1st Thomas Reinke finished at 4-1, but his usual dominant spread total was nowhere to be found, as he finished with a "mere" +98 point differential. His first two games were quite high-scoring overall, and they were also both wins for Thomas: 476-400 against Charles Reinke and 474-470 against Mark Kenas. As both games were in the Collins lexicon, some odd words were played: Thomas' bingos were SARNIES, ORBITIES#, DERNIER, UNGUENTA, RIBSTONE#, FEATURE, and SPHERULE. Switching over to the American lexicon, Thomas received his only loss at the hands of the unstoppable-as-of-late Bryan Benwitz, 393-441. Thomas got down DWINDLED and RETIARII (the plural of RETIARIUS, a type of gladiator that is armed with a net and is apparently notable enough to have its own Wikipedia article). Bryan had ARILLODE and REFORGES for his two bingos in that game. After dispatching Mark in a rematch, 460-423, Thomas ended the session in fine fashion with a well-fought 451-422 win over Richard Lauder. Both players had three bingos in that game: TRACHEID, AIRWISE, and AUDIENCE for Thomas, while Richard contributed RIVETING, ENCLOSED, and LIEVEST.
2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-0 +86, but was robbed of first place by a ranking algorithm which prioritzes total wins over win percentage. His total of three bingos is well below his average of over two per game, but the perfect record gets him ever closer to overtaking Thomas for the top spot in the club standings. His round-one game against John Bialek was a real nailbiter, but the final tally was just barely in Bryan's favor, 393-379. John managed to outbingo Bryan two to one (REMAINED and BANSHEE for John, GRIEVANT for Bryan), but it wasn't quite enough (next time John should play three bingos - that should do it). Bryan then defeated Beth Amos for the second straight week, 386-352, despite not playing a bingo. Beth had PARENTED and TOELESS (next time Beth should play three bingos - that should do it). Bryan finished off his shortened session with a 441-393 win against Thomas Reinke.
3rd Beth Amos continued her strong comeback tour with a 3-1 +212 record. Her only loss was the aforementioned game against Bryan Benwitz in round two. Her closest win was a 368-342 win over Dave Kinzer, where her 92-point LEATHERY and 68-point CAROLERS were of clear benefit for her winning chances. In rounds three and four, she faced off against both members of the Bialek power couple, and won both games with scores above 400. Against John Bialek, she won comfortably, 402-327, thanks to a bingo of GENUINE. An even more confortable win was scored against Wendy Bialek, 463-318, this time with two bingos for the winning side: NOISIER and the phony UNMASTED* (DEMASTED is valid).
1st Bryan Benwitz, with a 4-0 +401 record, notched another first-place finish, making him the weekly champion three out of the last four sessions. His path to an undefeated record was not easy, but he still averaged a weighty 454 points per game through the course of his four wins. Richard Lauder came closest to beating him, but Bryan prevailed 446-414, thanks in part to a stylish find of UPCURVE (the next-shortest word containing CPUUV that isn't an UPCURVE variant is NUNCUPATIVE). Bryan then faced the Reinke gauntlet but left relatively unscathed by the ordeal, beating Charles 500=326 and Thomas 435-348. TALIONS, NITERIE, SNUGGED, TENNIST, and LITHIUM were his bingos in those two games. With an undefeated session on the line, Bryan went up against Beth Amos and again won comfortably, 435-327, getting down STEEPED and DILATIVE for some timely fifty-point bonuses.
2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +188, well behind Bryan's stellar record but still good enough for second place. Things didn't start off so well for Thomas as he was felled by his fraternal foe Charles Reinke, 451-478. Thomas got WAGERED and a triple-triple RESTATES, the latter for 122 points, but Charles one-upped him with INEXPERT for 125, in addition to AERIEST and DANDRIFF (an archaic spelling of DANDRUFF). A much-anticipated rematch in the final round saw Thomas get his revenge, 457-346, thanks to finds of LAKIEST and WAGMOIRE# (an archaic spelling of QUAGMIRE only valid in the international lexicon). A 509-372 win over Lynda Finn was Thomas' best showing, and the only game where he got three bingos: DILDOES, ELECTRON, and GREENIES.
3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 -42. His two-on-one matchup against Lynda Finn and Thomas Reinke was quite fruitful, yielding two wins (498-285 against Lynda and 478-451 against Thomas) and five bingos. A 326-500 loss to Bryan Benwitz, with the high-probability SENATOR being his only bingo, damaged Charles' spread total in round two. Charles barely came away with the win when he faced off against Beth Amos; their three-point margin (411-408 for Charles) was the most closely-contested game of the night. Both players had two bingos: DIALING and ENATIONS for Beth, ACTINAL and SOLVERS for Charles.
1st Bryan Benwitz continued his strong 2023 campaign with a 3-1 +397 record. He had the highest score of the session when he dropped a hefty total of 553 points right on top of Richard Lauder, who scored decently enough with a 368 score but still fell way short of victory. GALLEON, CULTURED, SNOUTIER, and the plausible-but-phony IMPASTI* were the bingos played by Bryan, who will probably remember going forward that IMPASTO pluralizes with an S despite being an Italian word. Richard got NESTABLE and OVERWISE to bring the total number of bingos in the game to six. A subsequent game against John Bialek was quite a bit closer, but Bryan emerged with a 428-345 win thanks to his monster 112-point play of QUAFFERS, which made John's bingo of INROADS for 64 points look quite timid in comparison. 3-0 going into the final round, Bryan was eyeing an undefeated record, but as so often happens at our club, his hopes were dashed right at the end, as he fell to Charles Reinke, 416-496. Bryan got down MANEGES and VETERANS in the loss, while Charles got HEARTENS, DOUBTING, and SAINFOIN.
2nd Mark Kenas, long burdened with the unenviable task of playing Reinkes night after night after night, shook off the shackles of tedium to go 3-1 +244. Being a competitor in the international Collins lexicon, his bingo list is usually riddled with words which are invalid in the North American list, but fear not, dear reader, all his bingos this night are good in NWL. He opened the night with a 500-315 win against Thomas Reinke, playing LORGNON, BIENNIAL, and TENORITE while Thomas struggled to a single bingo of TRENISE#. A solid pair of wins against Charles Reinke followed, 430-356 and 455-438. Again, Mark had three bingos in each: VARMENTS, ASSOILED, and AROINTS in the first, UNDULATE, KELOIDS, and TERRIERS in the second. The fourth round saw Mark suffer a similar fate to Bryan, sitting at 3-0 and then losing the final game, this one to Thomas, 484-516.
3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +65, beating a similarly-monikered foe by just three spread points to take third place. A two-on-one outing in the first round went quite poorly for Thomas, as he lost 315-500 to Mark Kenas and 458-499 to the similarly-monikered foe Charles Reinke. As usual, the brothers bingoed relentlessly on each other; Thomas had ENARGITE#, RATIFIER, and SWOOPER vs. Charles' LIVIDER#, QUEEREST, and RELANDS. Thomas rebounded from his rough start to win the next three, starting with a 476-289 win against Ron Malzer, thanks to bonuses of SERVANT and RATTIER. Sara McLaughlin put up a good fight but also lost to Thomas, 403-331, her find of MUTTONS matched by Thomas' OPIATES. The final round saw Thomas get his revenge on Mark in a very bingoey way, playing COESITE, TATTLERS, ENORMITY, and DOUANES# for the 516-484 win.
Helen Flores' CHEDDARS was chosen as word of the week because this is Wisconsin.
Wednesday, September 30:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, October 7:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, October 14:
Scrabble at Covenant Church
Wednesday, October 21:
Scrabble at Misty Mountain Games
Club Results 9/23
Posted 9/25/2026
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Posted 9/18/2026
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Posted 9/11/2026
Club Results 9/2
Posted 9/4/2026