1st Thomas Reinke returned from a compulsory club-wide hiatus (dang those 100 degree temperatures) without missing a beat, finishing at 4-0 +499 and averaging 521 points per game. His best game was a monstrous 629-433 drubbing of longtime expert Mark Kenas, thanks to his bingos of GYNECOID, TABOURET, ISLEMAN#, PLASTRON, and UNGROUND. Mark, meanwhile, found BEATIER#, HIERATIC, and ASTEROID. That score of 629 somehow does not crack the list of Thomas' ten highest scores ever, but it is his best game this year, as well as third-highest this year among all players (behind Charles' 649 and Bryan's 634). Thomas' "worst" game was a "mere" 438 points scored against John Bialek, who scored 316. John found a bingo of FIDDLING, but Thomas responded with the high-probability SAUTOIR as well as ERASURE. A perfect record was sealed when Thomas took on his brother Charles and triumphed, 556-487. After playing five bingos against Mark in the previous round, Thomas' list of four bingos seemed positively paltry: BRIDLED, QUINTALS, UNEDITED, and NAVICERT.
2nd Charles Reinke didn't quite reach the lofty heights that his brother did, but still finished quite well, going 4-1 +228. Aside from an enfortunate encounter with his brother in the final round, Charles' scoresheet reflected nothing but wins. The first of those wins was a relatively low-scoring 393-358 win against Bryan Benwitz. Bryan played BEAGLING, which was never hooked to make BEAGLINGS, while Charles had NANOBOT and MISLEARN. Charles followed that up with a solid 486-384 victory against Mark Kenas, playing just one bingo (FUTHARCS for 101) and proving that flashy bingo totals aren't strictly necessary to win games (although more bingos is generally a good thing). A rematch against Mark also ended in Charles' favor, 512-436, this time with Charles playing three bingos: GELATIS, EQUATED, and BASTIDES#.
3rd Richard Lauder went 3-1 for the second consecutive session, this time ending at 3-1 +199. His standout win was a dominant 503-313 showing against Wendy Bialek, propelled by bonus plays of CREAMING and BLEATING. Richard upped his bingo output in a later game against Bryan Benwitz, getting down PERSONA, LOGIEST, and RIOTING in a 408-332 victory where Bryan was uncharacteristically held to zero bingos (remember, Bryan is the one who played fourteen bingos in four games just two weeks ago!). Richard's win over Bryan also snaps a rather long losing streak for Richard against that particular opponent, stretching back to pre-COVID times - Richard's last win in the series was in December 2019. Richard's single loss was to second-placer Charles Reinke, 319-403.
4th Helen Flores also went 3-1, but fell seventeen points short of a medal with her +182 (note that any mentioned medals are purely metaphorical). For her efforts she gets a short mention in the writeup.
1st Bryan Benwitz averaged 508 points per game and dazzled his opponents with 14 total bingos, finishing at 4-0 +730. He didn't waste any time in commencing the carnage as he trounced John Bialek in round 1, 515-295, bingoing with TORNADIC, TELEXING, PEASANTS, and DEAERATE. The "Bryan Bingowitz" nickname continued to be fully applicable as Bryan got down four more bingos (RETAINED, OVERLAIN, ESOTERIC, PEANUTS) while defeating Ron Malzer 483-287. In round three, Lynda Finn was the first player to manage a bingo against Bryan, getting EUSOCIAL for 80 points. However, Bryan's nine-letter bingo of DEPICTING, in addition to SERINES and RATTLIER, delivered him a comfortable 512-315 victory. To put the cherry on top, Bryan bested club leader Thomas Reinke 522-405, playing a trio of high-probability eight letter words: GERANIAL, TORTOISE, and LEVANTER. Thomas did, however, put a blemish on Bryan's undefeated night when he got away with a phony UNSNARE* in that game.
2nd Richard Lauder didn't quite match the heights that Bryan reached, but he still averaged a hefty 433 points per game while going 3-1 +325. Things started off poorly with a six-point loss to Lynda Finn, 385-391. Richard did outbingo Lynda two-to-one in that game (DENSEST and SILTIER vs. Lynda's BUTANES), but couldn't muster the few extra points needed to grab the win. Things improved after that, with a 418-368 win over Dennis Lloyd (bingoing with FRIAGATE and CHASERS) and a close 399-389 victory against John Bialek (getting UNDERLIT and GRASSED). In the final round, Richard clinched a top-three performance, and got his second-highest score of the year, when he vanquished Ron Malzer, 528-257. Ron found a bingo of RELINES, but otherwise couldn't get much going, while Richard had RESTING, SEINERS, and BOARDING.
3rd Helen Flores rounded out an anomalously Reinke-free top three with a 3-1 +6 final tally. She had considerable success against players surnamed "Bialek", first getting a big 476-351 win over Wendy Bialek thanks to three bingos of EGESTED, BOLONEY, and TAUPIER*, then defeating John Bialek 395-305 with bingo finds of TOUPEES and MOULDED. Her bingo of AUNTIES helped notch a third victory against Ron Malzer, 364-335. A doomed round one encounter against Charles Reinke, which Helen lost 342-580, in hindsight proved to provide exactly the motivation she needed to run off three straight victories and snatch a much-coveted writeup paragraph.
1st Thomas Reinke regained the top spot in the weekly standings with his unblemished 5-0 +499 record. He gained most of that spread total in a 552-247 win over Dave Kinzer where his bingos were DASYURE, CRANNOGE, DECRIALS, and WORRITS. A game against Richard Lauder was significantly closer, but still Thomas' win, 404-379. Richard had SENIORS in that one, while Thomas got EMPLANE and LAPIDATE (which was extended to the misspelled DELAPIDATE* - DILAPIDATE is the spelling that they were looking for). Thomas also strengthened his hold on top of the yearly standings with a pair of wins against his brother Charles, 463-364 and 409-390.
2nd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +464, two losses against his brother not being quite enough to prevent him from snagging second place in a smaller-than-usual field. His 390-409 loss against Thomas proved that the U is not always a horrible tile, as his bingos of GLAUCOUS and MEOUING contained three of them. Charles more than made up for those losses with a 566-288 win against Wendy Bialek, where four bingos (RAINIER, CORYBANT, DISRUPT, PIOLETS) helped him run away with it. At the same time as he was vanquishing Wendy, Charles was soundly defeating Richard Lauder, 438-281. TABETIC and CANARIES were his bingo finds there.
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
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