Blog

1st Thomas Reinke bolstered his campaign for 2023 club champion with another fine outing, going 4-1 +533 and averaging 477 points per game. He racked up a huge amount of spread in the first round when he had the good fortune of being the "one" in a two-on-one match against Mark Kenas and Richard Lauder. He cleanly dispatched Richard with a 570-334 victory, but saved most of his scoring power for his game against Mark, where he won 575-437. Against Mark he played five bingos: FEATOUS#, TURNHALL, CONSUME, STIRRER, and DARTING. Mark got his revenge a little bit later in the night, as a rematch did not go Thomas' way, the final score being 385-429 in Mark's favor. A quite relevant bingo of BULLYING as played by Mark, in addition to BERLINES and REGRATED; Thomas found VALIDATE but was not able to get a second bingo which he dearly needed. The bingo mojo returned for Thomas in the final game as he played four bonus plays (TURNABLE, UNHAIRED, STOPGAPS, DELTOIDS) in a 475-324 victory versus Dennis Lloyd.

2nd Bryan Benwitz finished at 3-1 +305, and his impressive 438-points-per-game average in the four games actually LOWERED his yearly average, which stood at 440 before Wednesday's slate of games. Bryan got off to a hot start in the very first game when his three bingos of IGNORER, EXTOLLS, and RADIUSES launched him to a 426-338 win against Charles Reinke. Reinke honor was upheld in the next game when Bryan suffered his only defeat, a 330-482 loss to Thomas Reinke. However, that Reinke honor was partially squandered thanks to Thomas' 102-point phony of FORESAY*, which is acceptable in the international Collins lexicon but not the American lexicon. Bryan finished strong with a 505-305 win over newcomer Margie Van Handel, as well as a 492-323 win against Richard Lauder, who, as the founder of the club, is the exact opposite of a newcomer. Bryan's bingo list in those two games was CANDIDA, MANSION, RELETTER, EVERSION, and MARCHESI. MARCHESI is a good word to know simply because it serves as an I hook onto the word MARCHES (MARCHESE and MARCHESA are also valid).

As alluded to earlier, we welcomed Margie Van Handel as she bravely made her first trip to our club. She displayed considerable skill in defeating Sara McLaughlin 400-398 in her first game, playing STINTER for 72 points in her winning effort. Welcome Margie!

1st Bryan Benwitz emerged from a frantic evening of intense word-based battle with a perfect 4-0 +529 record. The closest he came to losing a game was in game one, where he escaped with a low-scoring win against John Bialek, 358-337. Bryan's only bingo there was the odd-looking but useful ONLIEST, while John got down PUTTIES. In the third round, Bryan faced off against Richard Lauder; both players displayed a dogged insistence to score as many points as humanly possible, resulting in a 629-409 win for Bryan. Those doing the math at home will note their combined score of 1038, which is the fourth-highest combined score this year, and the only one that did not occur in a Collins-lexicon game. Bryan played BATSMEN for 98, WARISON for 78, and the triple-triple GRIDDLED for 158. Richard had ENACTED (82) and SHINERS (90) in his effort to halt Bryan's indomitable scoring prowess. Bryan secured his first-place finish when he faced off against another 3-0 player, Ron Malzer, in the last round. It was a comfortable win for Bryan, 458-253, thanks to finds of SAUTERNE and WAITRON.

2nd Lynda Finn averaged 440 points per game while going 3-1 +358. She played three bingos in each of her victories, with an opening-round loss to Ron Malzer, 361-381, being the stark outlier. She was held bingoless there while Ron played REALISED. Lynda's highest-scoring game of the night was a 489-253 romp against Wendy Bialek where the victor's bingo list included such words as FLATTEN, UNDERLIT, and COLORISE. The bingoing frenzy continued when Lynda played UPENDING, APOSTLES, and ENTREAT in a 466-333 win over Sara McLaughlin. Lynda then wrapped up the session with a closely-contested 444-435 victory against Thomas Reinke, whose triple-triple of LEVIRATE for 149 points was, in the end, negated by Lynda's ASCRIBES, ENDNOTE, and DEFENDS.

3rd Dennis Lloyd went 3-1 with a minimal positive spread of +9, just enough to keep him in third place. He started the night off strong when he defeated Charles Reinke, 402-382. Charles found INJURER and BIENNIAL, but Dennis was able to make it work with his single bingo of IMPOSTS. Later in the night, he won another close game, this one against Richard Lauder, 394-381. Dennis' monster bingo of MAILING for 97 was certainly an important one, accounting for nearly a fourth of his total game score. Richard still owns the lifetime series by a significant margin against Dennis, having 26 wins to Dennis' 16. Dennis' only loss was to, who else, Bryan Benwitz, 338-421, despite a nice find of MANDORLA.

4th Ron Malzer went 3-1 -37, prevented from a perfect record by the aforementioned loss in the final round to Bryan Benwitz, who was spoiling everybody's nights (except his own). For his efforts he gets a bonus fourth paragraph in a writeup that is conspicuously Reinke-less...

1st Thomas Reinke showed no signs of relinquishing his stranglehold on the top spot of the yearly standings, and in fact tightened that stranglehold with a 4-1 +491 performance. There was some hope that Thomas would lose momentum after a first-round loss to Mark Kenas, 441-471, but Thomas silenced all doubters by winning his other four games by impressive margins. With a 489-392 win over brother Charles Reinke, Thomas has now won 11 of 12 in the head-to-head series, certainly introducing some strife into their otherwise peaceful household. Following that victory, Thomas launched himself well into the 500s with a 574-371 victory against Mark Kenas, where Mark's ENJAMBED for 97 point was overwhelmed by Thomas' four bingos: STIRRAHS#, EUCAINES, ACINOSE, and PLUSHING* (the real word there is the Collins-only INGULPHS#). Another 500-point game was scored against Bryan Benwitz; Bryan's triple-triple of OUTRANCE for 113 points couldn't prevent a high-scoring 535-426 win for Thomas, who played INGOTED, DISTASTE, DONEGAL, and RANDIES.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +277, losing in the final round to disrupt his dreams of an undefeated night. However, all his games before that point were won comfortably. He got off to a hot start by defeating Lynda Finn 507-390, unleashing a 149-point triple-triple of VITALIST for 149 points to build an unassailable cushion for himself (for those counting along at home, that makes two triple-triples for Bryan in the session). His other bingos in that one were PINCERS and AERADIOS, while Lynda got down GRUNTERS and FOAMIEST. The second round saw Bryan take down Helen Flores 432-261, thanks to a find of TRUSTEES. His third and final win was against Sara McLaughlin, 445-347, where he got down TONGUER* (a common phony which should only be played in dire circumstances) and PASTILS.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +174, meaning that the weekly top three exactly matches the order of the yearly top three. His highest game was in round one against Ron Malzer, 469-265. Ron found a bingo of TUGGERS, while SYENITE and RENEWERS were played by Charles. The second round was devastating for Charles' first-place ambitions, however, as his two-on-one match against Mark Kenas and Thomas Reinke resulted in two losses, 438-456 and 392-489 respectively. Revenge was achieved against Mark in the final round as Charles won their rematch, 466-448. Both players played three bingos in that game, and all of them were eight-letter words: RESINOID, ENERGIES, and SONORANT for Charles, BEADLIKE, TOASTIER, and EMERITAE for Mark. As a whole, 56% of the bingos played at club are seven letter words, while 43% are eights (.66% are nines or above).

In addition to Bryan's two triple-triples, Dennis Lloyd also had a triple-triple, INGESTED for 149 points against Thomas Reinke.