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1st Thomas Reinke found himself at the top of the heap at the end of an abbreviated club session, going 3-1 +129. Granted the privilege of playing two games in the first round, Thomas found himself on both the giving and receiving ends of blowouts. On the "receiving" side, he was defeated soundly by Bryan Benwitz, 316-470. Bryan used a 99-point ANTISEX, among other bingos, to make quick work of his opponent. On the "giving" side, Thomas used three bingos (WATERMEN, NEATENS, and SPAROID) to score a big win against Dennis Lloyd, 501-313. Thomas' bingo prowess was again on display in a match versus Charles Reinke, where his four bingos of ANNOTATE, FACTOIDS, DRAGLINE, and TOHEROA# led him to a 440-418 win.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged 466 points per game en route to a 2-1 +241 final record. After making easy work of Thomas Reinke in the first round (the gory details of which are recounted above), Bryan moved on to Dennis Lloyd and won 481-346 despite getting outbingoed two-to-one (Bryan had a singular OBTRUDE, while Dennis had GUNLESS and FILLINGS). Bryan went into round three with visions of an undefeated record dancing in his mind, but those visions were snuffed out by the relentless scoring of Charles Reinke, who was victorious, 494-446. However, Bryan can take solace in the fact that 446 is by far the highest losing score of the young club season up to this point.

Sara McLaughlin's SEXTILE was word of the week. The definition is too difficult to succinctly summarize so Google it if you want to know what it means.

1st Charles Reinke sat loftily upon his throne of victory, savoring his unblemished 4-0 +305 record in much the same way that a king savoring the ever-present sensation of immense power that one feels when one is king. He reeled off a pair of victories against Thomas Reinke that were eerily similar in their final scores: 418-361 in the first round, then 418-365 in the fourth round. Both games were played with the Collins dictionary, but all bingos played might be familiar to players of the American dictionary: SAWFLIES, RAISONNE, SOLATES, and MOSSIER for Charles, TRANGAM, PEISING, and MENSTRUA for Thomas. In just one game was Charles held to a single bingo, but that game turned out to be his most successful of the evening as he took down last week's champion Helen Flores by a score of 459-329. Helen had nice finds of VAMPIRES and TUTELAGE in that one, thus leaving the battlefield with her dignity full intact.

2nd Sara McLaughlin took advantage of a 2-on-1 opportunity in the final round to vault herself to second place with a 3-2 -86 record. In that 2-on-1 she turned away both Dennis Lloyd (415-345) and Helen Flores (358-314). An 80-point PAINTERS in her game against Dennis was a major boon to her victory chances. Sara also had a nice find of GIAOURS (n. GIAOUR, a non-Muslim) in a 374-269 win over Sue Goldstein. However, her hopes at a positive point spread were severely diminished when she ran headlong into the brick wall that is Thomas Reinke: the 311-551 loss did 240 points of damage to her cumulative point total.

1st Helen Flores made some type of history by finishing 4-1 +178, her first four-win outing since way back in February of 2013. It was also her first eight-bingo excursion since that same date. Helen's fruitful evening of Scrabble success started off with a masterful 452-411 win over last year's club champion, Thomas Reinke, thanks in no small part to two bingos of LOANING and BIPLANES. Thomas fought back with HATTERIA and ASYNDETA, but his efforts were, in the end, futile. Helen later improved on that heady 452 score with an even more dominant 469-280 win against Sara McLaughlin. In that game, Helen added three bingos (DETOXED, SHADIER, and SNIGGLED) to her ever-lengthening list of bonus plays. Unfortunately, a 303-430 loss against Charles Reinke prevented Helen from achieving a more-perfect-than-perfect 5-0 record.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 with a barely-there spread of +6 to finish well back of Helen Flores for second place. Most of his spread total was obliterated in a crushing 569-402 loss against Thomas Reinke, who had four bingos: BAREGINE#, ENSWATHE, CHITOSAN, DELUSIVE. However, it was Charles' first official foray into the Collins lexicon, so it could have been worse. Besides, Charles got his revenge in a later rematch, winning 431-420 thanks to bingos of FORESAID, TIDELINE, and MATRICS.

3rd Dennis Lloyd powered his way to a 3-1 +257 record after missing the first game due to a work obligation (which is never a valid excuse for missing a game of Scrabble). He came out on top in both games of a two-on-one, beating Sue Goldstein 390-240 (despite her bingo of REFRIES) and Dave Kinzer 415-371. A closely fought 363-367 loss against Charles Reinke, where his bingo of RATTLED for 72 cleanly countered Charles' CRATERS for 70, proved to be the only blemish on an otherwise flawless performance from Mr. Jeopardy.