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1st Bryan Benwitz continued his dominance of the east side with an unblemished 4-0 +361 record. Notably, he achieved the rare "Anti-Reinke" by defeating both players with the last name Reinke in a single club session. Against Charles Reinke, neither player scored 400, but Bryan was significantly closer to 400 than Charles was, with a final score of 399-320. A crafty AZOTEMIA followed up with a 95-point LARDONS spelled doom for Charles. Again, neither player broke the 400-point barrier when Bryan vanquished Thomas Reinke 388-379, mostly relying on his 94-point OLIVINES to supply him the win. More high-level bingoage was displayed against Dave Kinzer, where Bryan's three bingos of LEAVIEST, DEAREST, EQUISETA, against Dave's singular AIRHEAD, delivered a 426-326 win.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +384 and laid down an impressive thirteen bonus plays to be crowned this week's "bingo king". He played his brother Charles Reinke in two games and won them both, the first being relatively close at 437-412, the second being not so close at 455-346. In the second round, Thomas played two games at once, and unleashed a torrent of bingos in a pair of games that were both decisive victories: 482-349 against Richard Lauder (who played the word of the week, NAZIFIES, for 102 points in his losing effort) and 479-353 against Renato Umali. Thomas' combined bingos in the round were SCOOTED, ACTIONER, SOBERING, EUCHRED, RURALIZE, and UNIRONED. Only a third-round loss to Bryan Benwitz prevented Thomas from attaining the coveted 5-0 record.

Also of note were a 176-point play of BLUEFISH from Renato Umali and a dizzying 572-point game from Dennis Lloyd, who played four bingos, including a 124-point LAZIEST. That 572-point game represents Dennis' highest-scoring game in his club career, barely eclipsing a 571-point game dating from March of 2022.

1st Thomas Reinke was almost entirely unimpeded in waltzing to a flawless 5-0 +477 record. His most formidable challenger turned out to be Richard Lauder, but Thomas pulled out a close one, 373-358, thanks to cat-themed bingos of MIAOUING and FELINES. At the same time as that game was going on, Thomas gave Lynda Finn a sizable "welcome back to club" present, playing four bingos against her (HALITES, SEVERAL, BINATELY, INGULFED) and winning 518-378. But Thomas is nothing if not an equal-opportunity bingoer, and he demonstrated that core characteristic of his by playing four more bingos against Dennis Lloyd in the course of a 484-373 victory. Those four bingoes were PHONEME, SCOOPING, BOATLOAD, and SENEGAS, while Dennis got YEARLIES.

2nd Charles Reinke finished in a strong second place, going 4-1 +526. He picked up a quick 200+ points of spread in the first round when he demolished Mark Kenas, 518-313, getting down bingos of FAMINES, OMITTING, and LINGERIE in the process. Charles broke the 500-point barrier one more time when he cruised past Richard Lauder, 502-279, adding three more bingos of DATARIES, TARRIEST, and OVERSUDS to his overflowing list of bonus plays. Sadly, Charles was denied the immortal glory of a first-place finish when Mark Kenas beat him solidly in a rematch, 355-468. Mark's fun Collins-only find of GUICHET#, among many other high-scoring plays, delivered him a comfortable victory.

3rd Lynda Finn returned to club after a year-plus hiatus and proved that her in-person Scrabble abilities were not rusty at all, as attested to by her 3-2 +137 record and 411 average score. She quickly proved the basic functionality of her bingo-finding ability by making three such plays (WRASTLED, HEADMEN, and WITNESS) while defeating Helen Flores 473-260. She did suffer a loss to Richard Lauder, 364-406, but immediately recovered to vanquish Beth Amos, 450-355. Beth got a sole bingo of OPERATED, which fared poorly against Lynda's ABLEIST, ANEROIDS, and NAIADES.

We were happy to see the return of last week's newbie, Tara Kadium, as well as Beth Amos, a long-time club player who last graced our doors all the way back in 2007! Beth went 2-2 in her return to serious Scrabble competition, not bad after a thirteen-year absence.

1st Thomas Reinke cruised to an impressive 4-1 +511 performance. Three of his four wins were against Mark Kenas, none of them particularly close in score. The most lopsided victory for Thomas was in the final game, where he defeated Mark 589-308. Despite the enormous gulf in scores, the difference in bingos was "just" four to two: Thomas had CLAYING, DURANCES, SHEEPMEN, and DRAFTING for his bonus plays, while Mark deployed EIRENICS and ELASTINS for some much-needed fifty-point bonuses. Thomas' single loss was hand-delivered to him by none other than Dennis Lloyd, who won their contest comfortably, 430-375. Dennis got away with the invalid UNACTIVE*, but felt no guilt in doing this, especially as his plays of LINEAGES and OVERTAKE confirmed that he (usually) tries to play valid words. Thomas found a bingo of ARILLODE in his losing effort.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +397, completing a fully Reinke'd top two that has become all too familiar. His evening started off poorly, as he was held bingoless in a 320-377 loss to Helen Flores, who got down sizable bingos of SOAKERS and FANNIES. Things improved significantly after that point, as Charles scored above 500 points in all of his remaining games. His big win was against the beleaguered Mark Kenas, 508-344, thanks to finds of LENDERS, PEREONS, GARLICS, and REGAUGED. Richard Lauder hardly fared better, falling 360-504; Charles' TASKBAR for 118 points played a large role in his win.

3rd Richard Lauder topped a contingent of 2-2 players with his 2-2 -19 record. After a 396-367 win over Dennis Lloyd, losses to both Reinke twins left him in a sizable hole. However, Richard was able to dig himself (mostly) out of that hole by whomping Helen Flores in the final round, 483-259. Bingos of TONLETS and OUTREAD were enough to build a large lead, but a 96-point RESOJET slammed the door shut on Helen's winning chances.

We enjoyed the presence of newcomer Tara Kadium, and while she found herself on the losing end of the one game she played, we hope she returns!