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Thomas Reinke Reads Sun Tzu's "The Art of War", Applies its Teachings to Scrabble

1st Thomas Reinke enjoyed a dominant 4-1 +558 performance in preparation for this weekend's Wisconsin Dells tournament.  Every game he played eclipsed the 400-point mark.  In a showdown vs. Mary Becker, Thomas P'ed all over the board with three bingos starting with P: POTTEENS, PROCHEIN (adj. Nearest in time; next), and the nine-letter PARALYSES off of PA.  Mary found EQUALISE, but Thomas cleaned her clocks, 547-321.  The T-twin also pulled of a stunning one-turn, 130-point comeback against Richard Lauder, playing the word CITIZEN for 132 to go out and win 404-381.  Quick quiz: find the anagram of CITIZEN.  Answer at the bottom.  I'll know if you peek.

2nd Charles Reinke had a slightly less dominant 3-1 +505 record to place second in the expert division.  Lynda Finn grinded out a closely-fought win for Charles' only loss of the night, 406-417.  Charles did find the clever MATZOONS (n. matzoon, an Armenian yogurt-like food, also madzoon), but Lynda's three bingos of INSTATE, GERENTS, and TIERCED provided enough scoring to clinch the win.  For the second week in a row, Charles climbed and conquered the perilous crags of Mount 600, scoring exactly that amount in a drubbing of Helen Flores.  Charles' painless ascent can be attributed to his playing of four bingos in a row: ERODABLE, LINGERS, EXCITES, and UNAGILE.  In Scrabble circles, this is known as a bingo-bango-bongo-holy **** (insert swear of choice).

3rd Richard Lauder is back in the swing of things, finishing with an impressive 3-1 +77.  Stealthily lying in wait behind shelves of books, he sprung upon his opponents with unexpected vigor, then carefully dismantled them with precision, playing at least two bingos in each contest.  Peter Schmiedicke was just one of his victims, with Richard enlisting the help of words such as TONTINE, MANNITE, and TOILSOME to prevail 425-378.  Peter played CITADELS and GAUDIES, but his bingo-finding acumen was for nought.

Enough cool bingos were played that they get their own paragraph.  Mary Becker had only two bingos, but they both contained a Q: EQUALISE and EQUINES.  Bryan Benwitz played the uncommon FOVEOLA, which has many derivatives: FOVEA, FOVEOLE, FOVEOLET, and even FOVEIFORM.  Richard played the sticky-S ANALECTS (also ANALECTA).  Peter Schmiedicke found the A-heavy ATAXIAS (also ATAXY/ATAXIES). The word of the week was chosen out of these many deserving candidates to be Charles' DIOICOUS (an adjective used of plants to indicate that they have either a male or female sexual organ, but not both, also spelled DIOECIOUS or DIECIOUS).

Sue Goldstein Takes Joy in The Simple Things: Newspapers, Cookies, and Total Scrabble Annihilation

1st Sue Goldstein emerged victorious in a three-round bout with June Scott, 2-1 +85.  She used the bingo of FLORALS to score 368 for her highest game of the night. 

(Quiz answer: ZINCITE.  The more you know.)

While Congresspeople Shut Down Government, Charles Reinke Shuts Down Scrabble Players' Hopes and Dreams

1st Charles Reinke's new goal to average 500 over a club season is proceeding apace, as he averaged 501 points per game while going 5-0 +856.  His "worst" game of the evening was a "mere" 442 points against Richard Lauder's 395.  Richard gets a pass however, as he was mauled by several bears on his way back from a month-long west-coast excursion, and through the haze of a heavy dose of morphine managed to find three bingos: REFUTERS, TANISTS (n. TANIST, the heir to a Celtic chief), and SHALIER.  Charles bingoed with MACULATE (v. to mark with spots) and DELTAIC, but such a paltry amount of bingos did little to warm the burnt heart-husk occupying his chest.  What did warm his heart was his 629-338 victory versus Lynda Finn, wherein he played PTOMAIN, BEGUILED, ABSOLVED, and the nine TITRATING (through the first T and the N).  Lynda put up a good fight by playing CAROTINS and the Word of the Week, JACONETS (n. JACONET, a cotton cloth).

2nd Mary Becker overcame a rough start to the club season and forced her way into the top three, finishing 3-1 +234.  Most of her spread was generously donated by June Scott, who fell to Mary 202-431.  Mary played BOONIES in that one.   Only Betty Hasselkus was able to throw a wrench into the ever-turning cogs of the Mary Machine, defeating her 371-342 with the help of bingos LOUSIER and LITTERS.

3rd Lynda Finn's 3-1 +51 was good for the bronze medal.  She was one agonizing point away from the mystical 600, scoring 599 (to Andy Bohnsack's 391) and getting three bingos: LINTERS, FESTOON, and the 149-point nine-timer COTERIES.  That combined score of 990 is the highest combined score so far this year.  Lynda also squeaked one out against Thomas Reinke, 389-387.  It just goes to show: the player who scores more points will usually win.

4th(?!?!?!?!) Betty Hasselkus missed out on third place by eleven spread points, going 3-1 +40.  For her trouble she gets to be mentioned in the writeup. 

Sue Goldstein on Two-Person Intermediate Group: "If You're Not First, You're Last"

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 -97, using the bingo of LETTERS to outscore June Scott 344-272. 

Surmounting Near-Insurmountable Adversity, Thomas Reinke Wins 'Em All

1st Thomas Reinke, befalled by misfortune on his way to club (Acute garage door malfunction), shook off the universe's agenda against him to take first place in the expert division, 4-0 +448.  He and Mary Becker rushed through their first-round game due to their late arrival, and Thomas consequently ended up with a low-scoring win, 346-322.  By the fourth game, however, he was firing on all of his multitude of cylinders, crushing his twin nemesis Charles, 496-316.  Thomas got TENDRILS and SOLUNAR (adj. of or relating to both the sun and the moon, e.g. a solunar calendar), with the lowlier twin finding SWIPLES (n. SWIPLE, a part of a threshing machine, also SWIPPLE).  As an extra bonus, Charles had just reached the ten-wins-in-a-row threshold that made every game against him worth a potential five dollars.

2nd Averaging 415 points per game, Helen Flores finished at 3-1 +139, edging out Gail Salm by seven spread points for second place.  She scored 400 or more in every contest and has now won six of her last seven.  Returning from a long absence, Buffy Hogan was shown no mercy as Helen beat her 416-317; Helen played SENATES and was countered by Buffy's FEASTING.  Helen was also awarded "most creative use of a phony" when she extended Thomas' phony OVERFUN with a D to make OVERFUND, while simultaneously playing her own bingo of GRIEVED.  Unfairly, that game was her only loss, as Thomas bested her 474-400.

3rd Gail Salm went 3-1 +132 and averaged two bingos a game en route to third place.  She capped off her evening with a 448-367 victory against Andy Bohnsack, finding three bingos on the way: CROPPER, RELATION, and SNEAKER.  Andy bingoed with QUOTABLE and ROSETTE, then soothed himself after the game by reminding himself that the NBA season, and thus fantasy basketball, is only a month away.  Not in every game were the tile gods smiling upon Gail; she was defeated by Bryan Benwitz 336-491, with Bryan playing a career-best FOUR bingos: MOISTEN, PREOWNED, REATONE, and LABORING.  Gail played WILIEST, but only rarely will one bingo outdo four of them.

Spread Always Matters, and Sue Goldstein Can Attest to That

1st Sue Goldstein went 1-2 +50.  She nearly cracked the 400-mark with a 395-263 drubbing of June Scott, playing PEALING and STRAINS to take control of that one.

2nd June Scott also had a 1-2 record, but her spread of -198 relegated her to second place in a diminished intermediate group.  She did beat Sue Goldstein 358-318 before calling it a night.

We found out via Mary Becker that Barb Besadny recently broke her hip and will be undergoing surgery soon.  If there's ever an excuse to miss Scrabble club (there isn't), this would be it.  We wish her the best!