Blog

1st Bryan Benwitz celebrated the new year not by winning all his games, but by winning all but one of them, which seems like the better strategy. How boring would it be to win all your games for the whole year? He finished 3-1 +270, coming in first place. He got his yearly loss out of the way quickly, losing to Thomas 448-463 in the first round. He bingoed with REASONED, and almost came back from a large deficit with a flurry of high-scoring non-bingos. One or two more turns would've done it, but the tile bag emptied before he could complete the comeback. No such heroics were needed against Dave in the second round, where he won 438-317, with bingoes of ASTONIES (v. ASTONY, to astonish) and GAROTTES. Remember, GAROTTE can also be spelled GAROTE, GARROTE, and GARROTTE. Bryan's biggest game of the night came against Charles, a high scoring affair for both players, and he won 515-470. Both players bingoed thrice, Charles with TETANAL, CRAMPIER, and MAINTAIN, while Bryan had TORCHED, GRADUATE, and TOTALISE. He also played SEIZE for 78, proving once again that you don't need to play bingo-like amounts of tiles to score bingo-like amounts of points. In the final round, he faced Michael and won 393-274. He managed to bingo twice on a closed board, with BAGGIEST and BROADEST.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +184, coming in second just behind Bryan. He won a close won against Bryan in the first round, 463-448. He bingoed four times early, with INTONED, ORBITERS, TRITEST, and REIMAGED, but his luck dried up and he barely held on for the win. Against Dennis in the second round, he won 489-309. Dennis bingoed with SORTING, and Thomas played VAPOURED, SEALERS, and a double-double BEEFIEST for nearly 100 points. In the next game, he faced Michael, who struck first with a fancy double-double of FAMILIAL. He also played the always-reliable STONIER. Thomas bingoed with only BANSHIE (an alternate spelling of BANSHEE), but despite being out-bingoed, won 439-388. After that, Thomas' hopes for a perfect night were ruined by Charles, who beat him 442-380. Thomas bingoed with WINTERER (n. one who winters), which prompted Charles to grouchily mumble "that shouldn't be a word". Thomas, for his part, didn't mumble anything at all while Charles played his bingos of ELLIPTIC and VETOING.

3rd Dave Kinzer enjoyed a successful night after a club-mandated Scrabble break (sometimes called a "Scrabbatical"), going 2-1 +91 and coming in third place. He beat Gail 395-295 in the first round, without playing a bingo. Gail got down OUTLAST, but Dave decided that scoring a bunch of points most turns was the way to go with his particular tiles. Cruelly, he did get down a bingo against Bryan in the next game, CURRANTS, but lost anyway, 317-438. In his the third round, his final round, he beat Helen handily, 401-289. Dave got down the fancy REFINERY, and stymied Helen at every turn. She did eventually play the phony VENNATES*, which stayed on the board. VENENATES would be the closest real word to that play.

Helen won word-of-the-week for her triple-triple AGGRIEVE, which scored 167 points and won her 9 total dollars, probably a better prize than the word-of-the-week award. She used that play (among others), to beat Charles 519-416.

1st Charles Reinke went 4-0 +314 to prevail over a smallish field of six players and carry good Scrabble vibes into the holiday week. He started off with a 457-337 win over Lynda Finn where he got down bingos of ORECTIVE, SOLIDAGO, and GROSSER. Lynda had LABIATE to ensure that the final score wasn't too out of hand. Charles then went up against Mary Becker and played a close, high-scoring game which ended with a score of 490-465 in Charles' favor. Mary's losing score of 465 is the fourth highest this club season and also her highest losing score ever! Her bingos of BANANAS and INSURED, plus huge nonbingo plays of ILEX and ZAP, seemed like they would be enough until Charles hit a trio of bingos late: AGONISES, FLAUNTER, and LOITERS. In round three, Charles triumphed over Bryan Benwitz, 442-406, getting bingos of MISGREW and RAVIGOTE (Bryan had RELOADED and INNARDS, and also found out that having a blank on your last rack is only a good thing if you don't have three I's to go with it). Charles wrapped up his perfect night in shiny paper (and put a big red bow on top) by showing no Christmastime cheer in a domination of his brother Thomas, 429-326. An outbingo of PANICLE, to go with TAUTEST, spelled doom for the losing side (who played RAINIEST).

2nd Michael David went 3-1 with an unfortunate -8 spread. His first game was a win against Mary Becker, 398-325, with bingos of SPINNER and DEMOLISH (Mary had MALTIEST). The trend of collecting positive spread totals continued with a 391-355 victory versus Bryan Benwitz where Michael played LUNIEST and AEDILES; those keeping track at home will note that Michael's point spread was well above zero at this point. That pattern of victories ended abruptly and savagely when Michael lost to Thomas Reinke 284-526. Thomas played a foursome of seven-letter bingos: REPINED, RUPTURE, POSITED, and SIMLINS (also spelled CYMLINGS), while Michael was held tragically bingoless. Winning ways were once again established when Michael made easy work of Lynda Finn, 461-336. His three bingos of DEIFYING, TANGLIER, and SAVVILY aided him greatly in his quest for Scrabble glory (joke's on him, though, as there isn't all that much glory to be found in Scrabble).

1st Bryan Benwitz went a perfect "four-and-oh" (said breathlessly and with reverence) and amassed a dominant +520 spread, winning each game by a margin of more than a hundred. It was also his first undefeated club performance since March. His crowning achievement was pulling off the rare "Anti-Reinke" in the first two rounds, defeating the Reinke twins one after the other in ruthless fashion. In the first round, he took down Thomas 438-319 thanks to a pair of bingos, PEAVIES and BELCHES (Thomas was held bingoless, which is rumored to be a good strategy against him). Bryan went on to defeat Charles with similar ease, 494-355. In that one, he played four bingos (another good strategy for beating a Reinke): URINATE, EARTHING, SEQUINS, and word-of-the-week CLABBERS (the anagram of our beloved word game). The run of strong play wasn't done there as Bryan trounced Betty Hasselkus, 420-290, in round three, playing SPROUTED as the sole bingo for either player. Bryan wrapped up his undefeated run with a round four victory against Helen Flores, 444-312. Helen had a bingo of CASINOS, but Bryan outdid her with DETERGE and EXILIAN.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 with a comparatively wimpy +92 point spread. He started off strong with a 517-332 victory over Dave Kinzer, fueled by a four-bingo onslaught of EXCITORS, RUNNERS, MANATOID, and GUILTIER. Much of the large point spread gained in round one was erased in round two, however, as Charles ran up against the unstoppable Bryan Benwitz and found himself on the losing end of a 355-494 contest. In the third round, Charles played a close game against Dennis Lloyd, barely squeaking out with a 413-405 win. Both players had two bingos: INVADES and NUTRIAS for Dennis, FLAWIEST and GLANDULE for Charles. A high-scoring 474-436 win against fraternal foe Thomas in the final round propelled Charles into prestigious "writeup territory"; Charles' bingos of VERATRIA and INHERED were certainly crucial as his brother got down OVULATES and SOILAGE.