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1st Richard Lauder stood alone as the only undefeated player of the night, finishing with a 3-0 +97 record. He started the session paired against a tough opponent in Charles, but he showed no fear and won a close one, 376-370. His first bingo of NEONATES scored a mere 58, but his self-descriptive play of TALENTED near the end put him over the top. At his own request, he played as the "one" in a two-on-one in the second round, facing Betty and Helen. Normal club operating procedure is that someone who specifically requests a two-on-one is paired with Thomas and Charles, but an exception was made in this case since he had already played Charles. Anyway, he won his game against Helen 388-320, with bingos of SIDEARMS (v. SIDEARM, to pitch a ball below shoulder level) and RELISHES. Against Betty, he won 361-338. Betty bingoed with REBOUNDS, while Richard had another low-scoring bingo, SALTERNS for 58. Does anyone else things would be more fun with a few more double and triple-word scores squeezed in the emptier spaces on the board?

2nd Thomas Reinke utilized the tactics he learned in the lawless land of Reno to come in second with a 3-1 +416 record. In the first game, he notched the highest game of the club year with a 652-point explosion against James. He bingoed five times, with VISCOSE (n. a viscous solution), UNEARNED, NONENTRY, ATOMIZED, and BIRACIAL. If he thought he was going to average 600 for the club session, however, he was sorely mistaken, as he came crashing back to Earth in the next round, losing 354-378 to Bryan. He rebounded a bit against Charles after that, winning 444-421. He had bingos of PIOLETS (anagram PISTOLE) and MOUCHES, with Charles having DIOXANE and a high-V-winning VOMITIER. For some reason, he was rewarded for this win with another chance to lose against Charles in the fourth round. With Charles' attention divided between him and Bryan, he won again, 440-402. His bingos were lame and not worth noting, unlike Charles' finds of ALTITUDE and PUDDINGY (adj. resembling pudding).

3rd Bryan Benwitz averaged a slick 433 on his way to a 3-1 +349 record. Like Thomas, he earned the bulk of his spread in the first round, in his case by beating Betty 542-280. A score like that implies a large amount of bingoes, which he had: SLATING, MONTIES, LEPROUS, and RIDDLERS. Likewise, a win against Thomas also implies a large amount of bingoes, but that wasn't the case in round two. He won 378-354, playing "only" (he would instead claim that it was exactly the correct amount of bingoes needed, no more, no less) MISDONE. In the third round, he faced Gail and won 461-347. Gail bingoed with MINERALS, and Bryan had bingoes of NIDGETS (n. NIDGET, an idiot), ATTENDS, and UNRENTED. A close inspection of this paragraph will indicate that up to this point, he had not lost a game. Which means you know what's coming next: a 351-413 loss against Charles. Charles played RESEDAS and a double-blank SCALARE, while Bryan's racks were such that he was forced to make up a bingo just to get one on the board: RAGLIKE*, which seems very reasonable to me.

Mark played the Word Of The Week, SAILMAKER. I seem to remember him saying that he had studied all the -MAKER words (LOVEMAKER, TROUBLEMAKER, WIDOWMAKER, etc.), so this play should come as no surprise. Bonus quiz: find the other word in the letters of SAILMAKER.

Congratulations go out to Thomas for coming in fourth place at the National Scrabble Championship in Reno, Nevada!

The world-famous Reinke twins were still on their way back from Nationals on Wednesday evening (Thomas had great success and Charles did sort of OK) and were therefore absent from club, but Madison Scrabble Club met anyway!  So there!

Gail Salm had luck on her side (FINALLY, she said) and went a perfect 3-0 with a handsome spread of +304, taking down Dave Kinzer, Sue Goldstein and Michael David in the process.  She led the session with six bingoes, two of which contained a J!  (JAILORS and REJOINED.)

Bryan Benwitz lost in the first round in a close game with Michael, then recovered to finish at 2-1, +142.  He managed four bingoes total, including a couple V bingoes OVULATES and LIVIERS (LIVYERS is also good, LIVYER - A permanent resident of Newfoundland).

Betty Hasselkus rounded out the top three with a 2-1, +111.  She beat Sue then had a solid win over Michael by a margin of 74.  In the last round she fell to Bryan, but by just 19 points.  She had two bingoes for the night, STINGER and VASELINE (a trademark but yes, it's valid!  Even VASELINED is good too.).

Total Reinke dominance at club is set to resume July 31st.

1st James Frankki placed himself in rare company by coming in first place despite having a negative point spread, going 3-1 -14. That subzero number can be blamed on one Bryan Benwitz, who wiped the floor with James in the first round, 466-308. James got down a single bingo of ENATION in his losing effort, while Bryan had HOTLINE and EJECTING. In round two, James bounced back by getting a comfortable win over the fearsome Thomas Reinke, 440-374. Again, he had just one bingo (DANGLES) to his opponent's two (DORMOUSE and ANCIENTS), but an 83-point play of ZERK provided the needed scoring to take Thomas down. James furthered his goal of finishing in first by vanquishing Lynda Finn in a close round-three matchup, 419-413. His bingos of NEARNESS and AMREETAS were countered by Lynda's OPUNTIA and DESERVE, but he pulled out the six-point victory regardless. In the fourth round, James faced off against Barb Pratzel and took the win, 399-327, despite not getting down a bingo. Barb played APPLIED using both blanks, proving that two blanks at once is usually a curse rather than a blessing.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +311, which was good for second place in a small group of seven players. He began the night with a 2-on-1 match against both Lynda Finn and Barb Pratzel which ended very favorably for him; he beat Lynda 445-341, playing MITTENED, LIGATURE, and AGROUND as his bingos, and Barb 546-284, getting PHAROSES and a triple-triple of ASCRIBES for 149 points using both blanks (proving that two blanks at once is not always a curse). Things went south for Charles in the next game as he was defeated by Bryan Benwitz 385-419. Both players had just one bingo; JONESES for Charles and RAVELING for Bryan. The losing trend continued when he met up against Thomas Reinke in round three, falling by a score of 501 to 523, but some consolation was gained by the 501-point losing score being the fifth-highest losing score in the club since modern record-keeping began in 2011. Charles played SANIDINE, AREOLES, FATIGUES, and RAILROAD on his way to defeat, while Thomas had AIRFOIL, REVOTED, and ANTLIONS. The two twins met again in round four, and this time, Charles pulled out the win, but only by the tiniest of margins, 450-449. SAUNTER and EXCRETAL were Charles' bingos; Thomas got DESTROYS and BIOGENS (passing up its self-descriptive anagram, BINGOES).