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Charles Reinke Pummels and Punishes

1st Charles Reinke switched up his tactics and played defensively the whole night, going 4-0 +336 mostly thanks to his opponents' average score of 327. Against Bryan Benwitz, Charles pulled out a 370-330 victory despite Bryan's bingo (TARGETS for 83) scoring more than Charles' LEAFMOLD for 72. In the next game, Richard Lauder's score of 335 would end up being the highest of any of Charles' foes, but it was not enough; Charles scored 394, playing CHLORINS and ELONGATE on his way to the win. He would temporarily suspend his low-scoring ways for his game against Susan Vergeront, bypassing 400 and going straight to 500 with a 529-315 victory. Despite the large gulf in scores, both players had two bingos: LONELIER and SPACING for Susan, CASEINS and SCUTTER for Charles.

2nd Lynda Finn went 4-1 +152 with a better-than-average average of 416 per game. She emerged victorious from a high-powered shootout against second-time player Dennis Lloyd, with the final score being 483-452. Dennis played DIARISTS and the triple-triple VEXINGLY for 185 (it would have been more had the X not been a blank), but it was sadly not enough. Lynda had RENVOIS and TAUNTERS as her own bingos, although neither was a triple-triple. She then upped her bingo output to three against Helen Flores, playing IRONERS, ENTRANTS, and DIVAGATE on her way to a 472-376 win. That game must have depleted her bingo reserves, as she only got the low-scoring ROTENONE for 58 points in her 347-394 loss against Aaron Bader. Aaron, meanwhile, had IMITATES for 90.

3rd Aaron Bader, in the absence of Mark, finished 3-1 +266. He averaged 473 in his first three games (all wins) before suffering a bingoless 329-352 loss against first-place finisher Charles Reinke, who played STRINES. The first of those wins was a 518-323 win against Helen Flores. Aaron had three bingos in that one: UNTRENDY, BODEGAS, and INTIMAE, while Helen was held bingoless. An additional trio of bingos was deployed against Thomas Reinke (LIBIDOS, GERONTIC, and AMIDONE), which resulted in a 508-461 victory despite Thomas' own collection of bingos (ANGSTROM, ROTTENLY, and TRENDIES).

Dave Gilligan also went 3-1. He defeated Thomas Reinke in a 449-446 contest which was the most closely-contest game of the night. While we're on the subject of Thomas, he had a staggering 640-point game against Barb Besadny which saw him play five bingos: RENEGUES (60), STANHOPE (101), PEAFOWLS (110), WOMANISE (90), and ERGASTIC (80).

A few bingos from the new dictionary were played: SWIPERS (Susan), RENEGUES (Thomas), SHIRTED (Gail), STRINES (Charles), and LEAFMOLD (Charles again).

Thomas Reinke Gave You Dictionaries and He Can Take them Away

1st Thomas Reinke, blessed provider of dictionaries, further entrenched his place in Scrabble legendry by going 4-0 +340. Dave Gilligan was treated to an extra-large helping of Thomas' fury when their contest ended 471-304 in Thomas' favor. Dave played BATTLES to Thomas' VANITIES and ISLANDS. Thomas found that low number of bingos to be unacceptable, so against his brother Charles he upped his output to four: TRIBUTE, REFIGURE, VENISONS, and word-of-the-week FILMLAND (n. the motion picture industry, also FILMDOM). However, despite his opponent's singular wimpy bingo (AROINTS for 61), Thomas "only" won by a score of 427-372. Then, in the battle of the undefeateds, fighting for glory and pride, Thomas beat Richard Lauder 413-373. That time the bingo situation was even: PIRATING and STARTER for Richard, BINOCLE and LIMITERS for Thomas.

2nd Aaron Bader played a four-game match against fellow Collinser Mark Kenas and proved once again the higher-scoring nature of that dictionary by averaging 471 points per game and going 3-1 +273. Even better, his entire scoresheet was decorated with bingos that the rest of us would find in our own dictionaries. Aaron initiated the bloodshed with a 541-424 win where he played LOOPIEST, REBORING, and BLIGHTER. He later got another 500-game, winning 505-338 with just two bingos: RENTALS and DATIVES. Mark wrenched the broom out of Aaron's hands and prevented the sweep by winning the final game of the night, 471-374. Aaron had VERSINS to Mark's PRENTED#, ETRENNE#, and CONCHAE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz topped two other players with 3-1 records by amassing a superior spread of +250. He would have had a larger spread but a 2-point win over Lynda Finn, 397-395, didn't help him much in that area. GOUTIEST and PARDINE (adj. pertaining to a leopard) were his bingo efforts in that one. The real spread-killer was a 494-340 loss to Richard Lauder in which Bryan allowed two phony bingos to remain unmolested upon the board, EXIGETES (just EXEGETES or EXIGENT) and TEENAGES (just TEENAGE, TEENAGER or TEENAGED). Bryan's valid bingos of MANDRELS and WAISTERS only served to turn a not-very-close game into a still-not-very-close game. However, Bryan exacted revenge (and regained all that negative spread) by clobbering Mary Becker 622-283. This is Bryan's highest-ever score by an almost fifty-point margin, as well as just the fourth 600-point game this club season. A 122-point phony triple-triple of ORALIZES was the key to hitting the elusive 600-point threshold, but three other bingos of ACAULINE, INVESTOR, and FONDLED didn't hurt either.

Gail Salm played the only new bingo this week, EENSIER.

Lynda Finn Perfectly Embodies "The Finnisher" Nickname

1st Lynda Finn enjoyed her second undefeated performance of the year, going 4-0 +169. None of her wins were blowouts, but you can't argue with the results. Lynda started the ball rolling with a 411-358 win against Helen Flores, playing STOTINS (n. STOTIN, a former monetary unit of Serbia which also pluralizes STOTINOV) and REDLINER along the way. That two-bingo precedent would not be disrupted the rest of the night. She then snapped a year-long drought against Charles Reinke, scoring 402 to his 371 and unleashing three bingos: REVISIT, TWEENIE, and ELOIGNER. Charles got down ASPIRATA to maintain at least some of his shredded dignity. Another three-bingo assault was set forth upon Bryan Benwitz, and the result was similar, a 442-385 victory for Lynda. Bryan played SORPTION and the phony CRENATES (only CRENATE and CRENATED are good), but was effortlessly sent back by Lynda's ORIGINAL, FOLIAGE, and TESSERA.

2nd Charles Reinke continued to gain on his brother in the yearly standings, finishing 3-1 +285. His closest victory came against the wizened veteran Richard Lauder, 426-388. Richard played the Word of the Week, MUSTACHE, as well as NIGGLIER in his losing effort. Meanwhile, Charles found ANEMOSIS (n. separation of growth rings in a tree due to wind) and RATTRAP. Gail Salm would not come as close to victory, with Charles breezing through that matchup 467-299. FANNERS was Gail's attempt to stay competitive, but it was not enough, as Charles had three bingos of his own: TRENDIER, GROOVES, and RETREADS. In the final game of the night, Charles made a small amount of progress on erasing the win deficit he currently faces against his brother by winning 433-323. Thomas had just EOSINES as he limped towards the finish line, while his brother finished strong with DELETION and GRANITA.

3rd Andy "Mr. B" Bohnsack celebrated the almost-end of the school year by going 3-1 +239 and attaining the highest per-game average of the night at 448. His loss was dealt to him by the coldly calculating Thomas Reinke; even though their bingo output was the same (STROPHE and SENORITA for Thomas, YEARLIES and RADULAS for Andy), Thomas ran away with it, 494-340. The rest of Andy's games all featured 100+ margins in the other direction. One of those games was a 467-323 drubbing of Leslie Seltzer, wherein Andy played AVULSION and STRINGED. Andy then got one of only two 500-point games of the evening by defeating Dave Gilligan by a score of 518-393. Dave played TRUDGED as his only bingo; Andy had IRRITATE, QUAILING, and TELLERS.

All Shall Tremble in Fear of Steve Busalacchi

1st Steve Busalacchi finished at 2-1 +68. He defeated Sue Goldstein in a very low-scoring bout, 303-280. Things improved considerably when he matched up against Susan Vergeront, whom he defeated 341-284. His bingo of HOGTIES for 77 points certainly came in handy in that one. Dave Gilligan was the one to hand Steve his only loss, another low-scoring affair that ended at 289-301.

Just two new bingos were played: TWEENIE (Lynda) and EPATERS (Thomas). Recently relocated Floridian Dennis Lloyd made his first of hopefully many appearances at our club, and proved he belongs with a 3-1 +52 record.