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Richard Lauder Cannot Be Stopped, Halted, or Otherwise Impeded

1st Richard Lauder went 4-0 with a miniscule +90 spread to keep his winning streak unbroken at 16.  A coup might be in order, as this sort of Scrabble domination is the very definition of tyranny!  Richard and Charles Reinke played a very low-scoring game, with Richard of course prevailing 329-320, but that was not his closest game; he beat Mary Becker by the score of 391-389.  Even worse, the game was originally scored as a win for Mary, before a recount found a four-point error.  Truly, the recount is the ficklest of beasts.  In that game, Richard played two of his seven total bingos with RAILERS and DETESTS, while Mary found FOUNDING (get it?  a joke!  sorta...)

2nd Lynda Finn finished at 4-1 +387, but despite her strong record, she did not get a chance to derail Richard's winning streak.  Lynda scored above 400 in all of her wins, with her loss being to Thomas Reinke 372-402.  Exacting some revenge upon the Reinke clan, she handily took down Charles Reinke 414-330, playing RERAISE and SNOOTED to Charles' RAINOUTS.  A learning opportunity arose when Lynda played the phony KELPIEST in the course of beating Barb Besadny 434-408; STEPLIKE and SPIKELET (n. a type of flower cluster) are the two valid words in that set of letters.

3rd Susan Vergeront rolled to a 3-0 start before having to face the juggernaut himself, with a 3-1 +216 final record indicating how that last match went.  However, Susan did fit quite nicely into the role of "Giant Killer", defeating Thomas Reinke 379-366 after thirteen straight losses against him!  Thomas played EMBROILS, but such a paltry bingo showing was not enough to counter Susan's dual-bingo assault of REKNOTS and AIRIEST.  She also taught a lesson in Scrabble dominance to pupil Betty Hasselkus, with the dust clearing to reveal a 417-287 victory for the former.

Thomas played the Word of the Week, ARABESKS, while defeating Betty 431-397.  The same as an arabesque, an arabesk is an inlaid pattern of interlacing floral designs.  Kudos also to Chris Vergeront, who had the only 500-point game of the night, a whopping 563 against Barb Besadny.  That is his second-highest club game ever, and his third ever game with four bingos: GOITRES, FLOATIER, INSTROKE, and ANSATED (adj. ANSATE, having a handle).

Sue Goldstein Squeaks Out First in Intermediates

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 -77, snatching first place despite a record that featured more X's in the loss column than in the win column.  She beat June Scott 321-283 for a much-needed victory.

Charles Reinke Undefeated in 2014 Calendar Year

1st Charles Reinke made good on his new year's resolution of not losing any games of Scrabble by going 4-0 +337.  Try as he might, he couldn't quite break 500 in any of his games, coming closest in a 499-408 victory against Peter Schmiedicke.  DORMIENT (adj. dormant) was Peter's attempt to stay in the game, but Charles' NATTERS, TRIFLED, and SWEATILY were too much.  His biggest win was by 123 points, 486-363 against Lynda Finn.  Lynda got UNDREST to take an early lead, but eventually succumbed to two bingo salvoes from her opponent: NONTIDAL and ALLOCATE.

2nd Thomas Reinke had an identical four wins to his brother, but had an un-identical one loss, leaving him in second place with a +267 spread.  For the tenth time in a row, he lost to his brother, this time by the score of 374-435, despite outbingoing him (ACCOUNTS and RIPENESS for Thomas, OESTRIN for Charles).  He got his (misplaced) revenge by crushing Peter Schmiedicke 509-376, thanks in part to the triple-triple of SLATTERN for 131 points.  One triple-triple is bad enough, but Thomas played another one, STUDIERS, against Bryan Benwitz.  Thus, the club treasurer is regretting his decision to start paying $4 prizes for triple-triples.

3rd Bryan Benwitz lost his first two games, but made a quick recovery and ended the night at 2-2 +116, just five spread points ahead of fourth-place finisher Andy Bohnsack.  Easily capturing bingo king honors with 12 such plays, a crown with 12 embedded rubies is currently being forged by the club blacksmith and will be presented to Bryan at our next meeting.  The highest scoring of his wins was against Helen Flores, 525-370, a lofty point total that contributed to his game average of 432.  If you're thinking "nobody could possibly score that many points unless they had three or more bingos!", your hunch would be correct.  Bryan played RONTGEN, AVODIRES, and CAREENED; Helen played SATRAPS, a great find which got her Word of the Week.  A satrap is a governor of a province in ancient Persia; SATRAPY is also a word meaning "the domain of a satrap".

Sue Goldstein Has Only Two Losses in All of 2014

1st Sue Goldstein went 2-2 +19 to snatch first place in a diminished intermediate group.  Both of her wins (and one of her losses) came against June Scott, the highest scoring being 344-272 in Sue's favor.

Richard Lauder Proves You Don't Need to Have the Last Name "Reinke" to Win 10 Straight

1st Richard Lauder utilized the his deceptively friendly-looking face to comfort and reassure his four opponents, before pummeling them all mercilessly en route to four wins and a +273 spread.  This latest night of debauchery puts his win streak at eleven, meaning the next person to beat him will win a sweet five dollars.  Such is the extent of Richard's domination that it is unlikely anybody will be able to beat him for the rest of the year!  Bryan Benwitz did manage to give Richard a scare, with Richard pulling it out 441-434.  Bryan's three bingos of ADAPTERS, DETAINS, and OVERNEAT were all for naught, as Richard's UNSTEELS and ALLODIAL (word of the week, pertaining to ALLODIA, a form of medieval land ownership) ensured the veteran's victory.  Richard's highest scoring game came against Charles Reinke, 474-389, this time with Richard getting three bingos: LANGRELS (n. LANGREL, a collection of scrap metal used to tear sails in naval warfare), NEEDILY, and BUSTLING.

2nd Thomas Reinke used his highly-advanced word knowledge to plop down twelve bingos on his way to 3-1 +524.  Most of that impressive spread total came in a pair of 250-point wins.  The first was a 542-289 win versus Barb Besadny; Barb played SPITTERS, but was overwhelmed by four bingos from her opponent: SANITIZE, CRAWFISH, NEBULAE, and LEALTIES.  Thomas' twisted mind, however, did not find solace in a mere four bingos: he wanted more!  Thus, he played five of them in a 568-304 win against Susan Vergeront: SANIDINE (n. a type of feldspar), DEVEINS, ROISTER, COUPLERS, and TUNICAE.  Susan played RADIATOR to minimize the damage.

3rd Charles Reinke had an identical record to his brother, but his inferior +266 spread slotted him one spot lower in the standings.  However, he did beat his brother 481-425, so he can take some comfort in that thought.  Uncommonly for the twins, all the bingos in their game were somewhat pedestrian: GREISENS and GENITOR for the victor, MALTIEST and DENOTING for the loser.  Charles pulled out the big guns in a drubbing of Bryan Benwitz 564-314.  The biggest gun of them all was a 140-point triple-triple AGENESIS, but a 90-point FLEXIONS certainly didn't hurt.  Bryan played REPTILE, the final E of which was the fatal ingredient for his opponent's triple-triple. 

Speaking of triple-triples, a new prize will be going into effect at the beginning of the new year: $4 for any play that hits two triple-word-scores.  So, in addition to scoring a ton of points, you'll also score a ton of money!

Sue Goldstein Uses Sedation Power of Her Cookies to Overwhelm Her Opponents

1st Sue Goldstein went 2-1 +cookies to take first in the intermediates.  Her marquee game came against Aki Miura, whom she beat 402-293 for her highest score this year!  Her sole bingo on the night, COASTER, predictably came in that game.

2nd June Scott's 2-1 +109 was impressive, but even more impressive was the average of 262 that she allowed against her.  She racked up her highest winning margin so far this year when she stifled Sharlie Miura, 350-208.

Special Childbirth Announcement

Club member Renato Umali is the proud owner father of a brand new baby boy!  He was brought into the world, red-faced and screaming, on the evening of Dec. 16.  His name is Bruno Reynard Umali.  REYNARD is a valid word, and means "a fox".  Both "Bruno" and "Umali" have valid anagrams, but you'll have to figure out the answers on your own.  Congratulations to Renato and wife Sarah!

We figure that this will lower even further Renato's chances of making it to club any time soon.