Blog

1st Bryan Benwitz, despite an arrival that can only be characterized as "damp" (bordering on "waterlogged"), overcame various forms of adversity to finish at 4-0 +636 with a stratospheric 491 per-game average. None of his games were decided by less than 100 points. His "worst" game occurred in round one when he scored "only" 441 points and "only" got one bingo, SIGNETS, in a 441-311 win against Sara McLaughlin. Round two saw improvement in every facet as he beat Richard Lauder 535-380; Bryan bingoed with NUTSIER and TROLAND, while Richard had CLEAROUT and STRONGER. Bryan then trounced Thomas Reinke, 520-309, getting down an assortment of high-probability bingos: DIATRON, THEBAINE, and SORTIES. Three more bingos (OUTRACES, LEPROSE, VIOLATOR) in a 466-326 victory against Dennis Lloyd ensured Bryan's rightful spot at the tippy-top of the night's standings.

2nd Charles Reinke finished 3-2 +443, well back of Bryan's 4-0 but well ahead of the other 3-2 finisher. Charles had a nice start against Mark Kenas, finding TEASING and OXCARTS (vs. Mark's BRATTLED and RIGIDEST) to take a 440-381 win. The bingos temporarily dried up in a game against Thomas Reinke, and Charles had to watch his opponent's PREENACT, CONATUS, and RUBIFIES# hit the board in a 348-426 loss. Charles then lost the traditional Mark Kenas rematch, 400-469, despite some common seven-letter finds of NIOBATE and TERRANE (fun fact: NIOBATE hasn't been played at club since 2014, despite being #71 in the list of probable seven-letter words). Charles gained some spread when he took Richard Lauder to the metaphorical cleaners, 562-190, and gained another sizable chunk of spread by defeating Lynda Finn 438-279.

3rd Thomas Reinke finished an identical 3-2, but with a -106 point spread, was far back from the silver medal. He started with a close contest against Lynda Finn, where being outbingoed (AUXESIS against BANDAGES + ENDANGER) didn't stop him from taking a 405-387 victory. A tough two-on-one match against Charles Reinke and Mark Kenas was partially successful, with Thomas taking one game (beating Charles 426-348) while dropping the other (391-490 against Mark). Clearly in a vulnerable position after having expended so much brain power, Thomas lost to the Bryan Benwitz (who apparently was facing no shortage of brain power, being as he is the Bryaniac) 309-520. A winning record was salvaged when Thomas held Mark bingoless in a 475-367 rematch, finding ABSENTEE, PANDANI, and STOODEN# in the process.

Sara's nifty find of OTITISES was word of the week. Strangely, the letters EIIOSSTT make another eight-letter word: OSTEITIS.

1st Thomas Reinke topped a healthy assortment of thirteen players with his flawless 5-0 +293 record. He began with a 460-392 win over Mark Kenas, playing ATONIES, BOTTINE#, and LATTINS to Mark's SCRIPTER and CERRIAL#. He then faced off against newcomer (but seasoned tournament player) Kristy Zurbrick and won in a high-scoring affair, 472-447. Thomas' sole bingo was COMETARY, while Kristy got down three of her own: HERNIATE, CESTOID, and HOISTED. Thomas didn't get any time to breathe as he was immediately tossed into a two-on-one against fearsome Collins competitors Charles Reinke and Mark Kenas; this proved to be no problem as Thomas won both, 423-395 against Charles and an eye-popping 525-515 game against Mark. That latter game saw Mark go wild with his Collins knowledge, deploying BEDTIMES, HUANACOS#, ANTLIAE#, and STODGER#, while Thomas contributed to the 1000-point effort with GROOMERS, SODDIER#, and UILLEANN#. Thomas wrapped things up with a convincing win over Lynda Finn, 457-295.

2nd Charles Reinke had a strong night at 4-1 +427, but a third-straight loss to Thomas Reinke demoted him to second place in the weekly standings. Round one had Charles playing two players at once, and as the dust settled from the three-way fracas, Charles emerged victorious in both games, defeating Bryan Benwitz 431-373 and Karl Armstrong 464-339. Among Charles' bingos was a nine-letter LORICATES played against Karl. Charles piled on three more bingos (SUNTANS, RIGORIST, ALLUSION) in a 479-371 win against Mark Kenas, who got down the useful CSW-only bingo AEGIRITE#. After a minor hiccup in round three which consisted of a 395-423 loss to his brother, Charles turned around and notched an even 500 points in the rematch against Mark, who scored 336. Charles' frenzy of bingos featured FILCHED, TUNEUPS, SAGUARO, and GALENITE.

3rd Bryan Benwitz rounded out the top three with a 3-1 +93 record. Despite bingos of REFUTERS and DIPLOMAT, Bryan was felled in the very first game by Charles Reinke, 373-431; Bryan promptly redirected his fury onto the unsuspecting Richard Lauder, resulting in three bingos (FLEECING, IONIUMS, DAINTIER) and a 439-389 win. Bryan's usually high-flying scoring style was partially stymied when he went up against Kristy Zurbrick, but he managed to prevail regardless, 376-348. Kristy found ARSENAL in that one, while Bryan had the nice FOVEOLES. Bryan's final act was a 422-349 win against Sara McLaughlin, where Sara's not-self-descriptive play of ASININE for 98 just wasn't enough to swing the game in her favor.

We enjoyed Milio's subs and shared fond memories of Sue Goldstein. Thanks to Lynda for helping organize the food and for bringing an abundance of cookies. All that was missing was Sue's customary mini-bottle of diet caffeine-free coke.

We welcomed the vacationing Kristy Zurbrick to our club as well. Her years of tournament experience resulted in a much stronger performance than the average newcomer (2-2 with a 416 per-game average and nine bingos!). Alas, this was probably a one-time appearance as her native Ohio beckons her back. But all Wisconsinites are encouraged to visit her Columbus, Ohio club if ever in the area. Her fantastic find of CHEFDOMS was word of the week.

1st Lynda Finn is now winner of ten of her last eleven games, going 4-0 +436 and averaging 444 points per game, inching her yearly average closer to the fabled 400 mark. Her perfect night started with a victory over Dave Kinzer, 438-355, where her two valid bingos of AMPULES and ARCSINE were joined by a phony DANGELTS* (DANEGELT has a few alternate spellings, but DANGELT* is not one of them). That was followed up with a tightly-contested 434-430 win over Bryan Benwitz, making that two weeks in a row where she has bested the club leader. Bingos in that one were WAXIEST and LECTION for Lynda, REROUTES and MEGABITS for Bryan. In round three, Lynda handed Thomas Reinke his only loss in convincing fashion, 438-349, with finds of OVERLEAP and OSMOSES. In harmony with the old saying, Lynda saved her best for last by drubbing Sara McLaughlin in the final game, 464-294, cementing an undefeated night with bingos of DISROBE and FEVERING.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +163 as the only player to end with three wins. In the absence of Mark Kenas, Thomas was forced to sate his appetite for Collins-lexicon combat with a pair of games against brother Charles Reinke. This venture proved successful as Thomas won both encounters, 463-431 and 519-423. His seven bingos in those two games dwarfed the total amount of bingos he played in his two non-Collins games, which was...(checks notes)...two. The seven bingos were DEROGATE, SETUALE#, VORTICES, SOUTIES#, HERNIATE, RIVULET, and REPROVEN* (looks plausible, but only REPROVED). In between those games, Thomas beat Sara McLaughlin 408-284 (playing TRIPLES) and lost to LYnda Finn 349-438 (playing SACATON).

3rd Beth Amos played an abbreviated schedule of three games, but made the most of it with a 2-1 +226 record. She scored big with a 122-point triple-triple of UTENSILS in round one, but still dropped the game to Bryan Benwitz, 379-420. She then started to live up to her nickname of "Bingoin' Beth Amos" (has kind of a Spaghetti Western ring to it) by playing three bingos (LIONISE, INLAYER, NEUROID) in a 426-372 win over Dave Kinzer. Beth finished her night with a crushing 486-273 victory against Richard Lauder, where her sole bingo of REASSURE for seventy points must have been supplemented by some other big non-bingo plays to account for her huge score.