1st Steve Hartsman ran roughshod over the field with a flawless 5-0 +594 record. He set a personal record for largest margin of victory (+385) when he flattened Richard Lauder, 578-193, getting down SOLARIA, TENURIAL, SHEGETZ, and the phony CONGERED*. Subsequent games weren't quite as eye-popping as that one; round two saw Steve win by a relatively staid 62 points against Charles Reinke, 433-371. For round three, Steve was granted the opportunity to inflate his win totals even further with a two-on-one match, and he rose to the occasion, felling Dave Kinzer 444-308 (with a second phony, ANEURINE* [only ANEURIN]) and needing a recount to beat Dennis Lloyd 425-416 (getting TWINGED and IRRIGATE). No recount was requested in the final game of the evening as Steve barely scraped by with a win over Thomas Reinke, 390-388. Thomas got down a single bingo of SOLARIA (Steve, having played that exact bingo in his first game, likely had no doubt of its validity), while Steve had FEDORAS and RELISHES.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +358. He got his loss out of the way early when he was defeated by Thomas Reinke, 378-431, despite the nice find of ESPIEGLE (never extended to ESPIEGLERIE). A bounce-back win over John Bialek, 419-355, marked the starts of his comeback. In round three, he fought off Andy Bohnsack, 473-402, getting down REBEGUN and RELEASED against Andy's BATISTE and plausible-but-invalid UNCLEVER*. Saving his best for last, Bryan wiped the floor with James Rollins in the final game, winning 538-262 and selfishly monopolizing the bingo tiles with IDEATING, PLEIADES, GUESTING, and ANCHORS. Careful observers will note that Bryan's scores displayed a clear upwards trend from game one to game four, a trend that one can only assume will continue indefinitely.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1 +249 to remain at the top of the yearly standings. Immediately engaging in some bingoey proclivities, he found ARROGATE, RARITIES, and SCANDENT to beat Bryan Benwitz, 431-378. Bingos were flying everywhere in round two as Thomas' 457-368 win against James Rollins featured six bingos, three from each side (DERACINE, COMPUTER, and OUTASKED for Thomas; ORIENTS, GEARINGS, and TONSURE for James). Encountering familiar foe Charles Reinke in the third game, Thomas won again, 492-383, thanks to ANNEALER, PREMIERE, and OUTSAID. Just two spread points stood between Thomas and an undefeated night (well, I guess three spread points), as his bingo output dwindled in a 388-390 loss to Steve Hartsman.

James' MONOTONY was word of the week, narrowly beating out Steve's SHEGETZ in the voting (a vote of one).