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It is Confirmed: Thomas Reinke is a Hyper-Intelligent Alien Shapeshifter

1st Thomas Reinke, with a dominating 4-0 +653 performance, has reached the fabled "10 wins in a row mark", strengthening the theory that he might be an extraterrestrial sent to our planet in order to beat us at Scrabble.  His lowest score in that ten-game run is 433; what more evidence is necessary?  "Thomas" got off to a strong start by manhandling Aaron Bader 498-323, starting a trend that would prevail through his next two games by playing four bingos: OUTRACE, SNOOZIER, FALCONER, and GURNEYS.  That game was closely-contested compared to a Thomas-Richard matchup that ended 583-227 in favor of the twin.  His four bingos were ACYLOIN, LORGNON, SUGARED, and MIDSOLES.  To cap off his run of four-bingo games, Thomas defeated Peter Schmiedicke 460-345 while playing OUTPREENS, DERISION, SHAIRDS, and REASCENT.  Both Peter and Richard were held bingoless, while Aaron was restricted to just one bingo.  With his strong showing, Thomas is now averaging 457 on the year.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +331, a more sedate performance than that of his brother's, suggesting that Charles is in fact merely a human and not an otherworldly being.  Against Leslie Seltzer, Charles pulled out the words MARTINET and TARSIER (n. a very cute monkey-type thing whose most noteworthy feature is having eyes larger than its brain) to win 403-330.  His big score would come against Lynda Finn, 527-323.  Lynda's TRAINING came up well short of Charles' BECURSED, ADENITIS, and PAYOLAS (n. a secret payment for favors).  Charles seemed primed for an undefeated evening, but was turned away by his own brother, 456-449.  Thomas played ORANGES and AMANDINE (which sounds like the recipe for a vile dish), while Charles seemed to have an "A" fixation, playing ACERBER (adj. ACERB, sour), AIRINESS, and AVIATES.

3rd Bryan Benwitz finished 3-1 +179, a welcome return to the top three after a monthlong absence.  Bryan only got one bingo in the course of his 509-302 win over Dave Gilligan, but he made it count, scoring 176 points for his triple-triple PRECITED.  His winning margin would go from "comfortable" to "anxiety-inducing" when he narrowly defeated Aaron Bader 404-397.  Both combatants had two bingos make it onto the board: SAVARIN and CLAIMED for Bryan, ACINOSE and EPIGONUS (n. an inferior imitator) for Aaron.  Leslie Seltzer was the perpetrator responsible for the lone loss on Bryan's scorecard, winning that fight 434-364.  Bryan was limited to just NOONTIDE for 70 points; Leslie had KETONES (80) and ERUPTING (78).

Aaron Bader had the highest game of the evening, scoring 631 against Dave Gilligan.  The 167-point triple-triple of REGIMENS certainly had a part in that huge score.

Barb Besadny Unleashes her "Inner Barb" to Good Results

1st Barb Besadny was a perfect 3-0 +135 despite not playing a bingo in any of her games.  She toughed out some defense-themed contest against June Scott (304-252) and Sue Goldstein (318-273) for two of her wins before turning on the jets and defeating Susan Vergeront 412-374.

2nd Susan Vergeront went 2-1 +81 for a second-place finish.  She was not above playing phonies to get her way, using the plausible SHIRTED (so plausible that it was not indicated as phony on her sheet!) to defeat Sue Goldstein 357-302.  DITHERS is the valid word in those letters, although SHIRTED will be added in the next dictionary update, which will be (hopefully) sometime in early 2015.  Against Barb Besadny, Susan played three (valid) bingos of RELIVING, REDIALS, and STRAINS, but even three bingos weren't enough to secure a win; she lost 374-412.

Thomas Reinke Might Be a Hyper-Intelligent Alien Shapeshifter

1st Thomas Reinke was the only undefeated player out of fifteen attendees, rightfully earning first place with his dominant 4-0 +420 performance.  He also averaged 482 over his four games, bumping up his yearly average by a considerable amount.  Bryan Benwitz was treated to an unwelcome beating at the hands of the T-Twin; Thomas' 540 was the highest scoring game of the evening, and the margin of 211 was also not too bad.  Bryan did play INTINES for a cool 90 points, but Thomas unleashed CARLINGS, SPIRULAE, and PARODOI (plural of PARODOS, an ode sung in an ancient Greek drama) to make the game a non-contest.  Against Aaron Bader, bingos were thrown around like lexical confetti; despite a two-to-three bingo deficit, Thomas won out, 461-440.  His bingos were the pedestrian ORIENTAL and REPRISE, whereas Aaron's were more exciting with DEVOUTLY and a pair of nines, BALLERINA and word-of-the-week METAGENIC.

2nd Charles Reinke went 4-1 +427, his own undefeated efforts kiboshed at the last when he was taken down by his own brother in a fraternal fistfight, 405-444.  In that contest, Charles was held to just one bingo of COWBIRDS; Thomas had LOONEYS and INDITER.  An earlier contest had Charles defeat Peter Schmiedicke 526-303, using his advanced tile-drawing skills to get bingos of EGALITE, DOZENTHS, and INVOICES.  Peter was able to get OUTSTARE to blessedly break the 300-point barrier.  Of all Charles' wins, his game against Leslie Seltzer was the closest, ending with a difference of only six points, 404-398.  Leslie had the nice find of CAUDATES, which drew a challenge (ECAUDATE is the one which doesn't pluralize), with Charles getting down LEAGUES and DOLESOME.

3rd Dave Gilligan, as the only 3-1 finisher, made the race for third place a no contest.  He handily defeated Mary Becker 381-312 in the last game of the evening, thus securing his top-three finish.  A significant 2-to-0 bingo advantage (SPARSER and OVERLENT) aided him greatly.  Such a bingo advantage was not present in a matchup against Gail Salm, with Dave playing RELINED to Gail's WINTRIER, but this proved not to be a problem as Dave won that one as well, 384-356.  Second-place finisher Charles Reinke was the only thorn in Dave's side, that game ending 491-355 in favor of the C-Twin.

Sharlie Miura Splits Games, but That's Good Enough

1st Sharlie Miura went 1-1 -9 for a pleasingly even evening.  In their first-ever contest, Dave Gilligan won out with a 387-303 victory, but Sharlie rebounded to beat June Scott 373-298.  A bingo of SAILING no doubt contributed much to Sharlie's victory.

Aaron Bader's Decree: Acquiesce, or be Destroyed

1st Aaron Bader breezed by a veritable "killer's row" of opponents with a 4-0 +393 record, causing one to wonder, how unstoppable would he be if his brain wasn't overfull with British words?  Thomas Reinke was the hapless victim who came closest to grasping the tantalizing fruit off the tree of victory, but he still fell well short, losing to Aaron 357-388.  Thomas played perhaps the easiest bingo of the night with EASIEST, whereas Aaron had to work a little bit harder for his own bingos, getting COSTIVE and ANGINAS.  Aaron's dominance was thoroughly proven as he handed three otherwise-undefeated players their only losses.  The highest-scoring of those was a dismantling of Andy Bohnsack, 521-402, giving Aaron his first win in five attempts against this particular opponent.   MORTALS and TRIODES were Andy's rack-clearing plays; Aaron had ENLARGER, OLDSTER, and Word of the Week TURBOFAN.  The yearly standings now show Aaron holding a commanding lead over the competition, but there is plenty of time to change that state of affairs.

2nd Andy Bohnsack topped the list of players with three wins, going 3-1 +188.  Richard Lauder put up a token amount of resistance, playing CYANITE and SADIRONS before succumbing to Andy's might (as well as his bingos, DITTIES and LUNETTES), 443-346.  Even more heinous than that, Andy whomped Leslie Seltzer by a score of 504-298, this time getting three bingos: SATIRIZE, ERUPTED, and CREASING.  In the last game of the night, the fear of god was deservedly put into Andy as he barely escaped with his life against Charles Reinke, 387-383.  High-level expert word knowledge was fully on display in that game: Andy played STARTLER and GAINERS, with Charles contributing WISTERIA. 

3rd Lynda Finn entered into the top three by a mere seven spread points with her 3-1 +134 record.  She stifled the normally bingo-prone Bryan Benwitz, beating him 378-369 and preventing him from bingoing for the whole game (it didn't hurt that Lynda got two bingos of her own, TUNNELS and SCARIER).  Versus Mary Becker, Lynda accomplished a similar feat, holding her opponent bingoless while bingoing a number of times herself: GLAZERS, OUTSLEEP, and FEATURE.  That game ended with a more distant 447-310 final tally.  Her final win was against Dave Gilligan, who was unable to withstand Lynda's triple-triple of REGRATED for 140 points.  Now, in cheese country, that word might be interpreted as "to grate again", but to REGRATE is "to buy up so in order to sell for a higher price in the same area".  By way of consolation, Dave played SPEEDERS for 83 points, but the final score was still well in Lynda's favor, 408-320.

Two other triple-triples were played and rewarded with $5: Leslie Seltzer had BINDINGS for 140, and Peter Schmiedicke scored 167 with his play of HARSHENS. 

Dave Gilligan Just One Point Away From Three Wins (or Two Losses Depending on How Optimistic You Are)

1st Dave Gilligan's final record of 2-1-1 got him first place in the intermediates.  A rare tie against Bryan Benwitz, 332-332, was more welcome than a loss but less welcome than a win.  Dave had INSIDER to Bryan's SPLINTER, and a "creative" miscount of either of those plays could have easily swung the game in either direction.  A match against June Scott ended more convicingly in terms of a discrete outcome, with Dave's MAINTAIN leading the way to a 340-280 victory.