letter TATTINESS and an immediate draw of ORIENTAL.

2nd Richard Lauder took a well-deserved break from his recent winning ways to "only" go 3-1 +153.  He taught a master class in Scrabble Domination to club-runner-up Thomas Reinke, prevailing 457-338 in that matchup.  Thomas was uncharacteristically held bingoless as Richard laid down three bonus plays: LINGERER, IDOLISM, and the phony SOTTING.  He similarly held another high-scoring expert, Lynda Finn, to a low-for-her 334 and just one bingo, COTERIE.  Richard played NARGILE and GAUNEST and scored 405, a higher number than 334, thus making him the winner. 

3rd Bryan Benwitz took advantage of the night's low attendence to sneak into the top three with a 2-2 +176 record.  He, like Richard, took Thomas Reinke to school, winning 457-348 on the back of his high-scoring plays of SNIFTERS and WEARIES.  Thomas got down PRELATE and GONIDIA (n. GONIDIUM, an asexual reproductive cell).  Bryan also enjoyed a huge 148-point win against Barb Besadny, out-bingoing her three to zip to attain a final score of 434.  Those three bingos were RECITED, OUTSEEN, and SONSIER (adj. SONSY, pleasing to look at, also SONSIE). 

Sue Goldstein Knows Both the Glory of Victory and the Bitterness of Defeat

1st Sue Goldstein finished 2-2 -125, most of the negative spread occurring when her 2-1 record meant that she had to face Thomas Reinke in the final round.  Her big win was a 398-274 drubbing of relative newbie Dave Gilligan in which she played one of her two bingos on the night, RETAINED (the other was REGLAZE against June Scott).

Bryan goes undefeated once again! Peter has high game with a 529. Renato brings Bruno who may be they youngest member ever to attend Scrabble club.