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1st Steve Hartsman ran roughshod over the field with a flawless 5-0 +594 record. He set a personal record for largest margin of victory (+385) when he flattened Richard Lauder, 578-193, getting down SOLARIA, TENURIAL, SHEGETZ, and the phony CONGERED*. Subsequent games weren't quite as eye-popping as that one; round two saw Steve win by a relatively staid 62 points against Charles Reinke, 433-371. For round three, Steve was granted the opportunity to inflate his win totals even further with a two-on-one match, and he rose to the occasion, felling Dave Kinzer 444-308 (with a second phony, ANEURINE* [only ANEURIN]) and needing a recount to beat Dennis Lloyd 425-416 (getting TWINGED and IRRIGATE). No recount was requested in the final game of the evening as Steve barely scraped by with a win over Thomas Reinke, 390-388. Thomas got down a single bingo of SOLARIA (Steve, having played that exact bingo in his first game, likely had no doubt of its validity), while Steve had FEDORAS and RELISHES.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +358. He got his loss out of the way early when he was defeated by Thomas Reinke, 378-431, despite the nice find of ESPIEGLE (never extended to ESPIEGLERIE). A bounce-back win over John Bialek, 419-355, marked the starts of his comeback. In round three, he fought off Andy Bohnsack, 473-402, getting down REBEGUN and RELEASED against Andy's BATISTE and plausible-but-invalid UNCLEVER*. Saving his best for last, Bryan wiped the floor with James Rollins in the final game, winning 538-262 and selfishly monopolizing the bingo tiles with IDEATING, PLEIADES, GUESTING, and ANCHORS. Careful observers will note that Bryan's scores displayed a clear upwards trend from game one to game four, a trend that one can only assume will continue indefinitely.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1 +249 to remain at the top of the yearly standings. Immediately engaging in some bingoey proclivities, he found ARROGATE, RARITIES, and SCANDENT to beat Bryan Benwitz, 431-378. Bingos were flying everywhere in round two as Thomas' 457-368 win against James Rollins featured six bingos, three from each side (DERACINE, COMPUTER, and OUTASKED for Thomas; ORIENTS, GEARINGS, and TONSURE for James). Encountering familiar foe Charles Reinke in the third game, Thomas won again, 492-383, thanks to ANNEALER, PREMIERE, and OUTSAID. Just two spread points stood between Thomas and an undefeated night (well, I guess three spread points), as his bingo output dwindled in a 388-390 loss to Steve Hartsman.

James' MONOTONY was word of the week, narrowly beating out Steve's SHEGETZ in the voting (a vote of one).

1st Bryan Benwitz stood peerless at the summit of Mount Scrabble (not a real mountain), finishing ahead of fourteen other combatants with a 4-0 +429 record. He picked up a huge amount of spread early as he clobbered James Rollins, 537-291. In the midst of the chaos, James got down ORGANISE, but Bryan had BLUECAP, REWRITE, and EVENTIDE. In round two, Bryan was outbingoed by Ed Nawrocki two to one, but came out ahead in the only stat that matters, "points scored", as he had 395 points to Ed's 366. Playing club win% leader Thomas Reinke in round three, Bryan gained some ground in the nascent club championship race with a big 466-354 win. Bryan's bold phony of UNSNARE* was certainly a display of (justified) force, as were his valid bingos of VERSION and INLAYERS. It's interesting to note that Thomas played that same phony of UNSNARE* against Bryan back in 2023 (also unchallenged), which makes it feel like we're entering some unstoppable cycle of retribution. Bryan capped off his perfect record by defeating John Bialek 438-396 in a game where Bryan's triple-triple of SHEENIES for 149 points (just the year's third 3x3 after 23 such plays last year) was the clear turning point.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +474 and had a club-leading thirteen bingos (although Ed's eight bingos in three games was actually a higher per-game bingo average). Charles inserted himself into the consolation bracket early with a 440-493 loss to Thomas Reinke - a phony of BUNTIES* (BUNTIER# is good in Collins) didn't move the needle enough, so maybe he should have played more phonies. He got back on track with a 439-390 win over Dave Kinzer, needing every bit of his three bingos (CHEVRONS, PASHMINA, PACKAGER) to pull it out. Playing two-on-one in round three, Charles cruised in both games, defeating John Bialek 469-281 and Andy Bohnsack 534-291. A 129-point HORRIFY against Andy was quite high-scoring as far as seven-letter words go, but that success was annulled by a second phony, this one being OVERSPAN* (OUTSPAN is good). Charles completed his comeback tour with a revenge win against Thomas Reinke, 422-375, getting IGNAROES# and SERENATA to Thomas' OARLESS.

3rd Helen Flores bingoed just three times, but was able to conjure up points from other sources, as proven by her 3-1 +117 record. A nice bingo of TEAZLES for 81 was able to propel her to a 359-337 win over Lynda Finn in round one (commit the following to memory: TEAZLES, TEAZELS, TEASELS, but no TEASLES*). Helen followed that up with a bingoless 383-299 win against Dora Kilburn (who got down REHEATS to make the final score a bit closer). Helen's single loss was to Steve Hartsman, 350-388; Helen did score higher than her yearly average and she also held Steve to a lower score than his yearly average, so things could have gone worse. Helen's fourth game was also her best, as she cracked 400 points to beat Dave Kinzer 410-361, finding MANGERS while Dave had WEARIEST.

Bryan's BLUECAP was word of the week, while Lynda's STIRFRY* was "inspired phony of the week" (not a real award, but it could be).

1st Thomas Reinke dominated, as is too often the case, with a 4-0 +341 record. The Andy-Charles-Steve-Bryan lineup that he faced was perhaps the most difficult lineup of opponents possible, making his undefeated effort just that much more impressive. His night started with a 430-328 win against Andy Bohnsack, getting down EVADING and MANNOSE. Troublingly, that total of two bingos would be the lowest of any of Thomas' games. Deftly switching over to the Collins lexicon, Thomas fought off Charles Reinke in a high-scoring affair, 496-455. Thomas enjoyed bingos of SERRANID, ENEMIES, and ADJACENT, while Charles had PLESSORS and OBVIATE. Thomas' winning effort against Steve Hartsman was more convincing, as Steve was limited to a grand total of zero bingos, while Thomas hogged the bag's power with VARIATE, ADJOURNS, and ANIMUSES. The tile-slinging reached a frenzied climax as Thomas felled Bryan Benwitz in the concluding game, 450-385. Both players duked it out to three bingos apiece: DEBTORS, OESTRIOL, and UNFASTEN for Thomas; BIOTITES, COLLIDED, and RESTRING for Bryan.

2nd Charles Reinke averaged 492 points per game while going 3-1 +401. He stormed to a comfortable round-one win against Lynda Finn thanks to GANYMEDE, TELSONS, MISWROTE, and the phony HERLING* (a phony which, in fairness, has all the properties of a word). Lynda got a nice 104 points for PROMPTED, which kept the lopsided scores from becoming even more lopsided. Charles was put in his place in round two, as a Collins game against Thomas Reinke resulted in a 455-496 loss. But Charles quickly found himself back to scoring in the 500+ range with a 516-398 win against Andy Bohnsack; Andy got word of the week for his seven-letter LAITHLY, but was dismayed to find out that the word of the week designation cannot actually be exchanged for points in a game of Scrabble, or for its cash value of $0.02. Charles played WANDEROO, MELODIES, and PINNULAR in the course of his victory. An onslaught of four bingos (VARIATE, OTTOMANS, SEMIOPEN, INSTEAD) ensured Charles' victory against Steve Hartsman in the final game, 489-330. (Update on the ADEINST rack from which INSTEAD was born: SATINED remains, by far, the least frequent ADEINST bingo at our club, so everybody should try to play that one instead of DETAINS or STAINED).

3rd Dennis Lloyd finally finished above .500 after a run of less-than-successful sessions, going 3-1 +192. He obliterated Richard Lauder in the opening bout, scoring 448 to Richard's 265 despite actually finishing behind on the bingo count (Richard had two, UNSWORE and ERODENTS*, while Dennis had just SATIATES). Dennis' win against James Rollins was considerably closer, but still a win, 369-352. Dennis had SERIALLY to James' high-probability ANISOLE in that one. In round three, Dennis got his highest score of the night at 450, but managed to lose the game, as Bryan scored 467, which is a higher number (remember, this isn't golf, and higher numbers are better). Dennis bingoed with SMELTING, ENROOTS, and FINISHED; Bryan had TROOPED and AEROBIA. Dennis ended his night with a nine-point win over Ed Nawrocki, 365-356.