Blog

1st Thomas Reinke averaged an obscene 517 points per game while finishing 4-1 +721. He pulled out all the stops right from the start, defeating Richard Lauder 574-343 in the first game. Richard found the high-probability BORNITE and NIDGETS, but was turned away by Thomas' ENDOSARC, MINNEOLA, CORBIES, and APPOSES. Thomas would go on to score above 500 in each of his next three games, only scoring below 500 in a final-round 458-363 win against Sara McLaughlin. A set of games against Mark Kenas yielded a high-scoring win (509-334) as well as a high-scoring loss (507-511). In the loss, Thomas was able to play MELINITE and TAURINE, but Mark bested him with THIOUREA, GENETICS, and GLOTTIC. In the most eagerly anticipated matchup of the night, Thomas faced off against Bryan Benwitz in the battle between the #1 and #2 players in the yearly standings, and the result was heavily in Thomas' favor as he won convincingly, 539-315. Bryan did get a bingo of VANISHED to drag his score above 300, while Thomas had STIBINE, DAGGLES, and word of the week PERIPETY.

2nd Charles Reinke averaged a comparatively wimpy 482 points per game en route to a 4-1 +359 final record. The session started well for him when he played two games at once and took both of them, 488-437 against Mark Kenas and 514-339 against Dennis Lloyd. His six total bingos in those games were GLEAMED, ROGUIEST#, REALTIE#, YULETIDE, EULOGIAE, and ORGIASTS. Sadly, his momentum was extinguished by Bryan Benwitz, who played four bingos (WATERLOO, SCREAMS, EINSTEIN, ATRIUMS) and, as one usually does when one plays four bingos, won the game, 496-437. Charles snagged a well-fought win from Richard Lauder, 465-443, before finishing off his second-place performance with a 505-335 rematch win over Mark Kenas, thanks to finds of GUARDED, SOUGHING, and ARTEFACT.

1st Bryan Benwitz took over the top spot in the yearly club standings with his 4-0 +373 record, thanks to a 3-2 outing from his primary competitor, Thomas Reinke. Could the Reinke streak of dominance which has been ongoing since 2007 finally be at an end? We'll find out over the course of the next month. Bryan established his primacy in round one with a decisive 517-389 win over Charles Reinke, getting down four bingos: EROTIZES, LIFETIME, PALSIED, and LECTORS. Charles, meanwhile, was held bingoless. The bingo situation reversed for Bryan when he faced off against the other twin, but it was still a win for Bryan, 427-404. Thomas had BULIMIC and SALTERN while Bryan was forced to find high-scoring non-bingo plays (such as ZEINS for 91) to stay in the game. Bryan had another 500-point game against Lynda Finn, and as usually is the case when a player scores above 500, he cruised to victory, 503-311. Lynda did find the nice SPICATED, but was drowned (figuratively) by Bryan's FOAMIER, LEGALISE, and MARSHALS. The undefeated night was capped by a lower-scoring 399-369 win over Richard Lauder.

2nd Charles Reinke played six games (thanks to a combination of Thanksgiving-induced low turnout and an odd number of players), and while the stats algorithm had him in first place (given that he had more wins than Bryan), this writer is assigning him to second place with a 5-1 +373 record. After a loss to Bryan early in the night, Charles did not lose another game. In fact, at the same time he was losing big to Bryan, Charles was winning big against Mark Kenas, the final score being 572-377. Charles unleashed four bingos in that one: TOONIES, JIGGIEST, SHIFTER, and ACTURES#. Their rematch in round three was also a big score for Charles, 518-501, and again the bingos were plentiful as he found plays of PLENTIES, SEALERY, and word-of-the-week SYNANON. Synanon was a religious movement/cult for recovering drug addicts, popular in the 1960s, and why it's in the dictionary is anybody's guess. Charles finished his night with another two-on-one where he beat Lynda Finn by a comfortable margin, 447-393, but barely escaped against Ron Malzer, 366-359.

1st Lynda Finn (mostly) cruised through a tough field of competitors with a 3-1 +250 record and a nifty 422 per-game average. Things got off to a good start when she scored a comfortable win against Sara McLaughlin, 484-282, getting down bingos of HORSIER and CREATES while Sara was sadly held bingoless. Lynda followed that up with a pair of wins against the #1 and #2 players in the club, calmly beating Thomas Reinke 400-385 with not a trace of intimidation, and then taking down Bryan Benwitz 443-391 in a similar showing of steady Scrabble superiority. Lynda saw her bingo fortunes continue in those games as she played DIASTOLE, TEENIER, DETAILED, and BOOSTERS. Unfortunately, Lynda was not able to complete an undefeated record as she was defeated in the fourth round by Richard Lauder, 361-380.

2nd Bryan Benwitz fell a bit short of first place, but placed far ahead of third, with his 3-1 +200 record. He came away with a well-fought win in round one against Richard Lauder, where Richard's nine-letter FATTENING, supplemented by INTORTED, were equaled by Bryan's TONEARM and STOCKILY. A game against Dennis Lloyd saw Bryan deploy two more bingos (FAGGOTED and RETRIALS) to take the 422-340 win. Bryan's sole loss came in round three versus Lynda Finn, where an uncharacteristic zero-bingo game from the one known as "Bingowitz" resulted in a 391-443 loss. But the universe righted itself in the final game where Bryan prevailed in a lopsided match against Sara McLaughlin, 467-322. A small amount of good news for Sara did result from that game, as her find of COAXINGS, which drew a challenge, was chosen as word of the week.