Blog

1st Charles Reinke's word wizardry transformed all his opponents into finely-ground piles of mincemeat as he went 5-0 +606. He began with a successful two-on-one excursion against Richard Lauder and Helen Flores, winning those game 464-315 and 470-319, respectively. All of Charles' wins were by margins of 100 or more, except his round two game versus Thomas Reinke, which he won by a "mere" 43 points, 466-423. He got down EROTISE#, STROLLER, and the stylish CAPRIFIG, while Thomas had TRIPLIED# and the less-stylish-but-still-somewhat-stylish EIGHTVOS. After defeating Mark Kenas 439-329 in round three, Charles finished with an immediate rematch against Mark which was even more tilted in Charles' favor, 544-391. Charles put on a display of high-probability sevens in those two games as he found TEASING, EROSION, SMARTER, OBLASTI, and NATTIER.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished 4-1 with a lofty 484 per-game average. Round one saw Thomas extend his winning streak against Mark Kenas to five games, thanks to a three-bingo assault (SALTERN, VASTITY, TROPHIED) that resulted in a 493-362 win. Playing an all-Collins two-on-one match, Thomas turned that winning streak into six games with a close 461-451 win against Mark, but sadly dropped the other game to Charles Reinke, 423-466. Against Bryan Benwitz in round three, Thomas rudely hogged all the bingos for himself, playing five of them (to Bryan's zero): POLLEES, FERMATA, GROUTIER, LACTONIC (out of ACILNOT, which makes a newly-acceptable word, ALTCOIN), and RIVETERS. Of course, the end result was a victory for Thomas, 555-389. Thomas ended the night with a flourish, beating Sara McLaughlin 487-291, finding RESALUTE and YEELINS to pad out his very bingoey list of bingos (BINGOEY* is not a word - play OBEYING or BIOGENY instead).

3rd Richard Lauder went 3-1 for the second-straight week, this time with a +93 spread. Richard suffered a substantial setback in the first game of the night when he was felled by charles Reinke, 315-464, despite a find of SONDERS (Charles had OVERATE and SETTLING). A bout against Sara McLaughlin was more fruitful, as Richard took the win 380-301, getting GUNITES and the very common phony of SOILERS* (the two legitimate words in EILORSS are tough to spot - RISSOLE and LORISES). Richard's best game was against Dennis Lloyd, 459-318; a triad of rack-clearing plays (SCANTER, EQUATOR, PERVERT) buried any attempt at a comeback that Dennis may have planned. Facing off against Bryan Benwitz in round four, Richard rose to the challenge and prevailed in a close game, 427-405, again thanks to a fine assortment of three bingos: DEMISTS, TONSILAR, and SINGLES.

Sara's RATFINKS, played in a 347-302 win against Bryan, was word of the week.

1st Bryan Benwitz ran roughshod over a hapless assemblage of Scrabblers with his immaculate 4-00 +341 record. The normally unbroken brick wall of his word knowledge showed a small crack in it as he played, and got away with, the phony EMEUTIC* in a 442-374 win over Lynda Finn, seemingly combining the words EMEUTE and EMETIC. His other bingo that game, FURCATED, was perfectly valid, as were Lynda's LEANERS and ANNOYER. Bryan ramped up the scoring with a 456-336 victory against Richard Lauder, playing NETIZENS, GAMELIKE, and NOVATES. The scoring and bingoing was kicked up one more notch (how many notches are there? hopefully not too many) when Bryan won big against Dennis Lloyd, 508-362. Dennis found FOLIATED, but was buried by Bryan's MIAOWED, LEATHERN, NORITES, and NESTLED. The most valiant challenge to Bryan's indomitable mightiness came in the last round, but Bryan pulled it out, 418-411. In a clash of phonies, Bryan had BEASTIES and UNWEAVED* (INWEAVED, REWEAVED, and UNWOVE are good), matched by Charles' SPINALLY and GOADABLE* (the similar-ish GOADLIKE is a word for some reason).

2nd Richard Lauder bounced back from an unlucky string of 1-3 sessions to go 3-1 +111. He found himself in the winners' bracket early with a 364-326 victory against Sara McLaughlin, finding OUTSHINE to counteract Sara's SPENDER. Sadly, Richard was quickly dispatched in round two by none other than club leader Bryan Benwitz, 336-456, although Richard's bingo of PASTIER prevented things from being even worse. A third-round matchup against another one of the club's top players turned out better for Richard as he felled Thomas Reinke, 437-379. A hard-hitting YESTERN for 96 points, plus another bingo of ELONGATE, were enough to take down the club's third-winningest player. Richard finished strong with a lopsided 436-303 win against Dennis Lloyd, getting OUTREAD and TIMBERS to pad out his bingo list a bit.

3rd Thomas Reinke averaged 462 points per game, best among all attendees, and crawled into third place with a 3-2 +478 record. A five-point loss to Dennis Lloyd in round one, 390-395, was a setback from a wins perspective even if it wasn't so bad from a spread perspective. The loss was made up for, and then some, in the second round, where Thomas clobbered Mark Kenas 549-332. Thomas bingoed with MESTESO, TISSUAL, and FAIREST, while Mark had the Collins-lexicon-only AEROTONE# and ENCAGED. A 379-437 loss to Richard Lauder was another setback, but again, Thomas made up for it by soundly defeating Lynda Finn 496-275 in the simultaneously-occurring two-on-one game. Thomas closed out the evening with a repeat win over Mark Kenas, 494-391, getting a triple-triple COMPENDS for 167 points to coast to victory (Mark's JANTIEST# for 95 looked positively puny in comparison).

We welcomed new player Mathias to our club. While he did not win a game (most new players don't), he did find two bingos in his three games: NOODLES and STORIES. We hope to see him back soon!

1st Charles Reinke extended his run of strong play, with a final record of 4-1 +279 and thirteen wins out of his last fifteen games. It was a bit of a slow start for him as he took a low-scoring 336-325 win over Lynda Finn in round one, with his two bingos of NORTENOS and PISSOIRS providing almost half of his point total. Round two saw Charles take his only L of the evening, falling to Mark Kenas 427-489 despite 106 points for MESTIZO (Mark found DECENTRE, NUANCES, and DIURESES). At the same time that game was slipping away from him, Charles took on his brother Thomas and whomped him severely, playing five bingos (CANALLER, UNRESTED, COPYCAT, SONDELI#, ABREAST) en route to a 588-370 win. The bingos continued flowing freely when Charles defeated Bryan Benwitz 472-382, adding EUSTACY, REPAIRED, OOMPAHED, and STORMING to his growing list of bonus plays. The cherry on top was a 498-476 shootout against Mark, where Charles' not-valid-in-any-lexicon GRUNGED* evaded detection and helped get him the win.

2nd Thomas Reinke also went 4-1, but lagged slightly behind in spread at +196. A 434-396 Collins-lexicon victory over Mark Kenas got Thomas going in the right trajectory, but that trajectory was momentarily diverted by a 370-588 defeat in the very next round. A repeat clash against Mark Kenas ended again in Thomas' favor, 466-412; Mark got down PLACOIDS, DINGIER, and TOUSIER#, while Thomas had LONGTIME and a nine-letter SAPIENTLY. Thomas finished his evening with a 2-on-1 set of games; since neither of his opponents scored over 300 points, the result was two comfortable wins for Thomas. The first of those two wins was a 538-288 victory over Dennis Lloyd, where Thomas unleashed a flood of high-probability bingos: BANTERED, GALORES, SOOTIER, and SINUATE. The other match in the 2-on-1, against Bryan Benwitz, featured far less in the way of bingoage (Thomas' TINTERS was the only bingo on the board at the end), but was still a clear win for Thomas, 372-294.

3rd Lynda Finn played just five bingos in five games, but was able to convert her games to wins despite that obstacle, finishing 3-2 +287. An inauspicious 325-336 loss to Charles Reinke at the start of the night put Lynda in the "loser's bracket" early, but she quickly equalized with a 448-321 win against Ron Malzer, thanks in part to a find of ERADIATE (no word on whether it was hooked to make RERADIATE). Her two-on-one match in the third round saw Lynda split the games, 338-363 vs. Dave Kinzer and 426-322 vs. Sara McLaughlin. In the latter game, bingos of TRAINED and TAMEINS helped considerably. Lynda finished her bronze medal performance by conquering Richard Lauder, 420-328, getting FALSIES and SEQUOIA to Richard's RAINIEST.