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A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss, but a Rolling Charles Reinke Gathers Plenty of Wins

1st Charles Reinke reeled off five straight wins en route to a 5-0 +470 performance.  The sound of clinking tiles provided a stark counterpoint to the stunned silence of his opponent as he crushed Helen Flores 611-280.  Helen played the word of the week, ULTIMAS (N. ultima, the last syllable of a word) as her only bingo while Charles played five of them: FAUVISH, UNCASING, INUNDATE, ENAMELED, and NITRIDE.  Three weeks into the season, that score of 611 is the highest yet played.  Mary Becker came closest to stopping the madness, losing by a score of 366-349; Charles' double-double nine-letter PASTORING was the difference-maker there.

2nd Helen Flores had her first top-three placement in a while, finishing 3-1 -182.  That negative spread might seem a little strange until you realize that she was on the receiving end of Charles' 600 game!  Displaying clear thinking in the face of pressure, she found the word DELOUSED at the end of her game against Barb Besadny, erasing Barb's large lead and winning 389-385 in the most closely-contested match of the evening.  Helen had one bingo in each game and is still averaging over one per game this season.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-and-reinkes with a positive 182 spread.  He started off strong with three wins in a row, including a 488-383 bout with Andy Bohnsack (playing TOADIED, CLEAVES, and REANOINT), then met the dual wrecking crew of Thomas and Charles Reinke.  He fought valiantly the whole way, putting down three bingos in each game, but couldn't quite pull out the desired victories.  On the plus side, his 446-501 loss against Charles is this year's highest loss so far, and he tied Charles for Bingo King honors with thirteen.

Expert Multitasker Sue Goldstein Beats Three Opponents While Reading Newspaper

1st Sue Goldstein went 3-1 +40.  After three games, she was 3-0 246 with a bingo to her name (AVOIDED vs. June Scott), but she found out the hard way that all good things must come to an end; she lost to Betty Hasselkus 266-472.  Thankfully, for the second straight week, there were cookies present to soothe the pain.

2nd Harwinder Dowd ended at 2-1 +30, playing one bingo in each game: SISTERS, CUSSING, and LAMENTS.  Her highest game came against Betty Hasselkus, whom she beat 376-350.

Peter Schmiedicke Unveils Title of New Memoir: "I am a Scrabble Deity: Pay Me Tribute or Face Punishment Such as You Can Never Fathom"

1st Peter "The Defeater" Schmiedicke enjoyed a rare 5-0 night en route to first place in the expert division.  A first-round victory over longtime nemesis Charles Reinke, 482-443, bestowed upon Peter the momentum to topple an additional four adversaries.  That game featured bingos of REESTING, VENENATE (v. to poison), and LEERIEST by Peter; MOTIONER and the phony OCTOADS (just OCTADS) were played by Charles.  The Defeater also achieved one of his highest club games ever when he bested Bryan Benwitz 535-326.  He got off to a great start in that game by opening with XEROSIS (n. abnormal dryness of the skin), a word so odd-looking that it drew a challenge from the normally unflappable Bryan.  XEROSIS was only the second bingo played in the past two years that started with an X; the other was also XEROSIS played in 2011 by Charles.

2nd Charles Reinke ended up at 4-1 +276, good enough to snag second in the weekly standings and the top spot in the newly-reset yearly standings.  In the most recent installment of the epic "Reinke vs. Reinke" showdown, Charles came out on top 412-382, but alas, the victory was tained by a phony BRAILERS (a BRAILLER is a machine that writes braille, but needs two L's).  Charles' valid bingo in that game was SEROSAE, and Thomas managed UNWARNED on his end.

The word of the week, the nine-letter VACCINEES (n. one who is vaccinated) was played by Charles in his 427-362 defeat of Barb Besadny.

3rd Andy Bohnsack averaged a staggering 466 points per game, but a loss to Peter Schmiedicke relegated Andy to third place with a 3-1 +443 record.  500-point, four-bingo games are a relatively uncommon occurance, but Andy somehow strung together two such games in a row, against Lynda Finn (500-379) and Thomas Reinke (516-375).  Now that such a feat has been attained, we are all waiting for Andy to put together four games in a row of that magnitude.

Harwinder Dowd Unleashes Wrath, Bingos on Way to Undefeated Night

1st Harwinder Dowd started her year with a bang, not needing to utilize her scorecard's "loss" column with a 3-0 +207 performance.  Aki Miura was the only opponent of hers to get somewhat close; he lost 328-360 in the face of Harwinder's LISTING.

2nd Matt Rust averaged a robust 374 in his three wins, but a loss to Harwinder left him with a 3-1 +243 record.  Matt conquered expert Helen Flores 359-293 despite being held bingoless (Helen played SALINES).

3rd Sue Goldstein went 2-2 +42 for third place in the intermediate division.  Her best win was a 359-306 affair with Sharlie Miura where Sue's bingo of RELENTS was likely the difference-maker.  Sue, despite being besotted by cookies courtesy of the Reinkes, almost managed to beat expert player Gail Salm, losing by a mere eight points (358-366) and playing the phony UNSHAVE (which was not even the most egregious phony of the evening).

Due to competition from the start of football season, East Side Club was small today, with only three players. Bryan and Lynda split their two matches, while Lynda defeated Ruth Ann in two matches she played concurrently while competing with Bryan.

In her final match, Lynda played CRANNOG which is a partially or entirely artificial island usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scottland and Ireland.