Blog

1st Charles Reinke romped in the absence of other top experts, going 5-0 +584 and gaining a small amount of ground in the yearly standings; however, the marginal gains were not nearly enough to overtake his brother, who remains six percentage points ahead of him. Charles opened the night with a slugfest against Richard Lauder, a slugfest which he eventually won, 507-395. This was despite Richard's four bingos of BOWLINGS, REPEATS, HOODIEST, and REELINGS. Charles supplied three bingos of his own: CREDITOR, OUTBIDS, and PEONISM. Another big win was scored against Helen Flores, whom Charles defeated by a score of 488-306. Helen found DENIERS to avert total disaster, while Charles had LAITANCE and OLEFINE.

2nd Dennis Lloyd went 3-2 -40, with a final record that could accurately be termed "three and Charles". Of Dennis' two losses to Charles, the second one was closer, but still not all that close, with a final 357-434 tally. Dennis got down FATTIES and GRANULE in that one, while their first matchup saw Dennis held sadly bingoless. The second round of the evening was particularly generous to Dennis as he played a two-on-one and won both. The big win was a 369-274 matchup against Sue Goldstein, a game in which neither player bingoed, but Dennis' 388-319 triumph over Richard Lauder was also a substantive supplier of much-sought-after spread points. Dennis' bingos there were SEEDING and REFINES, the latter for 98 big points.

Richard's OSMOSIS, played against Helen Flores, was word of the week.

1st Richard Lauder secured his first 4-0 record in eight years, putting on a display of pure Scrabbacular tyranny by going 4-0 +137. His marquee victory came in the very first round against Thomas Reinke, where a late bingo of FADLIKE for 107 gave him the cushion he needed to win, 441-412. Thomas had a high-scoring bingo of his own in that one, getting down QUASHED for 109. Crafty endgame skill was again deployed to beat Dave Kinzer in a close one, 387-383, despite not playing a bingo and having to confront two bingos from his opponent, GOUTIER and SANDALS. An unplayable Q tile was the key to Richard's close escape. Richard finished his notable night by downing Dennis Lloyd by a score of 384-304, playing GOALIES to win comfortably.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-2 with a pile of positive spread points, 524 of them to be exact. He saved his best for last in defeating Dave Kinzer 519-293, just one of two 500+ point games of the night (the other being Helen's 503 against Dennis). Charles' bingos in that one were YEARLIES, ELASTIC, and HAIRNETS, all high-probability bingos worth knowing well. Charles lost a close one to Dennis Lloyd, 402-382, but his losing margin against Mark Kenas in round one was even smaller, as Charles was defeated 456-458. Mark showed off his well-honed bingo-finding ability with LEERIEST, STEENED#, and LINAGES, while Charles had TORPEDO. With just one month to go in the club season and trailing his brother by several percentage points, Charles would certainly like those close losses to be converted into wins instead.

1st Bryan Benwitz ended a long-running streak of Reinke dominance with his 3-1 +204 record. Things weren't looking great as he was felled by Thomas Reinke in round two by a score of 408 to 534, despite bingo finds of UNEASILY and INSECTAN. However, a round three matchup against Charles Reinke was more successful, as Bryan was victorious, 458-385. Bryan played PISCINE, WEARIEST, and TOURNEY to secure victory, while his opponent was held to a sole bingo of SOUNDER. In the final round, Bryan squared off against the returning Sara McLaughlin and won a well-fought contest, 432-398. Bryan was actually outbingoed two to one (CIGARET vs. HOGTIES and SWELTER) but still came away with the win.

2nd Thomas Reinke unleashed a torrent of bingos, seventeen of them in five games (possibly a club record), and averaged 506 points per game to boot, but his win-loss record didn't quite reflect that level of dominance, as he finished 3-2 +343. A game against Mark Kenas saw a remarkable seven bingos get played between the two combatants, but it was Mark's win, 549-436. Thomas had SPOILAGE, FEATLIER, and TRANSMEW#, while Mark had LIPARITE#, NONCORE, LEGATINE, and a fancy Collins-only find of LEUCOSINS# slotted through an O and I already on the board. The other "L" on Thomas' scoresheet was also a gift from Mark Kenas, with that one ending at a final tally of 438-480. Happily, Thomas was able to get a measure of (misplaced) revenge by taking down Dennis Lloyd 583-343, playing GAVOTTES, ARSENAL, EXERCISE, and EARSTONE. However, that score of 583 was not the highest of the night, as Charles scored 585 against Mark Kenas while playing five bingos: BRINIES, BROILERS, CLIENTAL, IDONEOUS, and word of the week YARDWAND.