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1st Charles Reinke secured first place in the nightly standings with a comfortable two-game lead over his next-closest competitor, finishing at 5-0 +464. He played four bingos (VARMENTS, RETINOID, SOLACED, and PEARLIES) in what was otherwise a closely-contested game against Thomas Reinke, who played SINUATED and DIAGNOSE. The final tally in that one was 461-453 in Charles' favor. Charles' bingo output would only go lower from that point forward, but he continued his winning ways, including a 485-273 win over Helen Flores. Helen got down a nice find of VASTIEST, while Charles had DOVECOT and WANGUNS. WANGUN is a Native American word for a chest of supplies at a labor camp, but what Charles was most concerned with was the fact that it scored him 78 points.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +352, losing two games to his brother but winning the rest. Surprisingly, his highest score of the evening was in the game described above, which he lost 453-461. The other encounter against Charles also ended unfavorably for Thomas, the final score being 437-468 despite Thomas' finds of TRUEBORN and GOONDAS. However, a big win against Richard Lauder, 427-335, ensured that Thomas didn't lose too much ground in the yearly standings. His bingos there were BIGUINE and the always-useful AIRIEST. Fun fact: AIRIEST has now been played 37 times at our club since modern recordkeeping began in 2011. The only bingo played more often is ETESIAN, played forty times. EASIEST and ATONIES are the other two to have been played more than thirty times.

1st Bryan Benwitz continued his dominance of the east side with an unblemished 4-0 +361 record. Notably, he achieved the rare "Anti-Reinke" by defeating both players with the last name Reinke in a single club session. Against Charles Reinke, neither player scored 400, but Bryan was significantly closer to 400 than Charles was, with a final score of 399-320. A crafty AZOTEMIA followed up with a 95-point LARDONS spelled doom for Charles. Again, neither player broke the 400-point barrier when Bryan vanquished Thomas Reinke 388-379, mostly relying on his 94-point OLIVINES to supply him the win. More high-level bingoage was displayed against Dave Kinzer, where Bryan's three bingos of LEAVIEST, DEAREST, EQUISETA, against Dave's singular AIRHEAD, delivered a 426-326 win.

2nd Thomas Reinke went 4-1 +384 and laid down an impressive thirteen bonus plays to be crowned this week's "bingo king". He played his brother Charles Reinke in two games and won them both, the first being relatively close at 437-412, the second being not so close at 455-346. In the second round, Thomas played two games at once, and unleashed a torrent of bingos in a pair of games that were both decisive victories: 482-349 against Richard Lauder (who played the word of the week, NAZIFIES, for 102 points in his losing effort) and 479-353 against Renato Umali. Thomas' combined bingos in the round were SCOOTED, ACTIONER, SOBERING, EUCHRED, RURALIZE, and UNIRONED. Only a third-round loss to Bryan Benwitz prevented Thomas from attaining the coveted 5-0 record.

Also of note were a 176-point play of BLUEFISH from Renato Umali and a dizzying 572-point game from Dennis Lloyd, who played four bingos, including a 124-point LAZIEST. That 572-point game represents Dennis' highest-scoring game in his club career, barely eclipsing a 571-point game dating from March of 2022.

1st Thomas Reinke was almost entirely unimpeded in waltzing to a flawless 5-0 +477 record. His most formidable challenger turned out to be Richard Lauder, but Thomas pulled out a close one, 373-358, thanks to cat-themed bingos of MIAOUING and FELINES. At the same time as that game was going on, Thomas gave Lynda Finn a sizable "welcome back to club" present, playing four bingos against her (HALITES, SEVERAL, BINATELY, INGULFED) and winning 518-378. But Thomas is nothing if not an equal-opportunity bingoer, and he demonstrated that core characteristic of his by playing four more bingos against Dennis Lloyd in the course of a 484-373 victory. Those four bingoes were PHONEME, SCOOPING, BOATLOAD, and SENEGAS, while Dennis got YEARLIES.

2nd Charles Reinke finished in a strong second place, going 4-1 +526. He picked up a quick 200+ points of spread in the first round when he demolished Mark Kenas, 518-313, getting down bingos of FAMINES, OMITTING, and LINGERIE in the process. Charles broke the 500-point barrier one more time when he cruised past Richard Lauder, 502-279, adding three more bingos of DATARIES, TARRIEST, and OVERSUDS to his overflowing list of bonus plays. Sadly, Charles was denied the immortal glory of a first-place finish when Mark Kenas beat him solidly in a rematch, 355-468. Mark's fun Collins-only find of GUICHET#, among many other high-scoring plays, delivered him a comfortable victory.

3rd Lynda Finn returned to club after a year-plus hiatus and proved that her in-person Scrabble abilities were not rusty at all, as attested to by her 3-2 +137 record and 411 average score. She quickly proved the basic functionality of her bingo-finding ability by making three such plays (WRASTLED, HEADMEN, and WITNESS) while defeating Helen Flores 473-260. She did suffer a loss to Richard Lauder, 364-406, but immediately recovered to vanquish Beth Amos, 450-355. Beth got a sole bingo of OPERATED, which fared poorly against Lynda's ABLEIST, ANEROIDS, and NAIADES.

We were happy to see the return of last week's newbie, Tara Kadium, as well as Beth Amos, a long-time club player who last graced our doors all the way back in 2007! Beth went 2-2 in her return to serious Scrabble competition, not bad after a thirteen-year absence.