1st Charles Reinke averaged a whopping 521 points per game, which isn't quite a personal record for him (he averaged 524 in a session back in 2015), and, as expected with an average score that high, he went 4-0 +604. His astoundingly good fortune was apparent in round one as he outbingoed Mark Kenas five to nothing en route to a no-doubt-about-it 574-371 victory. The five bingos were VAKEELS, LEGATED, INHOLDER, INCISIVE, and EMERITUS. Later on, he would nearly repeat the same feat as he would defeat Richard Lauder by a score of 571-233, bingoing four times (TASTING, CLAUSTRA, TAILGATE, and TELFERS) while also facing no comeback bingos from his opposition. On the other side of the bingo coin, Charles defeated Dennis Lloyd 460-418 despite a significant bingo deficit: Dennis played NOTATED, RATINGS, and word-of-the-week PARVENUE, while Charles only managed a single bingo of RETIRER.
2nd Thomas Reinke had an identical record to his brother, but a gulf of nearly 300 spread points relegated his 4-0 +313 performance to the second rung of the podium. He scored comfortably above 400 points in all his games, the best being a 498-302 win over Dennis Lloyd aided by high-probability bingo finds of IGNEOUS, REINTERS, and UNEASIER. Richard Lauder also got a taste of Thomas' bingo knowledge when Thomas laid down PILLBUG and RIDGETOP during a 416-343. Not content with mastery of one lexicon, Thomas' Collins bingo knowledge was flaunted in a 464-436 win over Mark Kenas where he deployed the Collins-only AZURINE# in addition to the familiar RETRIMS and INQUIET (Mark had PARSNIP and FEEDABLE, perhaps an omen of his upcoming dinner). If AZURINE# looks slightly familiar to you, you may be thinking of the similar-looking, but American-lexicon-approved, AZURITE.
1st Thomas Reinke took undisputed first place honors with his flawless 4-0 +432 performance. He also led all players with nine bingos played. Three of those bingos (HAMULOUS, GUTTIEST, and OUTSEEN) came against Peter Schmiedicke in a solid 468-303 victory. Not every game was so easy for Thomas; in two games against Mark Kenas, Thomas won both, but not by very large margins. The first was won by a score of 440-419, despite Mark outbingoing Thomas three to two: GOONIER, HOLDING, and INVESTOR for Mark, STENCIL and RUDDIES for Thomas. The second was 448-434 in Thomas' favor, thanks to Thomas' high-probability finds of TEENAGE and ORDINES.
2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +293, coming in second despite scoring below 400 in three of his games, a feat for a player who averages 445 per game. A 380-270 win against Sara McLaughlin, while looking impressive on the surface, was sullied by a phony bingo of EPISCIAE*. An episcia is a type of plant, and only pluralizes the normal way with EPISCIAS. Sara played the perfectly valid ANNUALS in that game, demonstrating once again the pronounced lack of any sort of justice in Scrabble. Charles followed that game up with a dominant 574-366 win against Mark Kenas, getting down MONORAIL and a triple-triple DULCIANS for 169 points. However, Charles' high-scoring tendencies were snuffed out immediately, as he was felled by Richard Lauder in the final round, 339-375. Richard now has a two game winning streak against Charles and surely plans to add to the streak in the coming weeks.
3rd Richard Lauder continued his impressive comeback tour with a 3-1 +64 final tally. His single loss was given to him by Sara McLaughlin, 334-386, despite Richard's nice find of SEAWANT. Sara found a bingo of AIRHOLE to supplement her well-rounded scoring attack. Richard went on to score a pair of 400-point games, both of which were wins for him. Against Peter Schmiedicke, he won 408-385, playing bingos of CRAALING and SECRETS. He then faced off against Dennis Lloyd and pulled deep into his bag of "tricks" (read: "phonies") to defeat his shellshocked opposition by a score of 438-381. Dennis played the valid GRANDEST while Richard deployed nonwords BORNEAL* and QUATROON*. In Richard's defense, BORNEAL* is close to the real word BORNEOL, and QUATROON* is close to QUADROON. But words are either phony or they're not, with no such thing as half a phony, so Richard was credited with two full phonies on the yearly stats despite those justifications.
1st Charles Reinke narrowly snagged first place with a 4-1 +407 record. He just barely escaped with a win against Sara McLaughlin in round one, achieving what must be one of his lowest winning scores in recent memory with a 315-313 final tally. Things were more comfortable against the returning Buffy Hogan, whom he beat 549-260, thanks to bingos of THERIANS, CATENAE, and a nine-letter RESONATED (Buffy did end the night with two wins, so her return wasn't completely spoiled). A pair of victories against Mark Kenas, 497-396 and 450-368, nicely added to Charles' win total. However, perfection was spoiled by Richard Lauder, who defeated Charles by a considerable margin, 455-388. Richard buried Charles with bingos of ALPINES, CIGARETS, and DESOLATE, while Charles managed just REISHIS (its anagram, HISSIER, is an easier find).
2nd Thomas Reinke matched his brother with a 4-1 record but fell short in terms of spread, having amassed only 358 points of spread to his brother's 407. His single loss came against Mark Kenas, and it couldn't have been a closer game, 480-481 being the final score. Mark played IDOLATER, EVINCES, and TOTITIVE# (after trying TITOTIVE*), while Thomas had SUBTREND and a triple-triple DERINGER for 145 big (but not big enough) points. As that game went on, Thomas was also playing Helen Flores, and that game he came out victorious, winning 415-354 with bingos of EARWIGS and word-of-the-week MALLEOLI. In round three, Thomas got his revenge against Mark, winning 480-440 and playing IODATED, ONSTAGE, and INEDITED in the process. Mark had ODALISK and EPURATE# to reach his 440-point losing score, which is high for the American lexicon but somewhat typical in games between Collins experts.
3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +286, beating out another 3-1 player, Richard Lauder, for third place. Bryan defeated the aforementioned Richard 428-348, a 122-point CALORIES for Bryan surely being the difference maker. The extremely useful ETESIAN was also on Bryan's bingo list that game, while Richard had SIERRAN and ANALOGS. Bryan's best game came against visitor from Ohio Ryan Adams - the pleasantly rhyming Bryan-Ryan showdown ended in an easy 456-234 win for Bryan, with bingos of DERRIERE, VENENOSE, and MEASURED being played by the winning side. Visions of an undefeated night of Scrabble were likely dancing in Bryan's head at that point, but he faced the always-tough Thomas Reinke in round four and sadly was defeated, 377-411.
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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