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1st Charles Reinke went 3-1 with a modest positive spread of +132, earning lukewarm first-place honors. His high game was played against Helen Flores, who he defeated by a score of 457-375. Helen had two bingos of NATURALS and BEADERS, while Charles had AWAITED and REVEILLE. Charles also enjoyed a win against his similarly-surnamed foe Thomas Reinke, winning their encounter 410-391. Thomas was uncharacteristically limited to a single bingo of DIALYSIS (albeit for 98 points), but Thomas played a total of thirteen bingos combined in the rest of his games, so he'll be OK. Charles, for his part, got down IDIOLECT and RENNASE. The sole loss on Charles' scoresheet was given to him courtesy of Mark Kenas, 401-417. Mark demonstrated his disconcertingly deep dictionary knowledge with the Collins-only NAVARHOS#, in addition to AIGRETS and GLOUTED, which are acceptable in the American dictionary.

2nd Richard Lauder kept his yearly winning percentage well above 50% with a 3-1 -36 outing. He fought a close battle against Sara McLaughlin, winning that bout 376-362 thanks to a find of TEATIMES (Sara had RERISEN). A game against Helen Flores was similarly close in terms of winning margin but was even more anemic in overall scoring output, Richard escaping with a 345-332 victory despite challenging a few of Helen's valid plays. Each player played exactly one bingo: ARTSIER for Richard, SUBTLER for Helen. The one game where Richard got two bingos was also the one he lost; despite getting down OUTFIRES and HORNIEST, the scoring power of Thomas Reinke was too much to overcome, and the final was not particularly close, 351-450. Thomas' trio of eight-letter bingos, AVERSION, TALCIEST, and DOMINEER, were vital in securing victory.

1st Charles Reinke averaged a whopping 521 points per game, which isn't quite a personal record for him (he averaged 524 in a session back in 2015), and, as expected with an average score that high, he went 4-0 +604. His astoundingly good fortune was apparent in round one as he outbingoed Mark Kenas five to nothing en route to a no-doubt-about-it 574-371 victory. The five bingos were VAKEELS, LEGATED, INHOLDER, INCISIVE, and EMERITUS. Later on, he would nearly repeat the same feat as he would defeat Richard Lauder by a score of 571-233, bingoing four times (TASTING, CLAUSTRA, TAILGATE, and TELFERS) while also facing no comeback bingos from his opposition. On the other side of the bingo coin, Charles defeated Dennis Lloyd 460-418 despite a significant bingo deficit: Dennis played NOTATED, RATINGS, and word-of-the-week PARVENUE, while Charles only managed a single bingo of RETIRER.

2nd Thomas Reinke had an identical record to his brother, but a gulf of nearly 300 spread points relegated his 4-0 +313 performance to the second rung of the podium. He scored comfortably above 400 points in all his games, the best being a 498-302 win over Dennis Lloyd aided by high-probability bingo finds of IGNEOUS, REINTERS, and UNEASIER. Richard Lauder also got a taste of Thomas' bingo knowledge when Thomas laid down PILLBUG and RIDGETOP during a 416-343. Not content with mastery of one lexicon, Thomas' Collins bingo knowledge was flaunted in a 464-436 win over Mark Kenas where he deployed the Collins-only AZURINE# in addition to the familiar RETRIMS and INQUIET (Mark had PARSNIP and FEEDABLE, perhaps an omen of his upcoming dinner). If AZURINE# looks slightly familiar to you, you may be thinking of the similar-looking, but American-lexicon-approved, AZURITE.

1st Thomas Reinke took undisputed first place honors with his flawless 4-0 +432 performance. He also led all players with nine bingos played. Three of those bingos (HAMULOUS, GUTTIEST, and OUTSEEN) came against Peter Schmiedicke in a solid 468-303 victory. Not every game was so easy for Thomas; in two games against Mark Kenas, Thomas won both, but not by very large margins. The first was won by a score of 440-419, despite Mark outbingoing Thomas three to two: GOONIER, HOLDING, and INVESTOR for Mark, STENCIL and RUDDIES for Thomas. The second was 448-434 in Thomas' favor, thanks to Thomas' high-probability finds of TEENAGE and ORDINES.

2nd Charles Reinke went 3-1 +293, coming in second despite scoring below 400 in three of his games, a feat for a player who averages 445 per game. A 380-270 win against Sara McLaughlin, while looking impressive on the surface, was sullied by a phony bingo of EPISCIAE*. An episcia is a type of plant, and only pluralizes the normal way with EPISCIAS. Sara played the perfectly valid ANNUALS in that game, demonstrating once again the pronounced lack of any sort of justice in Scrabble. Charles followed that game up with a dominant 574-366 win against Mark Kenas, getting down MONORAIL and a triple-triple DULCIANS for 169 points. However, Charles' high-scoring tendencies were snuffed out immediately, as he was felled by Richard Lauder in the final round, 339-375. Richard now has a two game winning streak against Charles and surely plans to add to the streak in the coming weeks.

3rd Richard Lauder continued his impressive comeback tour with a 3-1 +64 final tally. His single loss was given to him by Sara McLaughlin, 334-386, despite Richard's nice find of SEAWANT. Sara found a bingo of AIRHOLE to supplement her well-rounded scoring attack. Richard went on to score a pair of 400-point games, both of which were wins for him. Against Peter Schmiedicke, he won 408-385, playing bingos of CRAALING and SECRETS. He then faced off against Dennis Lloyd and pulled deep into his bag of "tricks" (read: "phonies") to defeat his shellshocked opposition by a score of 438-381. Dennis played the valid GRANDEST while Richard deployed nonwords BORNEAL* and QUATROON*. In Richard's defense, BORNEAL* is close to the real word BORNEOL, and QUATROON* is close to QUADROON. But words are either phony or they're not, with no such thing as half a phony, so Richard was credited with two full phonies on the yearly stats despite those justifications.