1st Charles Reinke celebrated the return of in-person Scrabble, and the beginning of a new club season, by putting up an undefeated record reminiscent of the pre-pandemic times, going 4-0 +405. His largest win was against visiting Iowan Mike Johnson, 438-244, getting down bingos of TRINDLE and AHIEVED. Charles, finding players from Iowa very easy to defeat, encourages Mike to bring along more of them next time he visits Madison. A game against Helen Flores was similarly successful for the first-place finisher, as he took her down 493-321. Helen played PLUNGER, but was turned away by Charles' bingos of VERTISOL and HORSIES.

2nd Bryan Benwitz played a reduced slate of three games but nevertheless finished second with a 2-1 +186 final tally. Similar to the feats described in the above paragraph, Bryan's best game was against Helen Flores, 506-324. A significant chunk of those 506 points came from a 149-point triple-triple STRIDDEN. Bryan hardly slowed down as he then ran up against Thomas Reinke and again walked away victorious, 475-394. His trio of MATRICES, PUNSTER, and TRICKLY were more than enough to overcome Thomas' odd-looking, but valid, VISIBLES. A perfect record proved elusive, however, as a certain visiting Iowan managed to defeat Bryan in his final game by a score of 414-337.

Mike Johnson got word of the week with TSOORIS, played in a one-point win against Lynda Finn that involved a crucial Q-stick. His nine-letter RUMINATES against Thomas Reinke was also in consideration for the honor.