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1st Thomas Reinke topped a healthy assortment of thirteen players with his flawless 5-0 +293 record. He began with a 460-392 win over Mark Kenas, playing ATONIES, BOTTINE#, and LATTINS to Mark's SCRIPTER and CERRIAL#. He then faced off against newcomer (but seasoned tournament player) Kristy Zurbrick and won in a high-scoring affair, 472-447. Thomas' sole bingo was COMETARY, while Kristy got down three of her own: HERNIATE, CESTOID, and HOISTED. Thomas didn't get any time to breathe as he was immediately tossed into a two-on-one against fearsome Collins competitors Charles Reinke and Mark Kenas; this proved to be no problem as Thomas won both, 423-395 against Charles and an eye-popping 525-515 game against Mark. That latter game saw Mark go wild with his Collins knowledge, deploying BEDTIMES, HUANACOS#, ANTLIAE#, and STODGER#, while Thomas contributed to the 1000-point effort with GROOMERS, SODDIER#, and UILLEANN#. Thomas wrapped things up with a convincing win over Lynda Finn, 457-295.

2nd Charles Reinke had a strong night at 4-1 +427, but a third-straight loss to Thomas Reinke demoted him to second place in the weekly standings. Round one had Charles playing two players at once, and as the dust settled from the three-way fracas, Charles emerged victorious in both games, defeating Bryan Benwitz 431-373 and Karl Armstrong 464-339. Among Charles' bingos was a nine-letter LORICATES played against Karl. Charles piled on three more bingos (SUNTANS, RIGORIST, ALLUSION) in a 479-371 win against Mark Kenas, who got down the useful CSW-only bingo AEGIRITE#. After a minor hiccup in round three which consisted of a 395-423 loss to his brother, Charles turned around and notched an even 500 points in the rematch against Mark, who scored 336. Charles' frenzy of bingos featured FILCHED, TUNEUPS, SAGUARO, and GALENITE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz rounded out the top three with a 3-1 +93 record. Despite bingos of REFUTERS and DIPLOMAT, Bryan was felled in the very first game by Charles Reinke, 373-431; Bryan promptly redirected his fury onto the unsuspecting Richard Lauder, resulting in three bingos (FLEECING, IONIUMS, DAINTIER) and a 439-389 win. Bryan's usually high-flying scoring style was partially stymied when he went up against Kristy Zurbrick, but he managed to prevail regardless, 376-348. Kristy found ARSENAL in that one, while Bryan had the nice FOVEOLES. Bryan's final act was a 422-349 win against Sara McLaughlin, where Sara's not-self-descriptive play of ASININE for 98 just wasn't enough to swing the game in her favor.

We enjoyed Milio's subs and shared fond memories of Sue Goldstein. Thanks to Lynda for helping organize the food and for bringing an abundance of cookies. All that was missing was Sue's customary mini-bottle of diet caffeine-free coke.

We welcomed the vacationing Kristy Zurbrick to our club as well. Her years of tournament experience resulted in a much stronger performance than the average newcomer (2-2 with a 416 per-game average and nine bingos!). Alas, this was probably a one-time appearance as her native Ohio beckons her back. But all Wisconsinites are encouraged to visit her Columbus, Ohio club if ever in the area. Her fantastic find of CHEFDOMS was word of the week.

1st Lynda Finn is now winner of ten of her last eleven games, going 4-0 +436 and averaging 444 points per game, inching her yearly average closer to the fabled 400 mark. Her perfect night started with a victory over Dave Kinzer, 438-355, where her two valid bingos of AMPULES and ARCSINE were joined by a phony DANGELTS* (DANEGELT has a few alternate spellings, but DANGELT* is not one of them). That was followed up with a tightly-contested 434-430 win over Bryan Benwitz, making that two weeks in a row where she has bested the club leader. Bingos in that one were WAXIEST and LECTION for Lynda, REROUTES and MEGABITS for Bryan. In round three, Lynda handed Thomas Reinke his only loss in convincing fashion, 438-349, with finds of OVERLEAP and OSMOSES. In harmony with the old saying, Lynda saved her best for last by drubbing Sara McLaughlin in the final game, 464-294, cementing an undefeated night with bingos of DISROBE and FEVERING.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +163 as the only player to end with three wins. In the absence of Mark Kenas, Thomas was forced to sate his appetite for Collins-lexicon combat with a pair of games against brother Charles Reinke. This venture proved successful as Thomas won both encounters, 463-431 and 519-423. His seven bingos in those two games dwarfed the total amount of bingos he played in his two non-Collins games, which was...(checks notes)...two. The seven bingos were DEROGATE, SETUALE#, VORTICES, SOUTIES#, HERNIATE, RIVULET, and REPROVEN* (looks plausible, but only REPROVED). In between those games, Thomas beat Sara McLaughlin 408-284 (playing TRIPLES) and lost to LYnda Finn 349-438 (playing SACATON).

3rd Beth Amos played an abbreviated schedule of three games, but made the most of it with a 2-1 +226 record. She scored big with a 122-point triple-triple of UTENSILS in round one, but still dropped the game to Bryan Benwitz, 379-420. She then started to live up to her nickname of "Bingoin' Beth Amos" (has kind of a Spaghetti Western ring to it) by playing three bingos (LIONISE, INLAYER, NEUROID) in a 426-372 win over Dave Kinzer. Beth finished her night with a crushing 486-273 victory against Richard Lauder, where her sole bingo of REASSURE for seventy points must have been supplemented by some other big non-bingo plays to account for her huge score.

1st Charles Reinke astoundingly averaged above 500 across his five games (512, to be exact), and unsurprisingly won them all with a 5-0 +760 record. He also played fifteen bingos in his five games, averaging out to a nice even three per game. Needing no time at all to warm up, game one saw him wipe the floor with Sara McLaughlin, getting four bingos (TERYLENE, SORRIEST, WINIEST, INCASES) in a 555-319 win. Taking on two opponents in the second round, Charles' bingoing slowed down but his winning ways did not. Against Dave Kinzer, Charles matched Dave's IODISER* (only good in Collins) and DRAINED with his own FOLIAGE and CRUZEIRO, taking the win 478-369. At the same time, Charles got IRRITANT and CORSETS (vs. his opponent's MATTIFY# and SPINETTE#) in a 502-382 win over Mark Kenas. Charles' lowest score came in a 472-347 win over Lynda Finn (bingos of ADNOUNS, DIRECTLY, and MISENTER helped him there), but he vaulted right back into the 500s when he secured his undefeated record with a 554-384 rematch win against Mark. The bingo bonanaza continued with ENTRANT, MEINIES, SAUNAED, and word-of-the-week KINGBOLT.

2nd Bryan Benwitz had his winning streak snapped at fourteen straight (earning him nine dollars; five for the ten-game streak and one dollar for each game after ten), but still finished in second with a 3-1 +190 record. Playing exactly two bingos in all his games (a feat which one feels like he may have achieved before) actually brought down his yearly bingo average, which had stood at around 2.2 per game. Bryan started with a 371-283 win versus Ron Malzer, bingoing with ELODEAS and SIGNAGE. But that was where his winning streak finally came to an end, as Lynda Finn vanquished him in the second round, 363-398, despite Bryan's finds of LINGOES and MOISTURE. A new winning streak was initiated with a 418-289 win against Dave Kinzer (where a late-game overdraw by Dave prevented him from making it closer, thanks to the extremely punishing rules regarding overdraws with fewer than seven tiles in the bag), and the nascent win streak was continued when Bryan won a close one against Thomas Reinke, 398-390.

3rd Lynda Finn went 3-1 +24, but more importantly than that, ended Bryan's winning streak and came away with a crisp, ready-to-spend pile of five one-dollar bills as a reward for being the streak buster. She followed the patented "Benwitz method" of bingoing the same amount of times in every game, but with just one bingo per game, Lynda didn't use the method to its fullest. Her game-one 376-324 victory against Beth Amos, playing a bingo of ADJOINT, set her up for success, which she converted into the streak-terminating 398-363 win over Bryan Benwitz that was discussed earlier. The high-prob INFARES was Lynda's bingo in that one. She was roundly defeated by Charles Reinke in round three (also discussed earlier), but recovered with a strong 400-338 triumph against Sara McLaughlin to finish off another successful club session.