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Charles Reinke in First...Again...

1st Charles Reinke easily commanded first-place honors by going 4-0 +340 and didn't even have to contend with anybody possessing a 3-1 record! His first game was by far his best, a 523-289 win over Dave Kinzer where the three bingos on the board were all Charles': LOATHES, BOSSING, and BEEFIER. From there, it was all downhill, although it wasn't a very steep hill because the subsequent games were all wins. A second-round match against Bryan Benwitz saw Charles pull out the victory, 462-425, thanks to bingos of PONGEES and SLEETIER (Bryan had GAZETTES and OUTSITS). Charles then endured two games where none of the involved parties scored above 400: a 387-338 win against Dave Gilligan, and an even lower-scoring 354-334 against Lynda Finn. Charles' only bingo in those two games was CARROM against Dave, but there's no rule that says you have to bingo to win.

2nd Thomas Reinke's 3-2 +450 record was subpar for someone who wins nearly 75% of their games, but was enough for second place nonetheless. His first round game was actually two games, against Dave Gilligan and Helen Flores. Against the latter, Thomas won easily, 547-307, the large gulf in scores mostly attributable to Thomas' four bingos: GALOSHE, PLICATED, GLINTER, and SUBACUTE. However, the game against Dave had the opposite outcome, with Dave taking the win 422-388. Thomas had just one bingo of EIDOLON to Dave's RATTIEST, DERANGES, and word-of-the-week PREDAWNS. A close loss against Aaron Bader, 365-376, saw Thomas play no bingos (because there's a rule that says you have to bingo to a win), but Thomas made up for the bingo shortage by again playing four of them in one game, this time against Gail Salm. PEDICAB, INSOLATE, TIERCEL, and GASOLINE were more than enough to give Thomas a 487-356 win.

3rd Sue Goldstein left a game early, as she always does, but in doing so, clinched a third-place finish with her 2-1 +75 record. Her single loss came against Gail Salm, 385-357, despite Sue's bingo of MOTIONED for 80 points (Gail had TRANSIT and NAILERS). A 321-260 victory over Helen Flores wasn't pretty from a scoring perspective, but definitely looked a lot better once the "win" box was checked on the scoresheet. The scoring got back to acceptable levels with a 359-317 win over Dave Kinzer, where the deciding play was Sue's 79-point VIOLATE.

Aaron Wins Without the Benefit of All Those Extra Words He Knows

1st Aaron Bader left no doubt as to who was the best Scrabble player on this night, going 4-0 +241. He opened with a close win against Thomas, 409-376, where he played the common-but-low-probability CHUCKLES as well as the uncommon-but-high-probability ISOMERS. As a reward for his efforts, he got to play Charles in the next game. Charles' had an 11-game winning streak coming into the contest, but came to an end at Aaron's hands, 417-395. Aaron earned 5 dollars for his feat, but the real value was in... actually the 5 dollars was probably the best part. After dispatching two tough foes, he was tasked with dispatching two foes at the same time, Gail and Helen. His game against Gail was close at the beginning due to her LAIRIEST, but Aaron eventually prevailed with NEATHERD (n. a cowherd, NEAT is another term for cow), PAVANES, and CONTORTS. Against Helen, he won 403-324, playing SCAREDER (anagram SACREDER) and VELOUTE (anagram EVOLUTE).

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +538, losing a game for the first time in 11 tries. He busted out the fancy words against Helen in the first round, playing SYNDETIC (adj. serving to connect) and FIGEATER (n. if I had to guess, one who eats figs, nope, "a large beetle", well, I bet they eat figs so I'm still right). As mentioned, his money-earning winning-streak ended against Aaron, so he got right to work on another one, dropping 560 on Dave. Charles opened with QUADRIC for 110, then played MARINES for 88, followed by AQUATONE for 80. That's a lot of points! His new winning streak continue against Thomas, against whom he won 478-415. Thomas held the blank at the end, but was stymied, ending the game with it remaining sadly on his rack. Charles got down the nice REDWATER (n. another name for BABESIOSIS, because everyone knows what that is) to help secure that victory.

3rd Andy Bohnsack went 3-1 -47, his negative spread somehow not disqualifying him from third place. Arriving in time for the second round, he played two as punishment. Against Lynda, he won by one, 377-376. On the other board, he incurred all his negative spread from Dave, losing 318-399. Andy found QUINTARS, but it was not enough to overcome Dave's TOILETTE. Tragedy struck early in his game against Bryan, when he gave him the H needed for WHEEZIER. Andy perservered, however, and ended up winning a close one 414-398, thanks to his bingos of ORDINALS and UTERINE. He increased his winning margin against Gail, but only slightly, 410-393, not enough to drag himself into the positives on the night. A bonus fifth round was proposed for his benefit, but ultimately rejected.

Thomas played the word-of-the-week, ZIRCALOY (n. a zirconium alloy), but Lynda had the last laugh, hooking it for 112 points with her own bingo!

Charles Keeps Winning Someone Stop Him Please

1st Charles Reinke went undefeated again, 4-0 +518, which really shouldn't surprise anybody at this point. In this first round, against Andy, both he and his opponent played three bingos, but Charles came out on top, 476-410. He got down LIMONITE, MIDWATER, and VALORISE, while Andy played ETOILES, COURAGES, and the 98-point EXTRADOS. After beating Gail in the second round, he turned his attention to Dennis, who ended up being yet another victim of Charles' bingo-finding skills. Charles played the nice finds of PERIANTH (n. the outer part of a flower) and TAUTOMER on his way to 508 points. Lynda was the final obstacle to his 10-game winning streak, but Charles overcame her as well, winning 523-414. MACRONS for 114 certainly helped his cause, as did the overwhelming desire to win that consumes every facet of his existence.

2nd Thomas Reinke's seeming lack of an overwhelming desire to win lead him to a 3-1 +215 record and 2nd place. His acceptance of the inevitability of defeat manifested itself in the first round, as he lost to Lynda, 373-439. Lynda played DIARIST and the very-plausible-looking TWEAKER* (n. a meth addict, come on Miriam-Webster get with the times) while Thomas got down CORONATE and SWATTING. In the second round, Dave G. played him closely, with Thomas eking out a 370-356 win. Dave's phony FETTINGS* almost seized victory, but Thomas scrounged together enough points in the endgame to seal the deal. In the next game, he beat Bryan on the back of a late EPEEISTS (n. one who fences with an epee). In his 468-290 win over Dennis, he bingoed twice early, with GRADUATE and word-of-the-week CZARISTS, then closed the board, leaving Dennis' bingos stranded. How mean!

3rd Lynda Finn went 3-1 +104, good for third place and a whole paragraph detailing her accomplishment. As already stated, she defeated Thomas in the first round, wisely creating a bingo when none were to be had with TWEAKER*. After that monumental victory, she faced Helen, who she also beat 384-345, aided by her bingo of SINGLET (not to be confused with SNIGLET). Against Gail, she again created her own best play by playing the phony BIFFERS* for 106. Has she unlocked some secret to Scrabble greatness? Mercilessly phony your opponents? Anyway, her undefeated night came to an end against Charles, but she did find the non-phonies VENDETTA and STARLING to keep the score respectable.