Blog

1st Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +161 for another first place finish, making this writer somewhat bored with writing about the same subject over and over again. He scored over 400 in all his games, but the first of those was 400 points on the dot, and it was a loss, as his opponent, Dennis Lloyd, scored 468. Dennis played SQUANDER, PASSING, and ORIGAMI, while Thomas had TARTUFES and ORPINES. In the remaining three games, Thomas found his bingoing mojo (not that it was ever lost), getting three bingos in each of three consecutive wins. This culminated with a 525-392 victory over Mark Kenas, who played the phony MORULATE* (EMULATOR is the word in thlose letters). Thomas, meanwhile, found valid bingos of NEUSTIC, SCARTED, and GLARING.

2nd Dennis Lloyd averaged 405 points per game, considerably above his season average of 381, en route to a 3-1 +15 finish. Getting off to a good start in round one with a win against Thomas Reinke, Dennis used that momentum to take down Helen Flores, 435-413. Dennis got a 148-point triple-triple of NAKEDEST, but Helen didn't allow the high-scoring play from her opponent get to her head, as she made it a close game with bingos of HEARING and FUDGIER. Dennis improved his record to 3-0 with a 380-368 win over Dave Kinzer, and could practically taste the glory of a perfect 4-0 record, but lost in the final round to Peter Schmiedicke, 336-423.

1st Thomas Reinke extended his lead in the yearly standings with yet another first-place finish, this time going 4-1 +370. He got what must be one of his lowest-scoring wins in recent memory when he prevailed against Helen Flores, 355-316. The two combatants' combined bingo total was a paltry one (1), that being Thomas' ARANEID. Thomas' fortunes turned around quickly in the next round, as he played four bingos (CHIANTIS, DOLLIES, ESERINE, and ELOINERS) in a 556-331 win against Dennis Lloyd. Mark Kenas was the only one able to beat Thomas, coming out ahead, 416-355. Somewhat atypically for a Collins game, each player had just one bingo: GARROTE for Mark, ROCKETS for Thomas.

2nd Charles Reinke played fourteen bingos and averaged a weighty 503 points per game, but didn't even get an undefeated record for all that hard work, finishing 3-1 +349. Charles gave Mark Kenas the business in two consecutive games, playing four bingos in each and overall displaying an alarming lack of empathy for his opponent. The first was a 582-374 drubbing where a 131-point 3x3 PRIORATE wasn't even strickly necessary for the win. The second was slightly closer, 557-417 in Charles' favor, with bingos of TESTONS, UNIVERSE, AGONIES, and GAMINES all belonging to Charles (Mark had TAILGATE and INTROLD#). A round four encounter against brother Thomas Reinke proved to be Charles' downfall, as he was vanquished 410-454 despite getting down the word of the week, TROUVEUR, for 90 points. A trouvere is something like a troubadour, a traveling poet-musician of medieval times.

1st Thomas Reinke once again established his Scrabble-playing primacy by averaging 459 points per game and going 4-1 +469. In round one, he crested the 500-point mark with a 512-406 win against Aaron Bader, giving him enough of a psychological boost to finish out the rest of the night strongly. A triple-triple of INCLOSED for 158 points was the primary factor in Thomas' win, negating Aaron's flashy Collins-only find of MYTILOID#. Switching back to the American lexicon, Thomas easily handled former club director Richard Lauder by a score of 497-295, getting bingos of ENGINES, ENTAILED, and UPRATES to secure the win. Thomas' only loss came against the familiar opponent Charles Reinke, 400-435. The twins' bingo situations mirrored each other, as Thomas had OREODONT and WITGATS# to Charles' GAGSTER and FOUTERED#.

2nd Richard Lauder had a nice 3-1 record with a not-so-nice -46 spread. That negative spread was largely the result of the previously described whomping that Richard received at the hand of Thomas Reinke. Fortunately, Richard was able to avoid getting "Reinked" by winning a close one against Charles Reinke, 363-360. Richard played RETURNS in that game, while Charles had MIDSOLE. The high point of Richard's evening was a high-scoring 451-415 win over Helen Flores, aided by a trio of eight-letter bingos: MARSHIER, DELEGATE, and NAUSEATE. Helen, not content to let Richard have all the fun playing all those bingos, got down GOALIES and GROUNDS.