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Reignke of Terror

1st Charles Reinke exploited the intricacies of the standings protocol to come in first with a 4-1 +578 record. In the first round, against Helen, he got down AMIDONES, then quickly followed it up with AMIDINE. A third bingo of something like AMIDASE or AMIDOLS would have been cool, but his TONTINE ended up being totally unrelated. Also in the first round, this time against Mary, he played the nice EXORABLE, but was defeated 401-414 by Mary's late SHOCKERS. Charles recovered from this loss with three straight wins against tough competition, the first against returning Iowan Mike Johnson, who he beat handily with the help of TABANIDS and NOOSING. Even more handy was his win against Bryan, 623-278, made possible due to his triple-triple of AVENGERS for 140, as well as some other good fortune. As he said, "It's great when you can draw the remaining esses and bingo with them, killing all the remaining lanes while your opponent is trying to bingo." I think we can all agree with those wise words. Against Thomas, he won 413-390, a somewhat low-scoring affair (for them) that would have been a win for Thomas had he not foolishly missed a bingo late in the game. I guess you could say it was... Tom-foolery! HAHAHA! HA. Ha...

2nd Aaron Bader didn't lose any games, going 3-0 +519, but still came in second because the website's standings programming discriminates against people who only stay for three rounds. Even the perfect computers of the future are not free from bias! Anyway, he won his first game, against Richard, 489-331, playing GRAYISH and LOCUSTAE, while his opponent played PEEWITS and LARIATED. Those two bingos by Richard ended up being the only bingos played against him on the night; neither Sue nor Mary could do anything against his stifling defense, as he won those games by a combined 400 points. After this undefeated night, he is jetting off to Korea for a bit. We have encourage him not to wander too far from his hotel, lest he end up on the wrong side of the DMZ.

3rd Mary Becker edged out Bryan for third place, going 3-1 -2. As already detailed, she had an impressive win against Charles in the first game, playing INDEXES and SHOCKERS. In the second round she encountered Dave and, playing no bingos, won easily 406-294. Dave had a bingo himself, CHAPTER, but Mary's time-tested strategy of "just score points" won out. It's a good strategy! Bingoing is something, but it isn't everything. Or, maybe it is everything, because her lack of bingos resulted in a big loss to Aaron. That loss sent her carefully accumulated spread into the negatives, but she regained most of it against Mike, beating him 400-310, playing ROILIEST and SOUPIER.

Word-of-the-week honors go to Thomas, who played CORNPONE, which, depending on context, means "cornbread" or "something or someone stereotypically southern". He also wins phony-of-the-week with his challenged-off attempt of BIGCOCK* against Bryan. Funny, right? Turns out he was probably thinking of BIBCOCK.

Thomas Reinke Inches Closer to Club's Top Spot and with it, Immortal Glory

1st Thomas Reinke put together a strong, but not entirely unprecedented (for him) 5-0 +545 record. This is his second time going 5-0 this year after also doing it in early January. His first round match saw him playing two at once, but Thomas was not fazed in the slightest; he beat Helen Flores 443-332 and Dave Gilligan 533-264 while playing six total bingos between the two games. This strong start was followed up by a closely-contested, high-scoring game against Bryan Benwitz which ended with a score of 448-441 in Thomas' favor. Bryan got down PALINODE and NOXIOUS (for 59 points, one thinks that the X must have been a blank), while Thomas had REDDENS, LINTERS, and HOTTEST. After the game, Bryan immediately began to plot his revenge, given that he has lost ten of the last eleven games to the elder twin. A win over Aaron Bader (described in gruesome detail in the following paragraph) gave Thomas the coveted 4-0 record, but he still had one game to go, and he used that extra game to beat the snot out of his brother Charles Reinke, 502-377. Charles had NEGATION and RELIEVOS, which ensured that he retained some of his snot, but much snot was lost when Thomas got down ZIPPERS for 131 points (along with his other bingos, PROTEASE and WOODIEST).

2nd Aaron Bader faced a tough lineup of opponents, but succeeded in the face of pairings-borne adversity, going 3-1 +375. A 442-349 victory against Lynda Finn saw a rather unexciting collection of bingos get played (IDEATES for Lynda; ATONERS, ANERGIES, and RELENTS for Aaron), but there is no stipulation in the rules that bingos have to be exciting to get the fifty-point bonus. Aaron built upon that strong start by downing club leader Charles Reinke 461-336, playing NEROLIS (lame bingo alert! [sirens]) and SAPOTAS to Charles' TEASING [additional sirens]. The bingos continued to effortlessly flow out of Aaron's rack in a game against Thomas Reinke, but even a 3-to-1 bingo advantage (CENTAURY, ESCALATE, and GLORYING vs. word-of-the-week PURLIEUS) could not secure the win for Aaron; he lost 381-421. Denied the chance to go home after the third game, Aaron then took out his inner rage on Bryan Benwitz with a 499-307 win.

3rd Mike Johnson made the long trip from Decorah, Iowa, and his trip was definitely worth it as he finished 3-1 +131. After being informed that players from Iowa are not allowed cheat sheets, he got creamed by Bryan Benwitz, 281-453, but Mike rebounded from that loss to win the next three even without the aid of any cheat sheets. His biggest game was a 533-327 victory over Dave Gilligan, and he was also the proud recipient of five entire US dollars for his triple-triple of TABORINS for 149. Somehow, that play wasn't the highest of the night, as Dave himself played AVOIDERS for 176 in a later game (in other news, the club is now bankrupt). Mike's second win was against Betty Hasselkus, 412-334, but it was tainted by Mike's creatively-spelled, but ultimately phony, play of QUAESAR (QUASAR is what he was looking for). Meanwhile, Betty's DICTIONS was perfectly valid. No bingos, phony or otherwise, were needed in a 419-400 win over Gail Salm. Technically, this 3-1 performance gives Mike the top spot in the club's yearly standings, so way to go Mike!

Charles Reinke Brought a Broom for Sweeping, and He Used It

1st Charles Reinke swept through his competition with an immaculate 4-0 +385 record. He played an even three bingos in each of his games, so the expectation is that he will continue to play exactly three bingos in every game...forever. Charles' closest game, and his lowest score, was a 441-414 victory over Aaron Bader; Charles showed great compassion in allowing Aaron to bingo with a phony REOBLIGE, but also showed ruthlessness by bingoing himself with RIDABLE, TOOTSES, and PRINTED. Richard Lauder, like Aaron before him, also put up a good fight against Charles; their game ended with a score of 509-447, setting a new high-loss record for the club director (he has twice lost with a 445, both to, you guessed it, Charles). Both players had three bingos: MODERNER, UNSOCIAL, and INSERTS for Richard, GAITERED, INTRORSE, and DIALOGER for Charles. The final round against Dave Gilligan was a true clash of the titans, both players being undefeated going into the game and knowing full well that one had to fall. Charles ended up running away with it, 505-290, thanks to plays like OUTGROW, COEQUATE, and REQUITES. You know things are going well when you bingo with the Q twice in the same game.

2nd Thomas Reinke didn't quite sweep like his brother did, but he did go 4-1 +520. His first round matchup was actually two matchups, as he was the lucky one appointed to do a two-on-one. The result was mixed; he scored exactly 600 points (his second 600+ game this year) against Helen Flores thanks to bingos of REFUTED, UNTANGLE, ATONERS, and DILATED, but also registered his only loss of the night against Dave Gilligan, 356-444. The subsequent game against Aaron Bader did not see either player attain the lofty scores that we expect from them, but it was still a win for Thomas, 351-334. Thomas' scoring mojo was revitalized in a 425-349 triumph over Bryan Benwitz, and culminated in a 503-295 victory over the 2-1 Dennis Lloyd. Dennis got down LAUNDERS, but Thomas had FARSIDES, INFERNAL, and INEPTEST to seal his second-place finish.

3rd Dave Gilligan bounced back from a rough couple of weeks to go 3-1 -34. He was 3-0 +181 going into the final game, but, as described above, took major body blows against Charles Reinke and ended up with a negative spread. He started off strong by taking out Thomas Reinke, 444-356, playing STILLER to Thomas' SANTOUR but also letting Thomas get by with the phony NOPES. His patented "one bingo is enough" strategy again paid off against Lynda Finn, whom he defeated by a score of 380-340. Lynda had RESPITE and SPEARING as her bingos, while Dave just had SLANTED. Dennis Lloyd also was struck down by the might of Dave's single bingos; this time, Dave's BADGERS (winner of the unofficial Wisconsin Word of the Week [WWotW]) led him to a 381-328 win.

Aaron's TEPEFIES (v. TEPEFY, to make tepid) was chosen as word of the week.