Blog

1st Bryan Benwitz prevailed over a tightly-contested club session where three players finished with 3-1 records, his +364 spread buoying him to a gold metal that, while not quite olympic in prestige, is still moderately prestigious. He won big against Thomas Reinke, 502-420, thanks to a four-bingo bonanza (bingonanza?) of ZEOLITE, BOSOMED, ANTIDORA, and the 9-letter POTTERIES. Bryan also unleashed some punishment on the other Reinke, taking down Charles 482-262 (Charles' lowest score at club since 2011). Bryan did suffer defeat in round three, with his gargantuan 17-game winning streak against Dennis Lloyd coming to its end in nailbiting fashion, 374-377. A nice RESHOEING brought Bryan's nine-letter bingo count to two, but Dennis' BAPTISE for 88 was enough to take a long-awaited victory.

2nd Thomas Reinke returned from illness in proper fighting form, finishing 3-1 +224. His first game was a Collins-lexicon match against Charles Reinke, and while it was atypical in that neither player scored over 400, Thomas was happy enough to take the win, 395-365. Thomas bingoed with ALASTOR, FROTTAGE, and GRAILES# in that one, while Chares was (again atypically) limited to zero bingos. Another three bingos (SENARII, SOUTANES, RADULAE) were deployed against Bryan Benwitz, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 420-502 loss. After defeating Sara McLaughlin 430-343 (despite Sara's finds of MASTERS and OUTDATED), Thomas pulled out all the stops and walked away from his contest against Dennis Lloyd with a big 515-326 win. A triple-triple of BILANDER for 140 points was a big factor there, although it wasn't the highest-scoring bingo played: that honor went to Helen Flores' 149-point SCRAPERS.

3rd Dennis Lloyd went 3-1 -84, having his positive spread built up so carefully through the first three rounds obliterated in round four. He started off strong with a 415-329 win against Helen Flores, getting down SERPENT for that eternally-lusted-after fifty-point bonus. Things got a bit tighter in a 369-353 victory over Sara McLaughlin, but Dennis' PORCINE and RESITES delivered him the win. As mentioned before, a lengthy losing streak against Bryan Benwitz came to and end when Dennis beat him 377-374, but visions of a glorious 4-0 outing were snuffed out by Thomas Reinke in the final game of the night, 326-515.

1st Bryan Benwitz romped over a hardy group of four players, finishing 4-0 +775 despite being forced to step out of his comfort zone and play a two-on-one match. He enjoyed particular success early in the night, vanquishing Sara McLaughlin and Richard Lauder in short order with scores of 509-271 and 482-256. He also got word of the week by playing CARSPIEL in a 410-339 rematch win against Richard. A carspiel is a bonspiel in which the winners receive a car, and this was apparently enough of a cultural phenomenon in 1950s Canada that they invented a new word for it. All those cars are probably defunct now, while Bryan continues to make good use of the concept by using it to win games of Scrabble.

2nd Richard Lauder went 3-2 -69, winning all games not played against players named Bryan. A 419-290 win over Sara McLaughlin was aided by the 95-point FIDDLES (against Sara's lower-scoring OUTLINE), although Richard's high-water mark was a 427-383 win against the latecoming Dennis Lloyd where bingos of NATTIER, HOODLESS, and THULIAS were played by the winning side. Notably, Richard played the bingo OESTRINS two separate times, both against Bryan, which makes one think that Richard might need to revisit his "play OESTRINS at all costs" strategy, at least against that particular opponent.

This week's write up is brought to you mad-lib style. Go here to enter the words and see the results https://www.thewordfinder.com/wordlibs/story-20552/ or follow along below. I really recommend the link above for maximum enjoyment. Note if you use fill all random at the link, you must edit the results as they don't pluralize or use the proper tenses.

Mad-Libs Write up: Mad-Libs Write up: Richard [ADVERB] Crushes All Comers

1st. Richard Lauder  [PLURAL VERB] anyone who dared sit across from him in the basement of the  [PLACE] which was filled with Scrabblers and  [PLURAL NOUN] . He went 4-0 + 343 and almost  [PAST TENSE VERB] from the combination of his skill and amazing  [NOUN]. He averaged a breathtaking 453  [PLURAL NOUN] per game with the high  game of the  [NOUN] of 511  [PLURAL NOUN]. His  [ADJECTIVE] massacres included  Dennis in a tight,   [ADJECTIVE] matchup, as well as Ron, Bryan and the complete [VERB] of Lynda who turned over a [ADJECTIVE] club record of 50 points on her rack at the end of the  [NOUN]. Richard and Lynda share  [ADJECTIVE] honors with 7 bingos each.

2nd: Bryan Benwitz claimed the  [ADJECTIVE] second spot with a 3-1 +104. With 5  [ADJECTIVE] bingos along the way his only loss was the  [ADJECTIVE] Richard, shattering his  [NOUN] of the coveted first paragraph.

3rd: Ron Malzer also went 3-1 but had only 24 [PLURAL NOUN] left over to show for it. His only loss was [PAST TENSE VERB]  by Richard. 

Word of the week honors go to Beth for COMEDOS which is  [ADJECTIVE]  [COLOR] puss exuded from  [PERSONS NAME] 's pores.