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Aaron Bader Takes Mark Kenas Back to School, Then Forces him On Field Trip to Bingo Town, No Permission Slip Required

1st Aaron Bader played Mark Kenas in four straight games and didn't lose a single one, going 4-0 +472. This performance gives Aaron the lead in the lifetime series, 33-31, and his winning streak against Mark is now at seven games. A four-bingo romp proved to be a good way to start off the series; Aaron played ELOIGNED, INSPIRER, RESTORED, and INVERSE, a collection of bingos that resulted in a 519-391 win. However, Mark was no slouch, playing RAINWEAR and TREFOILS. The next game was not any kinder to Mark as Aaron scored 500 for the second and last time. 515-341 was what the scores read once Aaron got done playing his bingos of RATINES, CARNIER#, and BALUSTER. Mark came close to taking the last game of the night, but fell frustratingly short, 436-443, proving once again that fate exists solely to turn us all into failures. Well, most of us. Aaron could argue otherwise as he was again blessed with four bingos: UNFAMED#, DISHABLE#, ENDEAVOR, and GENTOOS. Fun fact: if you look up "baby gentoos" in Google Image Search, your computer screen fills up with cute pictures of little fuzzy penguins.

2nd Bryan Benwitz allowed visions of a dominant eight-game winning streak to take command of his brain as he recorded his second-straight undefeated night, going 4-0 +400. Like Aaron above, Bryan found himself nearly drowning in bingos over the course of the night, playing eleven of them. His first game, a 375-292 victory over Gail Salm, had just one, OVERGAIN; however, four such plays were in store for Betty Hasselkus: SAYABLE, SORDINI, JOSTLING, and ELUANTS. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Bryan came out with the win in that one, 509-285. Bryan then performed an encore of that 500-point performance, winning a game against Andy Bohnsack by the score of 502-434. Andy played BEATING and the triple-triple DIASPORE (122 points), but Bryan stood, unintimidated, against Andy's scoring assault to play three bingos of his own: DEMENTS, IGNORERS, and FISTNOTE.

3rd Thomas Reinke didn't quite win them all, but still had a very successful evening, finishing at 3-1 +357. He scored a solid 446-378 win against Richard Lauder, playing LINTERS, BOATNECK, and CRUISED to Richard's sole FATWOODS. Three more bingos were unleashed during a decisive 498-286 win against Gail Salm: ABROSIA (n. abstinence from food), STENOTIC, and ERASION. Gail contributed TILLERS to the bingo action on the board. Only the aforementioned Bryan Benwitz was able to stop Thomas; their matchup finished with 448-423 upon the scoresheets and assorted evidence of a bloody brawl scattered about the playing area. Bryan got down MIDGETS, TIDELAND, and CALOYERS; Thomas had EOBIONT and word-of-the-week JODHPURS for 101.

In addition to Andy's 3x3 DIASPORE, Gail had a 3x3 of her own, TWIRLERS for 149 against Dennis Lloyd, who will now remember that you ALWAYS block an open W in the second spot because who knows what could happen. Only one new bingo was played this week, Charles' BEJASUS.

Bryan Benwitz is at His Witz' End

1st Bryan Benwitz averaged 477 points per game; with that display of elevated scoring prowess, it should come as a surprise to nobody that he went 4-0 with a large spread (+536 in this case). He initiated the massacre with a pair of 500-point games, both of them involving four Bryan bingos (Bryingos?). The first of those games was a 518-378 win over Dennis Lloyd. Dennis tried to stay in the game by playing DETRACTS, but was wholly overwhelmed by Bryan's bingo parade of WEARIER, DOYENNE, STORAGE, and LENTOIDS. He then upped his game even further, scoring a 537-345 victory against Barb Besadny thanks to bingos of FATTIER, REDLINED, TAMARIN, and ETOILES. Against Mary Becker, a score of 414 would end up being his lowest of the night, but still plenty enough to win: Mary scored just 289 in the face of Bryan's unconquerable might. Bryan had ONLY two bingos in that one, WAITRON and RELENTED. It is worthing noting that Bryan also played the role of "spoiler" this night, as two of his opponents (Mary and Dennis) were undefeated save for their ill-fated encounter with Bryan.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +432, the highest spread out of all the 3-1 finishers. Charles wasted no time in doling out his usual servings of "Charles' Scrabble Surprise", taking down Susan Vergeront 493-255. ACEDIAS, VIROSES, and DUNAGREE (also UNAGREED and UNDERAGE) were his bingos in that contest. Three bingos obviously not being enough, Charles played four against Lynda Finn, a game that ended 511-352 in Charles' favor. Lynda found UNTILLED and TEARGAS; Charles had PLEROMA, NUCLEATE, WIPEOUT, and the 101-point STRAKES. In his third and final win, Charles defeated his twin brother/mortal enemy Thomas Reinke by a score of 450-398. Thomas played BADDEST (BAD is an adjective meaning "very good"??? kids and their slang these days dadgummit), but Charles one-upped him with EARLOBES and CAMPHORS.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke compiled a 3-1 +176 record, averaging exactly his yearly average at 410 points per game. His major accomplishment was pulling off the rare "Anti-Reinke", defeating both Reinke brothers, this time back-to-back. He started out by bulldozing Thomas 458-290; the twin was prevented from bingoing entirely while Peter leisurely laid down words like DETAILS, ANGORAS, and BLOWZIER. The next twin matchup would prove to be a bit closer, ending with a score of 416-399. This time, Charles would get down a bingo (PSORALEA), but would still get outdone by Peter's related bingos of MALTOSE (n. a type of sugar) and SUGARERS. Mary Becker would be the person responsible for Peter's sole loss, defeating him 418-376 and temporarily nullifying his unearned "Peter the Defeater" nickname. There were just two bingos in that one: Mary's DENIERS and Peter's GINNIEST.

Thomas played the word of the week, AGUISHLY. There were two new bingos played: Charles' PLEROMA and Gail's GAITERED (the second time she has played that word!).

"Why are We Inside Playing Scrabble When We Could Be Outside Enjoying the Beautiful Weather?" Asks Thomas Reinke, Never

1st Thomas Reinke switched up his tactics just because he could, holding his opponents to a 327 average (well below their yearly average of 372) while going 4-0 +385. Betty Hasselkus, returning from a few-month hiatus, was not afforded any extra mercy in her first game back, as Thomas beat her 407-342. Betty did win the bingo battle in that one, getting two (DUSTERS and SOLARIUM) to Thomas' one (UPSTATE). Following that up, Thomas continued his strong run of play against his brother Charles, this time winning a closely-contested 357-342 game. Somebody should get those guys checked out; worrisomely, only two bingos were played the entire game: TEAWARES for Thomas, word-of-the-week CYPSELAE for Charles. Equilibrium was restored (at least from Thomas' point of view) when he beat the late-coming Lynda Finn 528-267. Lynda, for her part, was at least able to reach her new-bingo quota for the day by playing BEDLINER. Thomas also reached his own quota when he played the new word GAITERED to supplement his other bingos of ESTRONES and MIDSIZE.

2nd Charles Reinke took the opposite route of his brother, averaging 469 points per game to go 3-1 +439. Helen Flores, in her words, scored a "win" against Charles when she lost 416-371. She had two of her three total bingos in that game, playing LANTERNS (66) and WEENIEST (86) for some timely scoring punches. However, Charles played the 91-point LAYOVER and eventually claimed victory. The bingo tiles would manifest themselves even more abundantly on Charles' rack during a matchup against Gail Salm where he played five such plays: TALIPED, AGNOSIA, ORIGANUM, SHEETER, and OCEANAUT. Gail played INLIERS (anagram: RESILIN) and COASTED, the latter for 94 points, but still fell well short of her stated goal of winning the game; the final score was 598-349. After that triumph, Charles again scored 500, this time against a drowsy and Collins-addled Aaron Bader. One thing's for sure, the deathlike caress of sleep would have been more pleasant than a 518-358 loss. Aaron played RATTLIER for some good points, but Charles' SENTINEL and triple-triple OVERSTAY (at 185 points, tied for highest bingo played at club since we started keeping track) were insurmountable.

3rd Peter Schmiedicke perhaps did not get as many bingos as he would like, but he still finished strongly at 3-1 +152. At the conclusion of his 383-370 victory against Andy Bohnsack, just one bingo could be found on the board, Peter's UNITIES. Andy had won seven out of ten against Peter, so this win was certainly welcome. In the next game, Peter played INSIDES in a losing effort against Richard Lauder, who won 370-363 thanks to his superior bingoage of BESTING and LENGTHS. Peter finally picked up some scoring steam when he cruised by Dave Gilligan by a score of 471-330. Dave got down RIVALED and STEEPEN; Peter had FETERITA and ETHANES, the latter for a game-changing 98 points.

A fair number of new bingos were played: RATTLIER (Aaron), NONANES (Aaron), GAITERED (Thomas), DEIONISE (Richard), and BEDLINER (Lynda).