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1st Charles Reinke took advantage of a shortened club session that allowed his 3-0 +130 performance to go unchallenged by any theoretical 4-0 finisher. His first game was a closely-fought 387-382 win over Bryan Benwitz, who played VARMENTS and EGOTISTS while the victor played BOURREES and MONERANS. That win was followed up with a more convincing 412-322 victory against James Frankki. Charles played FRICANDO as his only a bingo, a word which only pluralizes to FRICANDOES. However, this intricacy was not known to either player, and James hooked his bingo of CARRIES to make the phony FRICANDOS* without being punished for it. The final, and, as it turned out, deciding game was fought between Charles and his similarly-skilled brother Thomas. Charles prevailed, 406-371, playing UNTRIED and URINOSE to Thomas' CAVITIES and WRINGER. A late attempt of UNSHOES* by Thomas spelled doom for the losing side (only UNSHOD is good).

2nd Thomas Reinke went 2-1 +309, beating the other 2-1 player, Bryan Benwitz, by a sizable amount of spread for second place. Game one was Thomas' most successful, as he wiped the floor with Helen Flores, 508-312. The bingo disparity (three to nothing) seems to indicate, at least on the surface, that Thomas drew the lion's share of the so-called "good stuff". His bingos were SALTERS, OCTAVOS, and URIDINE. Thomas then defeated Dave Gilligan, again by a healthy margin, 438-290. Dave played PRAISES in that one; Thomas had CORSETED and LATRINES. The final game between undefeateds Thomas and Charles Reinke saw the conclusion of Thomas' mini-streak of dominance: Charles was the winner, 406-371.

Bryan's DIZZIES was word of the week, but it could have been word of the century if it had involved no blanks. Dave's COINFERS, which looks like a misspelling of CONIFERS but is acatually a word in its own right, was also in the running for word of the week honors.

1st Charles Reinke, for the second week in a row, won three games en route to a first-place finish, this time going 3-1 +241. His first game was a 422-365 win over James Frankki, but James came out ahead in the "stylistic supremacy" column thanks for a nine-letter bingo of ANALOGUES (Charles had RETAINER and QUAKIEST). That win was followed up with a 384-310 win against Dave Gilligan, who played FLAKIEST to counter Charles' AGONISES. Charles' big win was in round three against Betty Hasselkus, however, his crushing 491-265 victory was marred by a nine-letter phony of REATTENDS*. The shame of that phony was only partially washed away by his valid bingos of SNARFING and JANITORS. With a perfect 4-0 performance in his sight, Charles matched up against Bryan Benwitz in the final game only to get outbingoed 0-4 and consequently lose, 376-492. However, losing by 120 points is probably the best-case scenario when getting outbingoed so convincingly.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 for the third week running, but his +203 spread left him a little bit short of first place. Second place isn't bad, though! In round one, he faced off against Helen Flores and came away with the win, 400-367. Both players had one bingo: DECRIES for Bryan, SNORTER for Helen. Sadly, Bryan's winning ways were derailed in the second game as he fell to Betty Hasselkus 365-381. Notably, this was Betty's first win against Bryan in five years! His SCHIZOS for 96 was somehow not enough to secure victory, but it was at least enough to secure "highest-scoring bingo of the night" honors (the plaque is in the mail). Winning ways were resumed in round three when Bryan took down Dave Gilligan 406-336 despite challenging Dave's valid CHILLEST. Meanwhile, Bryan played ROAMERS, a word which Dave did not consider challenging for even the briefest of moments. In the final game of the night, Bryan smacked down Charles Reinke 492-376, playing RADIATES, CREASER, DIALIST, and TROLANDS while his opponent could only watch impotently.

3rd Betty Hasselkus went 2-1 -171 for a third place finish, wisely leaving after three games to secure her spot in thes tandings. Her first-round win was a bingoless affair against Barb Pratzel, 359-320. However, bingos aren't strictly necessary if you can play ZEKS for 80-some points, as Betty did in that game. Betty followed up that success by toppling Bryan Benwitz 381-365; the historical significance of this victory is noted above but can be repeated: this is Betty's first win against Bryan since 2014. Dreams of an undefeated evening were dashed, however, in round three, as Betty went up against Charles Reinke and lost 265-491.

1st Charles Reinke went 3-1 +266 and didn't score below 400 in any of his games, good enough for first place. He started off with a big win over Bryan Benwitz, 452-367, where Bryan's late bingo of OCREATE was immediately met with an out-bingo of REVIVES from Charles (to go with his RIALTOS and CATENARY played earlier in the game). The time-tested strategy of playing three bingos to win was again put to good use against Gail Salm, as Charles bingoed thricely* with IMPASTED, FERMATAS, and the nine-letter DESTINIES on his way to a 464-347 win. Gail played HOOFERS and LIVENERS to ensure that the margin wasn't too catastrophic. Charles' third and final win was against James Frankki, 416-348; ENTANGLE and OKAYING were Charles' bingos, while James had TOONIES. Hopes for a perfect evening were dashed, however, by Mary Becker in round 4, as she emerged victorious in a close endgame, 410-406. Her high-scoring bingos of BISECTED (89) and POACHER (86) easily outclassed Charles' lower-scoring plays of PINTADO (72) and RAINLESS (59).

(*THRICELY is phony - don't study words using these writeups!)

2nd Thomas Reinke tested out his newfound Collins knowledge with a four-game series against Mark Kenas using the international dictionary, and it didn't turn out so bad, with Thomas going 3-1 +88. The single loss came in the first game: Thomas fell 348-413, playing DILUENTS against Mark's FANCIES. Thomas rebounded in the second game to win 436-379, playing LEANNESS, DOUGHIER, and NANOBEE#. Mark countered with his own Collins knowledge, playing TOOLMEN# in addition to TRAJECT. Thomas' best game came next when he won 494-418, again playing three bingos: CHOLENTS, WEASAND, and INCAGED. The final game was another win for Thomas, but it was a bit closer at 424-404. More Collins bingo knowledge was on display from both players: Mark played BAINITE#, but Thomas got down the fancy VILLAGIO# for maximum style points.

3rd Mary Becker claimed third place by nineteen spread points, her 3-1 +9 record beating out Bryan's 3-1 -10 record. Her first game was a low-scoring 324-313 win - we can all imagine the torments that both players faced. Mary did bingo with ANTSIER to ease the discomfort somewhat. She had another close game, this time a loss, against James Frankki, 354-361. The only bingo on that board was James' phony SHIVING*. If you thought those first two games were closely-contested, think again; Mary's third game of the night, this time against Helen Flores, ended in the slimmest of margins: just one point, 319-318. The trend of nailbiters continued into the fourth and final game, where Mary clinched a spot in the top three with a higher-scoring 410-406 match against Charles Reinke.