Blog

1st Thomas Reinke compiled an unblemished 4-0 +355 record while also extending his ongoing winning streak to eleven games. He came somewhat close to breaking the 600-point barrier in a game against Sara McLaughlin which he won 584-298, playing bingos of AUSTERE, BLINKED, STIFLES, and TACNODES in what turned out to be the second-highest-scoring game this season (Bryan had a 588 back in August). Two straight wins against Charles Reinke in rounds three and four put Thomas' winning streak against that particular opponent at seven games, to that opponent's eternal frustration.

2nd Helen Flores went 2-2 +192, beating out two other 2-2 players for a well-deserved second place finish that saw her average an impressive 405 points per game, nearly 70 points more than her season average up to this point. Her big win came against Dennis Lloyd, 437-267, where she played two bingos, RAPIDLY and STOURIE. She came quite close to dethroning some of the club's top experts, losing to Charles Reinke 379-392 and losing to Bryan Benwitz 388-406 (the latter loss happening despite her 99-point bingo of COQUETS, played in addition to a 67-point GLIMPSE).

1st Thomas Reinke went a perfect 4-0 with a numerically pleasing spread of +500. His current winning streak stands at seven games, so he could reach ten wins in a row as soon as our next meeting. Of note, Thomas averaged 459 points per game despite scoring a lowly 336 against Helen Flores (who scored just 287 in her losing effort, but did get the only bingo of the game, REWRITE). The highlight of Thomas' night came in the first round, as he easily dispatched Bryan Benwitz by a score of 520-390. In that game, Thomas played the word of the week CHURCHES - the word rates poorly on the normal metrics for word of the week candidacy (obscurity, impressiveness of the find), but rates well on the irony factor, given that it was played on the one week a month that we don't meet in a church.

2nd Charles Reinke put together a 3-1 +243 record that frustratingly included a fifth-straight loss against his brother, this time by a score of 382-441. On a happier note, Charles notched a fourth-straight win against Bryan Benwitz (after suffering four straight losses and a tie), 380-351. Charles had a neat 100-point QUARREL to open the game, but barely held on as Bryan played AEOLIAN and spent the final few turns building up to a bingo that ended up not fitting on the board. Charles also enjoyed a comfortable 432-321 win over Sara McLaughlin in their first (but probably not last) over-the-board encounter.

1st Charles Reinke averaged a nifty 489 points per game en route to a 4-1 +572 finish. His first three games were all over 500 points: 548-308 against Dennis Lloyd, 548(again!)-409 against Bryan Benwitz, and 507-332 against Helen Flores. A total of nine bingos were played by Charles in those three games, including the 158-point triple-triple DANEWORT played against Bryan. Charles' only loss came against Thomas Reinke, 428-479; a 109-point AMTRACK came up short against the victor's bingos of AIRLINES and BYGONES.

2nd Thomas Reinke also went 4-1, but his inferior +266 spread put him in distant second place in the nightly standings. His best game was a 480-333 win over Sara McLaughlin; Sara got down a bingo of MODERNER, but Thomas and his three bingos could not be stopped. The victory was marred, however, by Thomas' phony of CRIBRATE*, which is only good in the Collins dictionary (the similar CRIBROUS is good in our dictionary, and CATBRIER would have been the valid play with those letters). The only defeat that Thomas suffered was a real doozy, as Bryan Benwitz smoked him by a score of 507-354. This time it was Bryan's turn to get three bingos, as he played MERGING, MUSSIER, and INEPTER (the latter of which receiving a challenge born out of abject desperation).