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1st Richard Lauder prevailed amongst a clump of 3-1 finishers with his 3-1 +312 record. Tasked with playing 2023 club champion Bryan Benwitz in the first game of the night, Richard kept his composure (and then some) with a merciless 454-291 win. Bryan did not get down a bingo, while Richard had DEACONS, HALOGEN, and SATINET. The trend of knocking off top players continued when Richard breached the 500-point marker with a 504-355 win over Thomas Reinke. RELATION was Thomas' only bingo, while Richard again bingoed thricely with ABALONE, LAMSTER, and NUMERALS. More bingos were in store for Richard in his match against Sara McLaughlin, but his RECLINER and RELATES still led him to a 384-386 loss. That two-point defeat was neatly offset in the final round when Richard beat Dennis Lloyd by two points, 316-314.

2nd Thomas Reinke finished 3-1 +157, continuing his strong start to the club season. Two of those wins came in Collins-dictionary games against Mark Kenas. The first of those ended at a score of 415-303, with Thomas getting down the only two bingos played in the game, COURTIER and ROSEATE. Both players' scores ticked up in the second encounter, but it was still a comfortable win for Thomas, 476-403, thanks to TEENTIER#, FENITARS#, GALILEE, and CURRENTS. A 355-504 loss to Richard Lauder dashed Thomas' hopes of going undefeated for 52 straight weeks and running away with the club championship, but he got back on track by defeating Francesca Lazio 471-350, with each player getting one bingo (ELUSIVE for Thomas, RANTERS for Francesca).

3rd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 +104, reversing his 1-3 record from last week. A bingoless 291-454 loss to Richard Lauder was not the start he was looking for, but things started looking up when he defeated Dennis Lloyd, 410-380, finding the straightforward SONNIES and ROADIES to score some much-sought-after fifty-point bonuses (Dennis found BROODED for 50 extra points of his own). Bryan played two more bingos, OBLIGEE and PRUINOSE, while besting Charles Reinke, 438-344. Facing off against the undefeated Sara McLaughlin in the final round, Bryan turned their game into a rout; he monopolized the bingo situation with STIPEND and RACIEST, resulting in a final score of 473-330.

4th Sara McLaughlin rounded out the 3-1 finishers with her 3-1 -15 record, including a one-point win over Sue Goldstein, 361-360.

Other tidbits include Dave Kinzer's 487 points against Sue Goldstein, which featured a 122-point non-bingo triple-triple of MIDDLING played through IN on the board. Also noteworthy was Mark Kenas' 650-point game against Charles Reinke (who scored a respectable 434). Mark played six bingos: LORDKIN#, LUTECIUM, UNBASED, CROTTLE#, OPIATING, and WATERIER. Their combined of 1084 is the second-highest at our club since modern recordkeeping was instituted in 2011.

1st Thomas Reinke inaugurated the 2024 club season with a spotless 5-0 +330 record, guaranteeing that if an asteroid were to obliterate the earth right at this very moment, he would be the 2024 club champion by default. His customary two-game match against Mark Kenas, played using the Collins dictionary, went relatively smoothly: he won the first game 450-410, then faltered in the second but still eked it out, 406-402. In the latter game, Mark bingoed just once with DANEGELT, but made it close when faced with Thomas' REORIENT, PEATIEST, and HOGWEEDS. Thomas got the highest score of the year's first club session when he beat Karl Armstrong 521-374, thanks to a triple-triple of COLORISE for 149 points in addition to OVERBITE and ENTOZOA. Karl found SUITERS to take some of the sting off. The perfect record was clinched in a well-fought 396-361 game against Richard Lauder, where Richard's finds of PINOCLES and HEAVINGS* (just SHEAVING) were countered by Thomas' BITCHERS and DEXTRINS.

2nd Charles Reinke starts this year in the same position he was at the end of last year, that is, behind his brother in the standings, with a 4-1 +129 record. He started off strong with a victory over last year's club champ, Bryan Benwitz, with 399-352 being their final tally. Atypically, both players had just one bingo: ARMADAS for Bryan, HEMATIC for Charles (in addition to taking an S for HEMATICS, HEMATIC also take an R or T in front for RHEMATIC or THEMATIC). A Collins-only triple-triple of YARDINGS# for 169 points doomed Charles in his first game against Mark Kenas, which ended at 426-520. In round four, Charles got a chance at payback when he played a two-on-one against Mark as well as Lynda Finn. The game against Mark was a comfortable win, 482-339, thanks to bingos of TOPLINED#, HERNIATE, and SANTERIA, but the game against Lynda was a nailbiter decided by just one point, 420-419. Lynda got down ANIMATER and PASTERN, while Charles had PILFERED and OUTVIES.

3rd Sara McLaughlin topped a bundle of three 3-1 finishers with her 3-1 +345 record. She used a bingo of DEARIES to cruise to a 414-304 victory in round one. Round two saw her matched up against newcomer Milly, and while Milly was able to get down some nice plays, she couldn't overcome Sara's decades of accumulated Scrabble wisdom, and it was Sara's win, 382-196. Sara's winning ways were temporarily disrupted in a low-scoring 318-325 loss to Richard Lauder, but she completely turned it around in the final game, where she deployed three bingos (BEGOTTEN, WRANGLED, and DETAINER) en route to a 450-394 win over Dennis Lloyd, who did get down the word of the week, HELPLINE.

4th/5th Wendy Bialek and Richard Lauder also finished with 3-1 records.

We welcomed two new players, Milly and Matthew, to our fellowship of tile-flingers, and our total turnout of 17 players was the longest we have had in quite some time. The future looks bright indeed for competitive, yet friendly, Scrabble play in Madison, Wisconsin!

1st Ron Malzer added his name to the illustrious list of players who have, in a single session, attained the coveted 4-0 record, finishing at 4-0 +409. He also averaged 411 points per game, more than fifty points higher than his yearly average up to that point. A first-round win against Wendy Bialek was just the start that Ron was looking for, 396-248. Another big win came against Lynda Finn, where Ron's bingos of ZESTING and NOTIONS propelled him to a 458-315 final score. Facing off against the fearsome Bryan Benwitz, who sits mightily atop the yearly standings, Ron was unaffected by the pressure, and took a close win, 395-384. Ron had STRIATED in that game, while Bryan had FALTERS. In the final round, the battle of 3-0's, Ron etched his name into the weighty golden tablets which constitute the club's official recordbooks by dismantling Sara McLaughlin, 394-287. His bingo find of SNARLING was surely descriptive of his facial expression as he laid down big play after big play.

2nd Charles Reinke finished up the club season with a 4-1 +178 outing, although he strangely did not manage to reach his season average of 445 in any of the night's games. He came close with a round one win against Mark Kenas, 444-351. Playing in the Collins dictionary as is their custom, Charles found MINDFUL and AKINESES#, while Mark had ADONISES and AGRIZES#. Simultaneously, Charles went up against Lynda Finn and won a lower-scoring game, 369-338. After dispatching Richard Lauder 434-291, Charles took on Mark again in a rematch, and Mark was out for blood, as evidenced by the 387-509 final score. Charles had a high-probability GALORES, but Mark found NEIGHED, PRUINOSE, and DELATES. Charles finished his evening with a 414-381 victory over Bryan Benwitz.

3rd Sara McLaughlin did not play a bingo in any of her four games, but still finished strong at 3-1 +28. An instructive first-round game against newcomer Milo evolved into a comfortable win for Sara, 347-249. Immediately matched up against Jane Lowy, another newcomer, Sara was challenged but eventually prevailed, 302-274. An even tighter game was played against Richard Lauder, and, despite Richard's dual bingos of LORINER and TITIANS, it was Sara's win, 355-346. Tantalized by the possibility of going 4-0, Sara went up against fellow 3-0 Ron Malzer in the last round, but sadly fell well short of a victory (and an undefeated night) with her 287-394 loss. Since Sara did have a perfect 4-0 record back in June, it was only fair that Ron take this one.

We welcomed two new players, Jane and Milo, and hope to see one or both of them again in the future!

This session marks the end of the club season, which means that final winning percentages have been tabulated and a club champion has been crowned. With a stellar winning percentage of 74.8% and a devastating average score of 438, Bryan Benwitz proudly takes the metaphorical crown and places it upon his not-so-metaphorical head, while Thomas Reinke, with his 73.4% winning percentage and 451 average score, is cast aside in second place. Charles Reinke rounds out the top three at 65.8% and a 444 average, well back of the two contenders. Bryan's triumph marks the first time in a decade and a half since a non-Reinke was at the top of the yearly stats; we're missing some data from 2006 and 2005, but Charles Reinke was tops in 2007, and in 2004 it was John O'Laughlin and his outrageous 82.3% win rate. John was likely top in 2005 and 2006 as well.

Next week begins a new club season and a fresh start for all players looking to improve their average scores, their BPG (bingos per game), their win rate, the amount of fun they're having, all of the above, or none of the above.

In unrelated statistical news, the club recently hit the 30% mark in our collective attempt to play every bingo in the dictionary (that's 56,792 seven and eight letter words, of which we have played 17,410). Of course, we have played most of the high-probability words like ETESIAN and ATONIES, leaving us with unplayable oddities like AARDWOLF and ZYMOGRAM begging to eventually be placed on the board, so our progress towards 40% will likely be a slow and multi-year process, never mind 50% or 100%.