Blog

1st Bryan Benwitz finished atop a clump of 3-1 players with his considerably weightier +405 spread. First place seemed like nothing but a distant, unattainable goal after a round one loss to Lynda Finn, 392-445 (bingoing with FOREDOES), but that goal started to seem a little bit less distant as Bryan swiftly rebounded for a big 457-302 win over Dennis Lloyd in round two (bingoing with SLITHER and FLEETER). Bryan continued to demolish all foes when he (metaphorically) clobbered Steve Hartsman, 485-268, finding REIFIES and STADDLE. Going up against the 3-0 Andy Bohnsack in the final round, Bryan pulled off his best game of the night, scoring 536 against Andy's not-too-shabby 450 and hitting a triple-triple of UNRESTED for 131 for his fifth triple-triple of the year.

2nd Andy Bohnsack went 3-1 +89, beating third-place finisher Lynda Finn by just thirteen spread points. He began with a 447-403 win vs. Richard Lauder where Andy's CAROTENE and GROUSED were parried by Richard's NAPERIES and TOTALING. Andy also fought off Dave Kinzer in a lower-scoring 400-355 match; Andy's bingo-crazed play-style was slightly tempered, as he only got POTENTLY to Dave's GUIDING (POTENTLY was sadly not extended to OMNIPOTENTLY). A 433-347 win over Lynda Finn (playing LEARIEST and STAINED) set up Andy well for an undefeated night, but he ran against Bryan Benwitz in the final game and lost 450-536. That 450 losing score was his highest score of the night, which feels at least moderately notable. More notably, it also completed some kind of "triangle of defeat" as 3-1 finishers Andy, Bryan, and Lynda only lost to each other. Most notably, Andy's 3-1 finish gives him a .1% lead in the yearly standings...will the club crown a non-Reinke, non-Benwitz champion?

3rd Lynda Finn went 3-1 +76, leaving her desperately checking her scoresheets for misscored plays that would give her sufficient scoring oomph to propel her to second place. Or, more likely, the scoresheets have been repurposed for catching bird poop. Lynda started strong with a 445-392 win against Bryan Benwitz, where her nice find of HELLERIS (a fish) was joined by Richard's later plays of EELPOUT (a fish) and SAUGERS (plural of a fish) to make for a very fishy evening. The fish theme was not built upon when Lynda beat Steve Hartsman 433-337; her bingos of HONESTY, THRONED, and NARGILE were apparently played with no consideration towards thematic cohesion. After a 347-433 loss to Andy Bohnsack, Lynda picked up a high-scoring win against Charles Reinke, 468-455. Charles had FRONTALS, LEARNING, and CALENDAR, but Lynda fought back with EMERITAE, SOBERED, and OCTAVES.

4th Mark Kenas enjoyed a 3-1 -46 record, which is pretty good when your lexicon of choice (Collins) limits you to playing nobody but Reinkes night in and night out.

We were joined by new player Ari, who perservered through a tough first game against top expert Thomas Reinke to play a total of three bingos in his three games and even win a game, 391-280 against Dave Kinzer.

Also notable was Charles' 203-point triple-triple of IODIZERS, contributing to a winning score of 594 against Mark Kenas. IODIZERS is the year's second-highest scoring bingo (Bryan's SPEEDWAY for 213 is tops) and 594 is the year's third-highest scoring game.

1st Andy Bohnsack went undefeated (kinda) with a 3.5-0.5 +284 record (the half win indicates a tie), continuing his recent run up the yearly standings. He started with a solid win over Charles Reinke, 418-364, finding DAPSONE and STANDEES to Charles' rare find of DIARCHIC. In round two, facing another strong player in Bryan Benwitz, Andy was rightfully unintimidated, and won a high-scoring contest, 466-411, thanks to finds of DICROTAL and THIEVES. Andy's half-win came in the next round when he fought Steve Hartsman to a draw, 401-401, good for the first tie game of the year (and hopefully last, since ties disrupt the delicate dichotomy of the concept of wins and losses). Andy put the finishing touches on his undefeated (kinda) evening by taking Dennis Lloyd to (proverbial) school with a 472-297 win, flaunting his bingo knowledge with ENDPLAY, NOTATING, and ISOLATOR.

2nd Bryan Benwitz assembled a 3-1 record for the second straight week, although last week's +493 spread was better than his +274 spread this week (it also netted him first rather than second place). A 415-303 win against Helen Flores in round one was revenge for Helen's win in their previous encounter; Bryan got down FORGETS and AUXESIS to make sure his revenge was extra vengeful. Revenge was decidedly not exacted upon Bryan's next opponent, Andy Bohnsack, as Bryan was felled 411-466. Bryan got back on track with a pair of high-probability bingos (LIERNES, LARDIEST) in a 426-368 win over Lynda Finn. Saving his best for last, Bryan broke through the 500-point barrier in his final game, beating Steve Hartsman 507-348 despite Steve's nice find of CHANTEYS. Bryan played EROTICA, FOISTING, and the hard-to-challenge NONFUELS; NONFUEL is a word, but it's one of those NON- words that's only an adjective. Meanwhile, stuff like NONCOLAS is a word.

Steve Hartsman went 2.5-1.5 +45, using his tie game to beat out a bunch of players with 2-2 records. He showed admirable consistency by bingoing exactly once in each of his games, although next time he should show even more consistency by bingoing five times in each of his games. He got a big win in round one when he bested Sara McLaughlin 442-310, getting AORISTS to Sara's LITTERS. In round two, Steve deployed his bingo of LISTENS to defeat the bingoless Lynda Finn, 364-292. The aforementioned tie against Andy Bohnsack, 401-401 all but guaranteed that Steve would end with a .5 on his final record - if he had tied his fourth game as well, all would have been made right, but that didn't happen. Instead, Steve lost to Bryan Benwitz 348-507, leaving Steve still looking for his first win against the Bryaniac.

In other news, Sara McLaughlin set a personal best when she bingoed four times (CREWING, BONNIEST, SAURIES, OUREBIS) in a 468-359 win against Thomas Reinke.

1st Bryan Benwitz prevailed over a hardy crowd of a dozen players with his 3-1 +493 record, breaking out of a recent streak of 2-2 performances. Bryan got his singular loss out of the way early as he lost a close one to Jame Rollins, 382-399. A bingo of MOANERS was outdone by James' STHENIC and SLASHED (no word on if STHENIC was ever turned into ASTHENIC). Bryan got back on track with a 427-277 win against the visiting Lesley Salas, getting down INVITER and ALLOSAUR (there are a few eight-letter words ending in -SAUR, but the only other one played at club to this point is the common DINOSAUR). Another spread-padding victory was scored against Richard Lauder when Bryan won handily with a 468-279 final score, this time playing PANFORTE and TESTATE. Facing off against the undefeated Dennis Lloyd in the final round, Bryan extended his streak of 100+ margin games with a 497-326 win. Dennis was able to get down SUASION and TEAZLES, but Bryan responded with INTRADOS, PREELECT, and UNBURNED.

2nd Steve Hartsman went 3-1 for the second straight week, with a spread of +428. A first-round encounter with Helen Flores ended largely in Steve's favor as he prevailed 452-327, getting bingos of RIDGILS and the nearly-eponymous STEEVING. A match against fellow 3-1 finisher Dennis Lloyd didn't work out quite as well, with Steve suffering the loss, 375-409. Steve's sole ALIENORS was bested by Dennis' GOONIES and RETAINED. Round three saw Steve square off against club standings leader Charles Reinke, and it was Steve's win, 415-396. Charles is likely wishing he had challenged off Steve's 82-point phony of HOGGIER*. Steve wrapped up his night with a merciless 544-226 steamrollering (Steverollering?) of Lynda Finn, where another phony of STILTIER* (only SLITTIER) was supplemented by the valid PADRONI and KELOIDS.

3rd James Rollins continued his ascent with a 3-1 +48 record. He got a big confidence boost early with a win against last year's club champion, Bryan Benwitz, by a score of 399 to 382. His 101-point STHENIC was also the highest-scoring bingo of the evening. In the second round, James won big against Sara McLaughlin, 372-283; Sara was held bingoless while James had INFLATER and BASTION. In the following round, it was James' turn to be held bingoless, as he lost to Dennis Lloyd 333-392; Dennis had TARNISH and DAINTIER in his winning effort. But the real highlight came in the final game as James bested Charles Reinke by a single point, 468-467, to take a 2-0 record in their lifetime series. James' DELTOID, MARINATE and OUTSWEPT (the latter for 90 and 92 points) were not quite matched by Charles' NOTEPADS and TRAGICAL. Sadly, DELTOID was never extended to DELTOIDEI (the plural of DELTOIDEUS).

4th Dennis Lloyd went 3-1 +25, thus receiving accolades in the rarely-awarded fourth writeup paragraph.

Charles' FURCRAEA, a tropical plant, was word of the week. Charles also played the bingo TRAGICAL twice, one for 83 points and one for 61, putting his lifetime total for that word at three.