Blog

1st Thomas Reinke rebounded from the previous week's 1-3 effort to go 4-0 +364, not only earning the collective respect of the Scrabble-playing masses, but also taking home the fabled (and wholly fabricated) "undefeated trophy", which is made out of solid gold. The glory of his achievement is somehow greatened by the fact that his four wins were achieved in just three rounds, as club was adjourned early due to the threat of severe weather. Thomas' best game came against Dave Kinzer in the first round, where he won 498-297, thanks to bingos of ENROLLER, THIOUREA, and INEDITED. INEDITED means "unpublished", so do not try to play INEDITS*. Thomas also enjoyed a close 419-416 win against his brother Charles Reinke, playing WINGOVER, DOTTING, and ACHIOTES to secure the victory (and temporary bragging rights).

2nd Charles Reinke averaged a spiffy 457 points per game en route to a 3-1 +526 record. A 463-320 win against Bryan Benwitz (playing ENDEAVOR, BELADIES, and SUTURES) was a good way to start things off, but the aforementioned defeat at the hands of the other Reinke put to rest Charles' private yearning for a perfect record. Round 3 saw Charles play in a 2-on-1 against Sue Goldstein and Helen Flores, and the result was very favorable for Charles, as he accumulated four more bingos and almost 400 points in spread between the two games.

Dennis Lloyd was awarded word of the week for INITIATE, which, while a common word, is notable for being comprised of letters that would cause most Scrabble players to give up. Can any among us honestly say that we would look at AEIIINTT and think to ourselves "I can bingo this turn"?

1st Charles Reinke celebrated the return of in-person Scrabble, and the beginning of a new club season, by putting up an undefeated record reminiscent of the pre-pandemic times, going 4-0 +405. His largest win was against visiting Iowan Mike Johnson, 438-244, getting down bingos of TRINDLE and AHIEVED. Charles, finding players from Iowa very easy to defeat, encourages Mike to bring along more of them next time he visits Madison. A game against Helen Flores was similarly successful for the first-place finisher, as he took her down 493-321. Helen played PLUNGER, but was turned away by Charles' bingos of VERTISOL and HORSIES.

2nd Bryan Benwitz played a reduced slate of three games but nevertheless finished second with a 2-1 +186 final tally. Similar to the feats described in the above paragraph, Bryan's best game was against Helen Flores, 506-324. A significant chunk of those 506 points came from a 149-point triple-triple STRIDDEN. Bryan hardly slowed down as he then ran up against Thomas Reinke and again walked away victorious, 475-394. His trio of MATRICES, PUNSTER, and TRICKLY were more than enough to overcome Thomas' odd-looking, but valid, VISIBLES. A perfect record proved elusive, however, as a certain visiting Iowan managed to defeat Bryan in his final game by a score of 414-337.

Mike Johnson got word of the week with TSOORIS, played in a one-point win against Lynda Finn that involved a crucial Q-stick. His nine-letter RUMINATES against Thomas Reinke was also in consideration for the honor.

1st Thomas Reinke edged out his brother by 6 spread points to take first place at 2-1 +156. His night started off slow, but he still won a relatively low scoring match against Helen, 363-302. His CONSULS was the only bingo found on the board at the end. His scoring picked up dramatically in the second round (what, you though you could hold him under 400 forever?), as he beat Dave 501-306. His bingoes in that game were MONKEYS (which blocked Dave's SLIPPAGE) and ERRHINE (n. a substance that promotes nasal discharge). In the final round, he played a rare double-W bingo, WALLOWED, as well as bingoed out with AGNATES, but still lost big to Charles, 397-497. That out-bingo turned a second place performance into a first place one, though, so it wasn't all bad.

2nd Charles Reinke failed to win his final game by enough points to surpass Thomas, and ended up in second at 2-1 +150. In the first round, he went up against Gail, and they tied the bingo battle 1-1, with Gail playing ENTRIES and Charles playing CAVEOLAE. Somehow, despite the bingo count being even, he won 447-353. In the next game, he doubled his bingo count to 2, but lost 437-393. Bryan bingoed thrice, with POLICIES, DEFUNCT, and RELOANDER, while Charles had HOODIES and RETINAS. There are 8 other words in that set of letters, but RETINAS is the least played one since the club started keeping track, despite it being a more common word than something like STEARIN or ANESTRI. Charles doubled his bingo count again in the third round, playing 4 of them: BOTULINS, SPOONIER, ROASTERS, and INCOMER, and won 497-397. Too bad there wasn't a fourth game, or we could have seen a club-record 8-bingo game!