Blog

1st Thomas Reinke prevailed over the field with a 4-1 +175 record. He couldn't have asked for a better start when he notched two victories in round one, 444-263 against Wendy Bialek (playing bingos of FREAKOUT and CELOSIA) and 455-375 against Bryan Benwitz (AURICLE, SLEIGHED, and REGRANT to Bryan's BENZINES and RETAILS). Things proceeded well after that with a pair of well-earned wins over the always-tough Mark Kenas, 445-384 and 484-434. It all fell apart in the final round, however, as Thomas was flattened by his brother Charles, 315-512. Thomas played a single bingo of CESAREAN, while Charles played SDAINES#, RETIREE, and the illogical-but-still-quite-valid UNTHAWS.

2nd Bryan Benwitz didn't quite reach the levels of over-the-board dominance that he displayed the previous week, but still acquitted himself well with a 3-1 +380 record and a club-leading 463 per-game average. He got his loss out of the way early when he was defeated by Thomas Reinke 375-455, but Bryan easily bounced back by taking the win off John Bialek, 437-293. The pattern of escalating scores continued when he handily defeated charles Reinke by a score of 451 to 364, playing SYRETTE and OVERING in his winning effort. But the real fireworks were lit in the final game when Bryan scored an astronomical 589 against Richard Lauder, who had a respectable but not-nearly-enough total of 360 points. Bryan might need a bingo-related nickname after that game ("Bryan Bingowitz" was considered and discarded), as Bryan had five such plays: BETAINE, CLEAVING, SPAVIET, DUNKERS, and DETAINED.

3rd Sara McLaughlin put on a strong showing with a 3-1 record, although her -17 spread total left her far behind Bryan in the quest for second place. She played her first-ever nine-letter bingo at our club when she deployed RENAILING in a convincing 431-320 win over Richard Lauder. SAVIORS was her other bingo in that one, while Richard had ROOTLIKE. Sara got down another two bingos, FOISTED and ENROLLED, while defeating newcomer Ron Malzer 398-351. Ron, a resent transplant from La Crosse, proved to be no slouch as he found BINDERS and SMARTER in that one. Sadly, Sara's tragic 302-508 loss to Charles Reinke doomed her dreams of an undefeated club session.

1st Bryan Benwitz utterly dominated the field with a flawless 4-0 +688 record, twelve bingos, and an average game score of 509. Even in round one, Bryan was firing on all cylinders, as John Bialek found out in the course of a 528-276 win for Bryan which included Bryan's nine-letter find of NETTLIEST. Bryan cooled off, but only barely, in round two, where he defeated Richard Lauder 487-311 thanks to finds of OUTPACED and word-of-the-week WINDPIPE. The session culminated with the fabled anti-Reinke in rounds three and four, as Bryan defeated both Reinke twins in convincing fashion, a feat rarely achieved. He played WEARYING, GATCHES, and ABOITEAU while defeating Charles Reinke 468-436, but three bingos weren't enough to satsify Bryan's twisted depravity, so he upped his bingo output in the final game, playing KITTLES, UNSALTED, EXPLORED, and EROTIZED to topple Thomas Reinke, 553-325. The feat could have only been rendered more impressive had Bryan been overcoming some type of adversity during the games, such as being attacked by feral dingoes or drawing two V's on a two-tile draw.

2nd Lynda Finn followed up her 3-1-1 +300 record two weeks ago with an even better 4-1 +206 record this week. She barely escaped with a win against Sara McLaughlin, needing a phony PLATTERN* to take the 385-380 victory (Sara's sole bingo of GROANERS was perfectly valid). A fourth-round two-on-one game against husband-wife pair John and Wendy Bialek was a bit more comfortable for Lynda as she won both games by fair margins, 416-359 against John and 395-268 against Wendy. Her bingo of ABOITEAU against Wendy should look familiar, as Bryan played that same word against Charles in round three. Lynda's only loss was another nailbiter, 422-425 against Dennis Lloyd. Dennis made the most of his single bingo, scoring 118 points with QUEEREST, while Lynda had SPARING and OVERMANY.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-1 +117, eking out the bronze medal by seven spread points over the other 3-1 finisher, Richard Lauder. He had a pair of high-scoring Collins games against Mark Kenas which had his knowledge of Collins bingos on prominent display. The first was a 534-443 win where he played TRILLOES#, DOUANIER#, ADRENALS, and ERODENTS# (ERODENT is good in the American dictionary but is an adjective and does not pluralize). The second was a 522-364 victory where MELONIER#, GENTIER#, and CAROUSES were his bingos. Thomas also won handily against Sara McLaughlin, 433-337. Sara played TOSSING and GRUNTLED (the opposite of DISGRUNTLED, I suppose); Thomas had the high-probability ACINOSE and DIASTOLE. Hopes of an undefeated evening were trampled, however, by Bryan Benwitz in the final round. The gory, possibly not-safe-for-work details of that game can be found above.

1st Thomas Reinke returned from a strong 3rd place showing at the Word Cup in Albany, NY to continue his dominance at home, finishing 4-0 +228. He escaped with a 431-422 win against Mark Kenas thanks to the Collins-only find of ATTONES# (players of the American lexicon can only make NOTATES out of those letters). A round-four rematch also ended in Thomas' favor, 476-448, with Thomas getting down TONIEST, HOOTIEST, and UNHAILED. Mark had VERATRIA and VERBOSER# as his bingos. However, Thomas' highest-scoring game was reserved for Bryan Benwitz, whom he defeated 510-361, using bingos of CORKAGES, ARMOIRES, SOILING, and DISTASTE to reach the 500-point mark, a stratum of scoring which is disturbingly common for him.

2nd Charles Reinke, 5th place finisher in the same tournament where Thomas finished 3rd, once again found himself lagging behind his brother with a 4-1 +492 outing. His loss came in the first round as he was felled by Mark Kenas, 501-443. That game was part of a two-on-one, and the other game went much better for Charles, as he triumphed over Sara McLaughlin, 502-286. Charles' bingos in those two games were RIDDERS, RATLINS, PIEINGS, and FLOUTING. Another big victory was had over John Bialek, with Charles taking the comfortable 489-271 win, buoyed by a bingo of PECTIZED for 108 points. PECTIZE is a verb meaning to turn into a gel or jelly. The bingo cannons were firing at full force when Charles was matched against Bryan Benwitz in the final round: Bryan found ARTERIES, ORGANIZE, and ASCENDER, but lost 447-470 as Charles played bingos of OBLIVION, SOILAGE, and OUTRAISE.

3rd Richard Lauder played eleven bingos en route to a 3-2 +97 final record. Most of his success came in round three when he was selected to be the "one" of a two-on-one match. His game against Sara McLaughlin was a nailbiter, but it was Richard's win in the end, 417-412, thanks to bonus plays PARABLE and DOWNERS. A simultaneous game against John Bialek was a bit less stressful, as Richard got his second 500-point game of the year, 507-349. John played the plausible BUNGIES* (only BUNGEES), while Richard played TRAINER, STOGIES, and REEDINGS. In the final round, Richard deployed another three bingos (SNORTED, GRATINE, AVERTED) while dispatching Wendy Bialek, 416-315. Sadly, losses to Thomas Reinke (375-417) and Bryan Benwitz (319-444) early in the evening prevented Richard from appearing higher in the nightly standings.

4th Sue Goldstein got honorable mention with her 2-1 +6 performance. Her best game was a 360-286 win against Wendy Bialek where she played SCALING for 64 points.