Blog

1st Thomas Reinke inaugurated the 2024 club season with a spotless 5-0 +330 record, guaranteeing that if an asteroid were to obliterate the earth right at this very moment, he would be the 2024 club champion by default. His customary two-game match against Mark Kenas, played using the Collins dictionary, went relatively smoothly: he won the first game 450-410, then faltered in the second but still eked it out, 406-402. In the latter game, Mark bingoed just once with DANEGELT, but made it close when faced with Thomas' REORIENT, PEATIEST, and HOGWEEDS. Thomas got the highest score of the year's first club session when he beat Karl Armstrong 521-374, thanks to a triple-triple of COLORISE for 149 points in addition to OVERBITE and ENTOZOA. Karl found SUITERS to take some of the sting off. The perfect record was clinched in a well-fought 396-361 game against Richard Lauder, where Richard's finds of PINOCLES and HEAVINGS* (just SHEAVING) were countered by Thomas' BITCHERS and DEXTRINS.

2nd Charles Reinke starts this year in the same position he was at the end of last year, that is, behind his brother in the standings, with a 4-1 +129 record. He started off strong with a victory over last year's club champ, Bryan Benwitz, with 399-352 being their final tally. Atypically, both players had just one bingo: ARMADAS for Bryan, HEMATIC for Charles (in addition to taking an S for HEMATICS, HEMATIC also take an R or T in front for RHEMATIC or THEMATIC). A Collins-only triple-triple of YARDINGS# for 169 points doomed Charles in his first game against Mark Kenas, which ended at 426-520. In round four, Charles got a chance at payback when he played a two-on-one against Mark as well as Lynda Finn. The game against Mark was a comfortable win, 482-339, thanks to bingos of TOPLINED#, HERNIATE, and SANTERIA, but the game against Lynda was a nailbiter decided by just one point, 420-419. Lynda got down ANIMATER and PASTERN, while Charles had PILFERED and OUTVIES.

3rd Sara McLaughlin topped a bundle of three 3-1 finishers with her 3-1 +345 record. She used a bingo of DEARIES to cruise to a 414-304 victory in round one. Round two saw her matched up against newcomer Milly, and while Milly was able to get down some nice plays, she couldn't overcome Sara's decades of accumulated Scrabble wisdom, and it was Sara's win, 382-196. Sara's winning ways were temporarily disrupted in a low-scoring 318-325 loss to Richard Lauder, but she completely turned it around in the final game, where she deployed three bingos (BEGOTTEN, WRANGLED, and DETAINER) en route to a 450-394 win over Dennis Lloyd, who did get down the word of the week, HELPLINE.

4th/5th Wendy Bialek and Richard Lauder also finished with 3-1 records.

We welcomed two new players, Milly and Matthew, to our fellowship of tile-flingers, and our total turnout of 17 players was the longest we have had in quite some time. The future looks bright indeed for competitive, yet friendly, Scrabble play in Madison, Wisconsin!

1st Ron Malzer added his name to the illustrious list of players who have, in a single session, attained the coveted 4-0 record, finishing at 4-0 +409. He also averaged 411 points per game, more than fifty points higher than his yearly average up to that point. A first-round win against Wendy Bialek was just the start that Ron was looking for, 396-248. Another big win came against Lynda Finn, where Ron's bingos of ZESTING and NOTIONS propelled him to a 458-315 final score. Facing off against the fearsome Bryan Benwitz, who sits mightily atop the yearly standings, Ron was unaffected by the pressure, and took a close win, 395-384. Ron had STRIATED in that game, while Bryan had FALTERS. In the final round, the battle of 3-0's, Ron etched his name into the weighty golden tablets which constitute the club's official recordbooks by dismantling Sara McLaughlin, 394-287. His bingo find of SNARLING was surely descriptive of his facial expression as he laid down big play after big play.

2nd Charles Reinke finished up the club season with a 4-1 +178 outing, although he strangely did not manage to reach his season average of 445 in any of the night's games. He came close with a round one win against Mark Kenas, 444-351. Playing in the Collins dictionary as is their custom, Charles found MINDFUL and AKINESES#, while Mark had ADONISES and AGRIZES#. Simultaneously, Charles went up against Lynda Finn and won a lower-scoring game, 369-338. After dispatching Richard Lauder 434-291, Charles took on Mark again in a rematch, and Mark was out for blood, as evidenced by the 387-509 final score. Charles had a high-probability GALORES, but Mark found NEIGHED, PRUINOSE, and DELATES. Charles finished his evening with a 414-381 victory over Bryan Benwitz.

3rd Sara McLaughlin did not play a bingo in any of her four games, but still finished strong at 3-1 +28. An instructive first-round game against newcomer Milo evolved into a comfortable win for Sara, 347-249. Immediately matched up against Jane Lowy, another newcomer, Sara was challenged but eventually prevailed, 302-274. An even tighter game was played against Richard Lauder, and, despite Richard's dual bingos of LORINER and TITIANS, it was Sara's win, 355-346. Tantalized by the possibility of going 4-0, Sara went up against fellow 3-0 Ron Malzer in the last round, but sadly fell well short of a victory (and an undefeated night) with her 287-394 loss. Since Sara did have a perfect 4-0 record back in June, it was only fair that Ron take this one.

We welcomed two new players, Jane and Milo, and hope to see one or both of them again in the future!

This session marks the end of the club season, which means that final winning percentages have been tabulated and a club champion has been crowned. With a stellar winning percentage of 74.8% and a devastating average score of 438, Bryan Benwitz proudly takes the metaphorical crown and places it upon his not-so-metaphorical head, while Thomas Reinke, with his 73.4% winning percentage and 451 average score, is cast aside in second place. Charles Reinke rounds out the top three at 65.8% and a 444 average, well back of the two contenders. Bryan's triumph marks the first time in a decade and a half since a non-Reinke was at the top of the yearly stats; we're missing some data from 2006 and 2005, but Charles Reinke was tops in 2007, and in 2004 it was John O'Laughlin and his outrageous 82.3% win rate. John was likely top in 2005 and 2006 as well.

Next week begins a new club season and a fresh start for all players looking to improve their average scores, their BPG (bingos per game), their win rate, the amount of fun they're having, all of the above, or none of the above.

In unrelated statistical news, the club recently hit the 30% mark in our collective attempt to play every bingo in the dictionary (that's 56,792 seven and eight letter words, of which we have played 17,410). Of course, we have played most of the high-probability words like ETESIAN and ATONIES, leaving us with unplayable oddities like AARDWOLF and ZYMOGRAM begging to eventually be placed on the board, so our progress towards 40% will likely be a slow and multi-year process, never mind 50% or 100%.

1st Charles Reinke stood at the vanguard of a tough field of 11 competitors with a 4-1 +342 record. He stumbled in round one as he was bested by his brother, Thomas Reinke, by a score of 430-485; in typical Collins fashion, both players had three bingos: UNSTABLE, AREFIES#, and GREISEN from Charles, WAREHOU#, RIPIENI, and RELOANS from Thomas. The pain of the defeat was lessened as Charles was fortunately playing in a two-on-one and easily took the other game, 508-332 vs. Mark Kenas. Charles unleashed four bingos in that one: ACROTER#, NUTGRASS, RAPESEED, and ILEITIS. Charles crested the 500-point mark for a second time when he pummeled Lynda Finn, 525-344, and almost reached it a third time in a high-scoring rematch against Mark Kenas which was another win, 495-461. Charles finally slowed down the scoring (and bingoing) in the culminating matchup against Bryan Benwitz, which ended just barely in Charles' favor, 376-370. Bryan's sole bingo was the low-scoring PERINEA, while Charles was held to a remarkable zero bingos and had to score his points in other ways.

2nd Thomas Reinke missed out on a first-place finish by 17 spread points, going 4-1 +325. Early wins against Charles Reinke (485-430) and Mark Kenas (486-347) got him off to a good start, but problems arose in round three when he took part in a two-on-one against Richard Lauder and Bryan Benwitz. The game against Richard was a relatively painless 484-359 win for Thomas, thanks to bingos of SEMILOG and SERIATE (versus Richard's UTERINE and UNDERATE), but the game against Bryan ended as a 383-412 loss, despite a 104-point play of COAXINGS. Bryan found REWAKED and REVISION in his winning effort. Thomas bounced back for the final round and defeated Mark in a reprise of their round-two encounter, 434-399. Mark found the somewhat topical CORONAE (we hope it becomes less and less topical over time), but was outdone by Thomas' VITALITY and DESPISED (passing up the flashier DEPSIDES).

3rd Helen Flores significantly outperformed her yearly averages with a 3-1 +229 record and a 397 per-game average. She got the closest win of the evening when she squeaked past Dave Kinzer, 362-360. Dave got the only bingo of the game with his find of ENDORSE. Against Richard Lauder, Helen regained her bingoing mojo with REALITY, but Richard's bingos of FINDERS and TRYPSIN proved to be too much firepower, and she lost 366-377. In round three, Helen deployed the stylish two-U bingo of UNCURLED en route to a 414-274 triumph over Sara McLaughlin. The final feather in her proverbial cap was a solid 444-346 win over Ron Malzer, good for her seventh-highest score this year. Ron found the nice WIPEOUTS, while Helen had the more pedestrian RUINING.

4th Bryan Benwitz also went 3-1, with a +50 spread. He is still at the top of the club standings with one week to go in the year, but Thomas is still in striking distance if things go his way. Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion to the 2023 Madison Scrabble Club season.