Blog

Charles Reinke: "Points are Good"

1st Charles Reinke had a rather productive evening in the points-scoring department, with the outcome of all those scored points being a 4-1 +665 record. The challenge of playing as the "one" in a two-on-one game proved not to be much of a challenge at all, as both games he won handily: 499-304 against Lynda Finn and 565-310 against Helen Flores. In the latter game, he slapped down four bingos: TRANSIT, BISTERS (n. a brown pigment, also BISTRE), LEGATINE, and OVERCOME (missing the new bingo EMOCORE). More bingo racks were on deck for a game against lifelong adversary Thomas Reinke, with Charles playing ENDMOST, FENCEROW, and ONSTAGE (new anagram: TANGOES) to attain a convincing 491-325 win. Thomas got down SHOALEST but otherwise was unable to do much in the scoring department. Peter Schmiedicke managed to hold Charles to just one bingo in their matchup, and the result was a 392-356 victory thanks to Peter's out-bingo of AGONIES. Charles' TRYPTICA (n. an ancient writing tablet) was dubbed Word of the Week, but even an honor as high as that cannot erase the piercing pain of the loss.

2nd Peter Schmiedicke also went 4-1, but his smaller spread of +196 left him in distant second place. He had his own four-bingo game against Gail Salm; CRAYONS, TAENIAS, DELIMING, and RESOLVE were his words of choice in the 480-378 victory (Gail played two bingos of her own, ORDAINED, and the new AIRBASE, which was also played last week). In the night's closest game, Peter turned away Aaron Bader 375-371, a pair of abnormally low scores for the normally high-scoring experts. Aaron was held to a grand total of zero bingos; Peter found GRADERS and TITRATES for just enough points to take the win. In what must be some sort of cosmic justice, Thomas Reinke handed Peter his only loss in another low-scoring game, 399-346. Thomas' VERDINS and TRIBUTES were not quite offset by Peter's REIFIES.

3rd Lynda Finn averaged 429 per game, a full forty points above her yearly average, en route to a 3-1 +302 outing. Other than the previously detailed loss to Charles, she found the bingos to be plentiful. After five straight losses against Aaron Bader, she finally one won to the tune of 426-400, utilizing a crafty phony of NOCKERS (RECKONS and CONKERS are good) to gain the upper hand. Aaron responded in kind with a phony CODENAME as well as a nice nine-letter out-bingo of HEARTLAND (played through AN). Lynda's other two wins could fairly be classified as blowouts: 490-266 against Helen Flores and 495-288 against Gail Salm. Combined, her bingos in those games were GUNFIRE, MISPART (anagrams: IMPARTS and ARMPITS), SPHERED, SNOUTIER, and VENTAIL. It remains to be determined if the useful "A" hook on VENTAIL (for AVENTAIL) was ever put into use.

After a honeymoon period wherein multiple new bingos were being played every week, only one was played this week, Gail's AIRBASE.

Aaron Bader Crushes Shortened Club Session

1st Aaron Bader, freed from the obligation of playing a fourth game through an impenetrable haze of fatigue, swept all his games for a 3-0 +351 finish. He got three bingos (BEERNUTS (new), ANODISE (also new!), and LATTICED) in a 478-342 win over Susan Vergeront. Another bingo trio was unleashed during a game against Barb Besadny that ended 493-302 in Aaron's favor. The three in that game were RECITED, YESTERN, and DERIVES. All good things must come to an end, however, and Aaron was only able to play two bingos (RIGADOON, LAZURITE) when he defeated Andy Bohnsack by a relatively small margin, 430-306. Andy's own GRAVIDAE and TARDIEST couldn't make up enough points to pull out the win.

2nd Peter Schmiedicke went 3-0 +226 and enjoyed the feeling of not having to play a fourth game to defend his undefeated record. He started things off on a high note by beating club leader Thomas Reinke 389-343, finding the high-scoring DITCHERS (101 points) and the low-scoring ETESIANS (58). Thomas played VEGETAL but was unable to break the 350 mark, a feat he accomplishes in over 90% of his games. Against Leslie Seltzer, Peter upped his point output, scoring 428 to Leslie's 290. There, Peter was able to play EASTERN, AIDLESS, and APOCRINE.

3rd Andy Bohnsack came in third but was owner of the largest spread, going 2-1 +365. He forced Charles Reinke into his seventh-lowest scoring game of the modern era (i.e. since we instituted the new stats system), scoring 430 to Charles' lowly 314. Andy played the new word AIRBASE, as well as not-new words FEEDBAGS and STENCILS. This 116-point victory did not sate the twisted desires of Andy's deranged mind, so he went into the next game against Betty Hasselkus and ran away with it, 559-286. Four bingos could be found on that board, all of them Andy's: TALLEST, OUTRIDES, ENTICERS, and BLISTER.

In other news, Thomas Reinke scored exactly 600 against Helen Flores for this year's second 600+ game (Aaron scored 631 earlier in the year).

Charles' FRUMENTY was chosen as word of the week. It can also be spelled FROMENTY, FURMENTY, FURMETY, and FURMITY. It is apparently a type of porridge.

New bingos this week were BEERNUTS (Aaron), ANODISE (Aaron), AIRBASE (Andy), PACINGS (June), and TRANNIE (Gail).

Andy Bohnsack Doesn't Even Care About Snow

1st Andy Bohnsack took the frustration from his opening round loss against Aaron Bader, combined it with the simmering anger that has been building up over the course of his entire life, and unleashed to win his next three games, thus finishing 3-1 +298. Much of his fury was directed towards Thomas Reinke, with Andy meticulously dismantling his opponent 506-368. Thomas was able to get two nice finds of PANCREAS and FETERITA, but Andy had a response for every move made by Thomas, playing CALDERAS, FUNGOES, ANODISE (new word alert!) and SEIGNOIR (SEIGNIOR and PEIGNOIR are good). Helen Flores fared little better; Andy prevailed 453-301 in that contest, despite Helen's bingo of ERASABLE. Andy was able to get two low-scoring bingos for himself, ENTAILED (60) and SOOTIEST (58).

2nd Peter Schmiedicke fell short of first place by just 21 spread points, going 3-1 +277. It was none other than Andy himself who gave Peter his only loss, a 430-360 defeat. Peter's lone bingo of TRAMELS just couldn't keep up with the barrage from his opponent: SLICKED, POSTERN, and HAVERING. Peter's fortunes were drastically different during his game against Susan Vergeront; his score of 559 was the highest of the night, and he was able to get down four bingos: STANDER, IODIDES, ETAMINES, and ESTANCIA. Susan played CAPTURED, but was unable to capture victory.

3rd Charles Reinke's 3-1 +244 record slotted him comfortably in third place. His closest win came against Aaron Bader, 433-390. He proved the accuracy of the adage "more bingos = more wins" by playing three bingos (BRISANT, GIVEABLE, and OVERTAME) to Aaron's two (DIPTERAN and VIEWINGS). Peter Schmiedicke did not find himself at a bingo disadvantage when he matched up against Charles, and thus came away with a 457-396 win. His 101-point JAGGIEST certainly helped a lot, as it withstood Charles' 86-point JAVELINA (a hoofed mammal also called a PECCARY).

Of note was Dave Gilligan's 474-472 win against Thomas Reinke. Both players had three bingos in what would turn out to be Thomas' second-highest-scoring loss ever. His nine-letter, 101-point double-double INDIGENES was chosen of word of the week. We had three new bingos played: ANODISE (Andy), TAJINES (Aaron), and STEAMIES (Gail).