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1st Thomas Reinke displayed the full breadth and depth of his Scrabble expertdom with a pristine 5-0 +901 record and a fearsome average of 524 points per game. He got off to a strong start by scoring over 500 points in both games of a 2-on-1 match: 506-334 against Peter Schmiedicke and 535-320 against Sara McLaughlin. His combined bingos in those games were QINTARS, VENTAILS, GORSIER, SAPONINE, and GILTHEAD. But the true scoring mastery was reserved for a later game against Charles Reinke, where Thomas scored a whopping 667 (to his brothers relatively minuscule 360) and played five bingos of HERITOR, UNADDED, MOPANES#, VICIATES#, and HEADNOTE. Charles, to his credit, played SMIDGEON for a decent score, but was otherwise relegated to "spectator mode" for much of the contest.

2nd Charles Reinke finished with a humdrum 3-2 -48 record, but with most players bunched up in the standings at two wins, that humdrum record was enough for second place. Like his brother, Charles found success in playing two games at once, scoring big wins against Peter Schmiedicke (434-312) and Dennis Lloyd (464-316) and managing to play a nine-letter word in both games (MISPARTED against Peter, TESTIFIED against Dennis). Unfortunately, the game against Dennis was marred by a phony WAMBLERS* - to WAMBLE means "to move unsteadily", but it doesn't take an R. In addition to the 300-point loss to his brother noted above, Charles also lost to Helen Flores by a score of 357-415, thanks to her bingos of MIGRANT and TONGUES.

3rd Helen Flores went 2-2 -6 and outperformed her season average by a significant amount, averaging 381 per game. She started strong with two straight wins, a 415-357 triumph over Charles Reinke and a 403-304 win over Sue Goldstein. In the latter game, Helen played a bingo if INCENSE while Sue got down SAILERS (after some internal debate on whether SAILERS could be a valid alternate spelling of SAILORS). Helen's luck didn't continue after that, as she lost encounter against Sara McLaughlin and Peter Schmiedicke, but she did play at least one bingo in each game, which is always a worthy milestone.

We welcomed new player JoAnn Savoy, and while she didn't win either of her two games, we hope she comes back regardless!

1st Peter Schmiedicke shook off an accumulated five years of rust in his long-awaited return to club play, going 4-1 -8. After being warmly welcomed in a 322-479 loss to Charles Reinke, the intricacies of playing winning Scrabble started to trickle back into his brain, and he won his next four games. Along the way he scored a one-point win against the tougher-than-he-was-in-2017 Bryan Benwitz by a score of 372-371. A phony BESETTED* along with a valid ARTERIAL propelled Peter to the win in that one. His best game was another nailbiter, 434-421 against Helen Flores. Peter's long-disused bingoing skill came back in full force with plays ouf DOUBTER, ADVENTS, and AERIEST.

2nd Charles Reinke played an even two bingos in each of his five games as he finished with a 3-2 +347 record. His two losses came simultaneously, as he battled vainly against both Thomas Reinke and Bryan Benwitz in a two-on-one. He did come close to beating his brother, as their game ended with a final score of 469-471. Thomas' four bingoes of ANTIGENE, PRECLUDE, GLISTENS, and OUTEDGED* (not even good in Collins) were each crucial in securing the two-point win. Charles would later get his revenge in the final round, defeating his brother by a more comfortable margin, 440-389 thanks to a pair of high-probability bingos, ETALONS and TOLIDINE.

Of note was Sara McLaughlin's 502-423 win over Thomas Reinke, her first 500 game at our club. Of even more notable note, her opening bingo of SMARTED in that game (with a blank S) was exactly duplicated by Peter Schmiedicke when the two of them faced off in round four. A team of expert astronomers are currently analyzing exactly which stars had to be in alignment for that to happen.

1st Charles Reinke achieved the coveted undefeated record with a 4-0 +466 performance. A quick look at his winning scores (458, 470, 481, 517) plainly reveals an ascending pattern which would have continued unchecked had more games been played. Thus, for the dignity of all his challengers, it is a blessing that a typical club session consists of just four games, and Charles' streak of destruction was mercifully brought to a close. The most destructive of Charles' wins was a 470-299 win over Dennis Lloyd; Dennis had VARIANTS (something we hope we don't see any more of), while Charles had BEELINE, ENHALOED, and REIMPORT. Charles also enjoyed a solid 517-405 win against Thomas Reinke, where he flexed his newfound Collins knowledge with the Collins-only PERVIATE#. Thomas, meanwhile, flexed his knowledge of high-probability seven-letter words with OBESITY and DELATOR.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 with a stratospheric spread of +463 and a total of eleven bingos played in his four games. A 402-446 loss against Thomas Reinke in the first round put him in the losers' bracket early, and from there he wreaked havoc. A 455-280 win against Sara McLaughlin (playing bingos of INJURIES, FENNIEST, and UNIFORMS) quickly put his spread back into positive territory. The spread points were gratuitously piled on by the final round, when Bryan brought out the heavy artillery for a 513-312 win over Helen Flores. Bingos of MUNTINS, SLATTERN, DICROTAL, and LEAKINGS* were grimly laid down for, in the opinion of this writer and certainly all club attendees, entirely too many points. Bryan is now averaging an obscene 456 points per game through the first ten games of his club season.