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1st Bryan Benwitz enjoyed a second straight 4-0 performance, and with those four additional wins, has now reached ten wins in a row. His +446 spread was by far the best of all players, although his average of 471 was not (we'll get to that later). His night was also notable for a multitude of obscure bingos each deserving of word-of-the-week status. Bryan started off strong by deploying three bingos (PERINEAL, OLDSTYLE, DIEBACKS) against Helen Flores in a 472-291 win. He then faced a considerable challenger in Sara McLaughlin, but escaped with a 435-412 win, despite Sara's funereal finds of MOURNED and WEEPING (Bryan had AVIATED and GLUEPOTS, which do not seem to be related thematically). A 442-418 win over Thomas Reinke, who must be getting pretty sick of losing to Bryan (three wins in the last sixteen attempts), saw Bryan get word-of-the-week HELLHOLE in addition to GENOISE and AGITATO. HELLHOLE is notable for being in the bottom 1,000 of eight letter words by probability, right between BUZZARDS and UNCHANCY (ZYZZYVAS is, of course, the lowest-probability eight letter word). Bryan's best was saved for last when he whomped Richard Lauder, 535-317, getting DETAINEE, CORSETRY, PRIVETS, and the odd-looking BAUHINIA.

2nd Thomas Reinke averaged 481 points per game despite suffering two losses in a 3-2 +351 effort. His high-scoring ways ensured a finish ahead of two other players who also had 3-2 records. Richard Lauder was again the target of some misplaced wrath as Thomas used four bingos (NIDATED, ATOMISTS, VIRTUOSA, HOLLERS) to beat him 551-311. Thomas followed that up with a two-on-one match where a 483-407 win over the other Reinke was offset by a 433-490 loss to Mark Kenas. Thomas' round two bingos were ESTATED, ANTICKE#, MESSING, TRICLADS, SPLUTTER, and BESTIRS. The aforementioned loss to Bryan Benwitz put Thomas out of contention for first place, but he nonetheless rallied for second with a big 520-404 rematch win against Mark Kenas, this time bingoing with STILETTO, ANILINE, and AXONEME.

3rd Charles Reinke went 3-2 +140, well back of Thomas but well ahead of Richard Lauder's identical 3-2 record with a -209 spread. Charles took a big loss early when he was handily swept aside by Mark Kenas, 385-501. While that loss was in progress, Charles managed a 397-345 victory over Francesca Lazio, overcoming a 2-1 bingo deficit where Francesca played INGRATE and SHUSHES against Charles' ESTRIOL. Charles later got his revenge (and then some) against Mark Kenas with a devastating 594 score (to Mark's 359) - a bingo frenzy of CODRIVE, SULFURET, TAPERING, and INTERIOR got Charles to his highest game of the year up to this point, although it is well short of Mark's own 650 as the club's highest score this year. Charles finished the evening with a fireworks-filled 473-428 against the latecoming Dennis Lloyd. Dennis fought valiantly with finds of RANGIEST and BARRIERS, but was turned back by Charles' MIAOUING, ANODISES, and INVEIGLE.

1st Bryan Benwitz prevailed mightily over a contested field of ten players with his pristine 4-0 +268 record. He scored over 400 in each of his games, a good strategy if one wishes to go undefeated. He vanquished Richard Lauder in the first round by a score of 433-398, getting down bingos of BOODIES and ANERGIES vs. Richard's ELECTIVE and PASSERS. The high-water mark came against Sara Mclaughlin when Bryan romped to a 466-309 win, getting down SAMISEN and EROTICAL (Sara had INDOORS to stem the bleeding). Bryan's closest victory was a 434-426 match against Lynda Finn, but Bryan's three bingos (CARMINE, CLARIONS, and SHOUTED) delivered him the win in the end. Sitting at 3-0, with visions of a headlining paragraph tantalizing his eyes like an oasis in the desert, Bryan went up against Thomas Reinke and comfortably prevailed, 429-361, thanks to finds of COGITATE and BORANES. And so the prestige of having his feats described first, before all others, in the writeup was rightfully grasped.

2nd Mark Kenas made a rare entry into the top three with a 3-1 +391 record and a wild 489 per-game average. His strict adherence to the international Collins lexicon guarantees that he faces nothing but Reinkes in all of his games; however, he is never disgruntled by the strength of his only two opponents, and the frightening depths of his word knowledge were fully on display as he unleashed thirteen bingos in total across four games. Mark took both games off Thomas Reinke, both by staggering margins, 493-353 and 537-357. Thomas had just one bingo total in the two games, STINTED, while Mark had seven: SQUARED, INTERNED, IODISERS#, ADROITER, SEDITION, AVULSION, and WANTAGES. He got another 500-point game against Charles Reinke, winning 549-381 with bingos of HAFFETS, STENCIL, MEDITATES, and CUITERS#. That game also marked the end of Charles' 13-game winning streak. Charles did manage to prevent Mark from going 4-0 and finishing ahead of Bryan, winning their rematch 474-378. Mark's bingos there were GELIDEST# and SERPENTS, while Charles had SITHENS and LANDMINE. SITHENS is a Shakespearean word which means "since" (also spelled SITHENCE), and woe betide anyone who attempts to play SITHEN*, which is not a word.

3rd Lynda Finn, fresh off a strong showing in Arizona where she won division 2 of the Van Rand Phoenix Tournament, continued her run of strong play with a 3-1 +282 record. It was a bit of a slow start for Lynda as she barely beat her first-round opponent, Helen Flores - Lynda was bingoless but held on for a 323-313 win. The rest of her games were much better, starting with a 448-394 win over Richard Lauder. Lynda's single bingo of SEEPIER was outdone by Richard's IOLITES and CATTIES, but Lynda was happy to learn that there is nothing in the rule book which says that the player who bingos more often has to be the winner. A 426-434 loss to Bryan Benwitz, with bingos of INTEGER and LUSTIER, kept her momentum going despite the loss, and she turned it on in the final round to beat Sara McLaughlin 477-251.

Thomas Reinke's FLATWAYS was word of the week. FLATWAYS, like SITHENS above, cannot have the S taken off, as it is an adverb meaning "on the flat side" (also spelled FLATWISE, which is higher-probability and more helpful to know).

1st Charles Reinke brought his current win streak to twelve games, thanks to a flawless 4-0 +366 record. All his games were won by margins over 100 points except his first one, a close 440-428 bout with Mark Kenas. The two players were evenly matched in bingos, with Charles getting FENLANDS and DECLAIM against Mark's TITANOUS and OVERWET. A rematch, which was supposed to be vengeance for Mark, ended up being a comfortable 417-294 win as the planned vengeance failed to materialize. Mark did find a nine-letter ELECTRONS to make himself feel a bit better. Charles also enjoyed a big win against Bryan Benwitz, 498-390, thanks to three bingos of DOILIES, MISTRIAL, and ELUATES. Perfection was attained against Sara McLaughlin, as Charles' finds of SPITTED and BLISTER carried him to a 475-352 victory.

2nd Bryan Benwitz averaged 472 points per game, but the aforementioned loss to Charles left him in second place with a 3-1 +362 record. He began by defeating Sara McLaughlin, 470-331, a lopsided score despite the fact that both players had two bingos (Bryan: POSTERNS and LENITES; Sara: STANDEE and GREMLIN). Losing to Charles in round two caused Bryan to focus all his animosity towards the other Reinke, and the result was a stark blowout in Bryan's favor, 568-317. Thomas did play one bingo of SPEARGUN, but drowned underneath Bryan's unstoppable tsunami of bingoage, which consisted of YAUTIAS, UNCARING, PREFIGHT, and LARIATED. Bryan finished his night by taking a win off the 3-0 Richard Lauder, 461-381, undoubtedly thinking that if his own 4-0 was going to be spoiled, he might as well try to spoil somebody else's.

3rd Richard Lauder looked poised to go undefeated, but a late loss to Bryan meant that Richard has to be content with his 3-1 +186 record. He barely averted an upset loss in round one when he took on Sue Goldstein; his bingo of AEROSAT certainly helped him hang on to a 342-324 victory. Against Francesca Lazio, bingos of VAUNTING and STEAMIER helped him get back on track with a 455-315 win. Francesca had CARTOONS to keep things respectable. A 410-302 win over Helen Flores followed, and Richard again demonstrated his bingo-finding ability with PROOFED and STRIVEN. The bingoing continued in the final game against Bryan, with Richard getting GRASSED and GARRISON, but he didn't quite have enough scoring punch to overcome Bryan's high-scoring ways, and the game ended 461-381 in Bryan's favor.