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Thomas Reinke Boosts Confidence Before Nationals

1st Thomas Reinke now has a decent shot at winning all 31 games of next week's National Scrabble Championship thanks to his perfect 4-0 +376 record at club. All he has to do is conserve that momentum and not use it up while engaging in other tasks, like eating or sleeping. The first step of Thomas' imminent domination was taken against Aaron Bader, with that game ending 458-422 in favor of the twin. Aaron got ORIENTER and TANDEMS (new anagram: DAMNEST) to Thomas' GAYETIES, SLIPPING, and ETHINYLS. Gail Salm employed a more defensive style to try to contain Thomas' high-scoring tendencies; she succeeded in a sense, but still came away with a 336-374 loss. In the category of "consolation prizes", Gail did play the word-of-the-week RAMJETS as her only bingo in that game (Thomas was also limited to the singular MIDAIRS). Thomas then made his most convincing case for being a future national champion when he whomped his brother Charles by an impressive 190-point margin, 550-360. Charles found RESTIVE to prevent the game from turning into an even larger blowout, but his efforts were almost pathetic when compared to his brother' bingo assault: ETERNALS, BONDINGS, SPATTERS, and the nine-letter RETINULAR were more than enough to snag the win. This is the second time RETINULAR has been recorded on a scoresheet; Charles played it three years ago.

2nd Dave Gilligan, going 3-1 +291, did not get any bingos, but he did confirm what we have been suspecting all along, which is that the 50-point bonus of a bingo is actually a smokescreen instituted by undercover Russian operatives to limit the effectiveness of our Scrabble play. So, kudos to Dave for finally having the courage to open his eyes and recognize this deception. He barely came away with a victory, 358-351, against Betty Hasselkus, who scored 82 points for her bingo of POUNDER. A matchup against Gail Salm was somewhat more decisive, ending in a 397-229 Dave victory. However, the "no bingoing" strategy did not work in every game; Dennis Lloyd used his bingo of LUSTIER to take down Dave in a low-scoring 306-336 contest.

3rd Charles Reinke averaged over 500 points in his wins, but his disastrous encounter with his brother relegated him to third place with his 3-1 +147 record. Bryan Benwitz was the first to be subjugated; his match with Charles concluded with the scoresheets reading 481-308. Bryan played TONGUED, but Charles tripled that bingo output with STOLLENS, WEARIEST, and DERIVATE. A subsequent game against Richard Lauder resulted in the highest loss of the evening; Richard scored 445 but still lost by 95 points as Charles scored 540. Surprisingly for such a high-scoring game, both players had just two bingos: OPERATE and BONELIKE for Richard, FETIDLY and HOSTLING for Charles (A HOSTLER is somebody who tends horses, but HOSTLE is not a verb). Charles rounded out his collection of wins with a 486-417 triumph over Peter Schmiedicke. This time, both players had three bingos; Peter got DIATRON, PASTORS (104 points!), and AUDITEE while Charles got RALLIES, AIRBASE, and GALENITE.

Charles' AIRBASE was the only new bingo played this week. Richard did find himself with some extra spending money in his pocket thanks to a triple-triple of RELISTED for 131 points, played against Barb Besadny.

Charles Reinke Wins Some Games, Achieves Neither Fame nor Fortune

1st Charles Reinke went 4-1 with a sizable +507 spread to capture first place. A large chunk of his spread was accumulated during the second round of the night, when Charles was paired against both Dennis Lloyd and Barb Besadny. Against Dennis, Charles won big with a 525-317 final score, playing MODALIST, FORESAW, VINEGAR, and word-of-the-week BOTONNEE (adj. having arms ending in a trefoil, used of a heraldic cross, also BOTONEE), each for more than 80 points. Dennis, to his credit, was able to play DEVIATED amidst the chaos. Barb did not fare any better; her game against Charles ended at 428-206. This time, Charles was limited to "just" one bingo, FORESTRY. A much-anticipated matchup between brothers also ended in a victory for Charles, as he bulldozed Thomas by a score of 450-341. SEASONER and TIDEWAYS were Charles' bingos; Thomas' was AVENGES.

2nd Peter Schmiedicke also got in five games and also went 4-1, but his smaller spread of +393 slotted in him in second place. "Domination" was the only word to describe the situation when he matched witz with Bryan Benwitz and came away with an easy victory, 449-292. This is the first time in the calendar year that Bryan has scored under 300, but he did get down a bingo, DECRIALS. Peter had two: AUDIENT and WHEEZING. A 441-383 win against Charles Reinke might not have quite reached "domination" levels, but it still felt good for Peter to spoil Charles' undefeated night. With three bingos (ANAPEST, COOEEING, BLURRING) to his opponent's two (OLEINES, CREMAINS), Peter also won the bingo battle in that game. However, bingo totals might not be so important after all, as Mary Becker was able to defeat Peter in a close game (355-348) despite getting outbingoed (Mary had DIGESTER; Peter had TURNOVER and SWELTIER).

3rd Thomas Reinke averaged a mind-melting, brain-busting, and skull-smashing 507 points per game on his way to a 3-1 +694 output. Things started off well for Thomas as he quickly destroyed any hopes that Bryan Benwitz may have had of extending his eight-game win streak. That game ended decisively in favor of the twin, 480-306. Next up was Helen Flores, who fared just as poorly as Bryan had, losing 270-547. Helen was not able to bingo while Thomas selfishly had three: OVERLATE, PODIATRY, and ANGELICA. However, these winning scores, which might appear impressive at first glance, were rendered totally lame by the score that Thomas would attain against Andy Bohnsack: 658. That is the highest score so far this year and also the third-highest since modern record-keeping began in 2011. Thomas had four bingos: FERULAE, TOURISTA, MOFETTE, and the triple-triple PUNITION for 140. Andy phonied with RECAGES but it was allowed to stay on; Thomas' motivations for not challenging remain unknown at this time.

Helen Flores also went 3-1, making a swift recovery after getting whomped by Thomas in the second game.

This week we had two bingos found solely in the new wordlist: Charles' MODALIST and Gail's LEMONIER (LEMONY was always good, now it compares).

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.