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1st Bryan Benwitz emerged unscathed from a four-player fray, going 3-0 +359 and averaging 453 points per game in the process. He started with a sound drubbing of Thomas Reinke, 474-359, playing AIRLINE, EGOTIZED, and PRESTIGE. That victory was followed up by a 399-381 win over Charles Reinke, thus bestowing upon Bryan the distinction of having pulled off the "anti-reinke" (beating both Reinkes in one club session). Even a late phony of AUREOUS could not save Charles in that one. In the third and final round, Bryan pulled out all the stops against Dennis Lloyd, walking away with a 486-260 win while getting down bingos of OUTMOVE, DABSTERS, and OVERWARY.

Bryan's RIFLIPS was word of the week. RIFLIP is a variant of the acronym RFLP, which stands for restriction fragment length polymorphism. To this writer, that phrase sounds like four random words that in no way relate to each other at all.

1st Thomas Reinke ran the table, going 4-0 with a numerically consistent +333 spread. His most closely-fought contest was a bout against Helen Flores in which he won by a score of 480-439. Thomas got down bingos of ENCIPHER and INITIATE, but Helen gamely punched back with her own plays of CRESTING and REREADS. The high point of Thomas' evening came in round three when he obliterated his brother Charles Reinke, 520-368. Charles played the word of the week BARLEDUC, but this accolade did little to assuage the torment he felt as Thomas laid down bingos of INVITEE, EVANISH, and NITRILE.

2nd Bryan Benwitz enjoyed a solid 2-1 +174 record. He effortlessly turned away Charles Reinke in round 1, playing bingos of CONSUMES and MARCHES. Bryan deployed the creative extension of MARCHES into MARCHESI, displaying for all to see his deep knowledge of obscure hooks. His sole loss came against Thomas Reinke, 323-414, with each player playing one bingo (PRODUCED for Bryan, CANNONED for Thomas). The baffling discrepancy in their point totals can be explained by the fact that Thomas scored more points than Bryan over the course of the game.

Co-1st Charles Reinke sort of came in first place by finishing with a 3-1 +148 record. His highest-scoring game was a 484-403 win against the resilient Bryan Benwitz. In that one, Charles had bingos of LANGUOR and VIBRATO, while Bryan had ATTORNEY and TRICLADS. He followed up that performance with his worst game of the evening, a 329-413 defeat at the hands of Thomas Reinke. Painfully, Charles played no bingos in that one; Thomas had OCHREAE and RABBLING. However, not all was lost: by virtue of his name being first alphabetically, Charles is bestowed the honor of receiving the first paragraph of the write-up. Some would call that destiny.

Co-1st Thomas Reinke also went 3-1 +148, and is currently wishing that he had tried harder to play optimal endgames in order to scrounge together a few additional points of spread. Like his brother, his best game came in round one, when he downed Dennis Lloyd 452-359, playing VERATRUM, TRECENTO, and PAGINATE. Dennis got down DELAYING. After two additional wins (including a clever endgame against Bryan Benwitz which involved Thomas passing his turn), Thomas' aspirations for an undefeated evening were dashed as he fell to Charles, 419-457. That game was a veritable bingo bonanza, with both players playing three (MONERAN, DIALERS, CATAMITE for Thomas; OUTFISH, HARDILY, INBREEDS for Charles).

Dennis' BIOTECH was picked as word of the week, played against Sue Goldstein in a 351-348 squeaker win for him.