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This is the Title of the Writeup

1st Charles Reinke returned from a successful jaunt in New Orleans without missing a beat, going 3-0 +328. He prevailed in a tightly-contested, uh, contest, against Bryan in the first round, 373-345. He played the nice word-of-the-week GONOPORE while Bryan got down TIMEOUS (adj. timely). The bingoing picked up for him in the second round against David, against whom he played VILLAGER, DISUNITE, ELAPINE, and VIATORES. Despite a decisive 4-to-1 bingo disadvantage, David kept it close until the end, eventually losing 399-468. In the third game, Charles decided to reenact his widely acclaimed "New Orleans butt-kicking of my brother by 200 points" act by kicking his brother's butt by 200 points, 554-323. He did so by playing HANDLERS, VESTING, and LAXITIES, while Thomas only got down OMNIVORE. Congratulations again to Charles for coming in 6th place at Nationals and bringing glory to the entire state of Wisconsin.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 2-1 +229 by way of two blowout wins and one blowout loss. He beat Gail 578-376 in the first match of the night, playing DULCIANA, RETACKLE (v. to tackle again, DUH), and ARMOIRES. Gail bingoed three times herself, with DAINTIER, SARNIES, and REEDLING, which would have resulted in a tie game if this club kept score only by number of bingoes played. Anyone up for a rule change? No? Fine. Anyway, Thomas continued his bingoing ways against Richard, playing MOULTED, STONEFLY, CRUZEIRO (n. a former monetary unit of Brazil, named after the "Cruzeiro do Sul", or Southern Cross, a constellation only visible in the southern hemisphere, no, this isn't too much information), and RATLINS. Things turned dramatically south for him in the last game, but that's okay. After two 200-point wins, a 200-point loss seems perfectly fair, doesn't it?

3rd Richard Lauder went 2-1 +17, mirroring Thomas' two blowout wins and one blowout loss strategy. He played two in the first game, Sue and David. Against Sue, he scored 464 while playing CURTSIES, REALIGN, UNROUND (v. to articulate without rounding the lips), and PEMICAN. Against David, he scored 441 but only got one bingo, ORALIST versus David's PROFILER. No bingos, power tiles, or really much of anything were forthcoming for Richard in the second game, and perhaps because of that (or because he wanted to make us even), he left a game early.

Word Cup Results
Lynda went 15-16 in the top division, including a win against the world's top player, Nigel Richards
Mary came in 6th in the third division, going 18-13 +474
Helen came in 7th in the third division, going 18-13 -34

Cats Away; Mice Play

(big thanks to Helen for doing the write-up!)

The Reinkes were at Nationals, Lynda at a college reunion, Richard was in Door County, and Aaron suffered an injury. The weather may have kept several other club members away when the stalwart band of Scrabblers at the Church – Bryan, Mary, Sue, Gail and Helen – faced a new and formidable opponent.

Nomadic Scrabbler Vicki Holmes came to town and took first place. She routed Gail in a 393 – 264 match, bested Bryan and then Mary. But those were just warmups. Against Helen Vicki had a couple of "bam-dingers," i.e. a regional idiomatic term for plays worth more than 100 points. She tripled for 105 points by hooking Helen’s "evoke" with HARRIER. Not satisfied with that fine play, she managed the triple-triple EMULATED for 149 points, defeating Helen 511-309. Thanks to our more than gracious hospitality she plans to return to club when next in town.

Excepting his loss to Vicki, Bryan scored over 400 points in his other games, beating Sue by 81 points and Gail by 86. His best game against hapless Helen was a 496 – 245 point rout.

Mary Becker placed third. She had only one bingo, VIOLATOR but scored 414 points against Gail’s 293. She tied Helen at 347 with her out play, had a close game with Sue and lost the fight against Vicki.

Lynda Finn Warning Issued For South-Central Wisconsin Starting at 6:00 PM CDT

1st Lynda Finn put together her second undefeated performance of the year, finishing with a 4-0 +295 record and scoring above 400 in all of her games. Along the way, she fearlessly took down some of the club's most feared players. A bout against Thomas Reinke ended in her favor by a score of 459-411; Lynda's 110-point MACHINED not only secured the victory, but also was the highest-scoring bingo of the night, and an 85-point RETSINA didn't hurt either. After that point, Lynda decided that two bingos wasn't enough for her, so she played three such plays (TAENIAS, ELEPHANT, and ENLISTER) while taking down Aaron Bader, 474-401. Aaron had DATEABLE as well as a late VIRELAIS to make the final tally somewhat respectable. In the final round, Lynda faced off against fellow undefeated player Charles Reinke, knowing that the outcome of their match would determined who attained the coveted "first paragraph" honor in the writeup. Even in the face of that immense pressure, Lynda kept it cool, and cruised to a 401-333 victory. Lynda's recipe for success? Bingo three times while preventing your opponent from bingoing even once. More people should try that strategy.

2nd Aaron Bader went 4-1 +524, just one Lynda loss away from a perfecter-than-perfect 5-0 finish. He came tantalizingly close to his third 600-point game at our club, but fell six points short in a 594-261 win over Helen Flores. No triple-triples were played, but four ordinary bingos of RISTRAS, ADULTERY, EROTICA, and LINEATE revealed themselves to Aaron. Presumably some additional high-scoring plays were sprinkled in there as well. Subsequent games failed to live up to that standard, but that's what you get when you selfishly score so many points in your first game. A game against Gail Salm saw only one bingo on the board, Gail's LARGEST, but it was still a 369-282 win for Aaron. A final-round encounter with Bryan Benwitz was more typical of Aaron's style; that game ended in an Aaron win, 488-394. He got down TENANTED, FADEOUTS, and SOOTHES, nearly making up for the game where he didn't get any bingos at all.

3rd Charles Reinke assembled a 3-1 +205 record, which seems pretty good until you look at the previous week's results. He was poised for another undefeated night until he was turned away by Lynda Finn in the final game. His first-round meeting with Bryan Benwitz saw both players show off their knowledge of high-probability bingos (TEOPANS, ARSENIDE, and PUERILE for Charles; EDITIONS and TUTELAGE for Bryan); since Charles had one more bingo than Bryan, it follows that the winning margin was roughly the size of an average bingo, 451-385. Another bingoey game was played against Dave Gilligan, a game which Charles also won, 454-387. Dave got down ROTATING and GREASIER, but Charles' 100-point OXALATE, along with OVARIAL and ICTERUS, proved to be just too many points. Charles' third and final victory was against Gail Salm, 475-335. To prepare for the upcoming bingo-less game against Lynda, Charles played four bingos against Gail: FORTUNED, RETINITE, REACTANT, and LOIASES.

Bryan's VENENOSE (adj. poisonous) was chosen as word of the week.