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1st Mark Kenas steamrolled through a tough field of Reinkes, finishing 4-0 and averaging a simply obscene 525 points per game. We all knew that the Collins lexicon inflates scores a bit, but I guess we didn't know the full extent of that inflation. Mark's closest game was in round one, but it was still a comfortable win over Charles Reinke, 519-437. A 185-point triple-triple of TEAWARES did the work of three "conventional" bingos, and all but guaranteed the win. A rematch was not as close, with Mark taking the win 537-374, thanks to OPENING, TEATIME, and UNDERWIT#. Mark reserved the full fury of his recently-refreshed bingo knowledge for Thomas Reinke, as he played four bingos in each of their two games: NORLAND, SHARIAT#, CANDOUR, and PILSENER in a 526-395 win, and OVERUSE, TROATED#, HOUTING#, and ENTIRELY in the 519-345 rematch victory.

2nd Andy Bohnsack formed one half of the rare "undefeated tandem" along with Mark, with an identical 4-0 record but a lesser +440 point spread. Due to conflicting lexical preferences, neither player was offered the opportunity to dethrone the other, and the consequence is that they have to fight over the throne (I think Mark wins that battle). Andy started with a 469-321 win over second-timer Ari Smith, and while his CALZONE and PISTONS were nice, the phony FERRETIN* was not so nice (he was probably thinking of FERRITIN). He then reached a local maximum with a 570-302 walloping of Sara McLaughlin, finding three more bingos: LEFTIES, NECROSE, and GOSPORT. In round three, Andy matched up against his nemesis in the yearly standings, Bryan Benwitz, and prevailed in a close one, 440-429. Bryan got UNSAVED and CTENIDIA to Andy's TUMBLES and BROTHERS. Andy finished up his perfect record by beating Lynda Finn 410-397 in a somewhat anomalous game; the winner had zero bingos while the loser had three: ISOLATE, ENDEAVOR, and PINDERS.

3rd Lynda Finn went 3-1 +283, winning the first three before falling to Andy in the final round. I suppose if they hadn't been paired in the last game, we could have had three 4-0 finishers. That seems like a missed opportunity. Anyway, Lynda scored above 400 in all of her wins, starting with a 436-321 victory against Dave Kinzer where she played the only bingo on the board, HALITES. Round two saw Lynda vanquish Charles Reinke, 445-414, getting bingos of ARCADES, STRIGIL, and TARDIVE. A 458-308 win over Dennis Lloyd got Lynda to 3-0, but she lost her final game to Andy Bohnsack 397-410. Complaints related to the pairing methodology that resulted in this loss can be sent to idontcheckthisinbox@madisonscrabble.com

1st Bryan Benwitz stood head and shoulders above the rest of the field with a flawless 4-0 +593 record, his closest adversary in the standings possessing a lowly 2-2 record. Disaster was narrowly avoided in round one as Bryan pulled off the closest-possible win against Andy Bohnsack, 357-356. The game saw significantly less in the way of bingo fireworks than is typical for their games: Bryan found ERISTIC, while Andy had LETTUCES. Bryan also fought to a low-scoring 355-301 win against Sara McLaughlin, playing OVERAGED. All this pent-up demand for bingos and points was unleashed in the final two games of the night; first to feel the wrath was Richard Lauder, who was buried under a veritable avalanche of scoring from Bryan's side, the final score being 553-241. Bryan slapped down ATTENDEE, PUNINESS, LASTBORN, and ARIDEST in that one. Perversely unsatisfied by this big win, Bryan conjured another four-bingo game to clinch 4-0, playing REDDLES, FERVOUR, LITHEMIA, and EARPHONE in a 544-318 victory against Lynda Finn.

2nd Charles Reinke, feeling the absence of a certain player who looks a lot like him, was pressed into a four-game Collins-lexicon series against Mark Kenas, and came out ahead in spread, 2-2 +107. Game one was a nailbiter, but sadly a loss, 420-425, despite finds of ETATISM and PROUDISH. Charles whipped up a four-bingo game of his own to win the next one, getting BUTMENT#, DOTIEST, NONADULT, and HERNIAE in a 530-432 win. He would take the next one as well, 410-323, getting TRUEBORN and ANATASE. Mark got in a few counterpunches of his own in the final game, getting DECORATE, HEATERS, and RETELLER to even the series with a 473-400 winning score.

1st Steve Hartsman topped a diminished field of six players with a 3-1 +128 record. In game one, his poor luck against Bryan Benwitz continued; after all was said and done, it was a 505-304 win for Bryan, who had SPUMANTE, RARITIES, and SIDESMAN to Steve's REGRATES. The best remedy to losing a game by 200 points is to win the next game by 200 points, and Steve put that old adage into practice with a 512-299 win over Helen Flores in the second round. He piled on bingos of RELOANED, PAESANI, ENAMOUR, and the phony GRISTLED* (a phony common enough that it was played at our club once before, in 2015). Steve wrapped up his first-place effort with a 391-308 win over Dave Kinzer (getting ESTUARY and DILATION) and a 413-380 victory against Richard lauder (finding the ultra-common SERIATE, which is the sixth-most common bingo played at our club, with 29 occurrences since 2011; its anagram, AERIEST, has been played 26 times).

2nd Helen Flores went 3-1 -133, timing her strike for exactly the week when certain high-level players were absent to secure a coveted writeup paragraph. She started off with a tight two-point win over Dave Kinzer, 364-362, countering his Word-of-the-Week PARFAIT with her own GROANER. Helen's luck took a nosedive as she was steamrollered (Steverollered?) by Steve Hartsman 299-512, but she quickly recovered to get a big win off of Dennis Lloyd, 442-381. Helen found DERISION and WARDENS in that one, while Dennis had PALLIATE and FIDGETS. But Helen's signature win waited until the last round, as she felled the bingo-knowledge titan Bryan Benwitz by a score of 412-395, making her the winner in two of their last five contests. Bryan was held to a single bingo of REMORSE, while Helen had SNAKIER and DEMONIC, proving once again that "bingoing early and often" is never a bad strategy.