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1st Charles Reinke extended his current winning streak to twelve games thanks to a 4-0 +481 record. His 16-2 record in the first month of the club season has him comfortably atop the yearly standings, haughtily staring down upon the groveling hordes clamoring at the feet of his throne. He wasted no time getting down to business as he trounced Mark Kenas in round one, 548-366, playing bingos of REGULATE, FELUCCAS (word of the week), and a nine-letter RADIATION. The next round saw Charles score a big win against Dave Kinzer, 445-302, despite Dave's hefty bingo of GOOFIER (Charles got down DONATIVE and ONEIRIC). A rematch against Mark Kenas was a bit closer than the first game, but Charles was able to add another checkmark to the "win" column of his scoresheet, 485-441. A 149-point triple-triple of TUMEFIED from Charles did significant damage there. At this point, a fourth and final Charles victory seemed almost inevitable, but Bryan Benwitz stood poised to halt Charles' progress; sadly, Bryan's efforts fell somewhat short, and Charles won his fourth game, 498-385. Bryan found FAITOURS and ZINGARA, but was overwhelmed by Charles' LAPIDES (plural of LAPIS, don't play LAPIDE*), IGNITES, WEEVILY, and MELINITE.

2nd Bryan Benwitz went 3-1 with a less-voluminous-than-usual spread of +83. It was a slow start for him as he was held bingoless against Dennis Lloyd (who played SLEEKLY), but Bryan managed to squeeze enough value out of his non-bingo plays to grab a 391-346 win. The bingo struggles persisted in the second round as Bryan was outbingoed by Helen Flores two to one (ALLUDING vs STUDIER and BERLINE), but again, Bryan eked it out, 426-396. Bryan finally got into more comfortable territory as he overpowered Dave Kinzer 494-373, although a phony RESWORN* added a dash of intrigue to the proceedings (his other bingo, UNMITERS, was perfectly cromulent, as were Dave's DREAMED and ELECTION). Bryan's own designs of a flawless 4-0 performance were scuttled by Charles Reinke in the final round, 385-498. Perhaps things would have been different if Bryan realized that Charles now has a five-dollar bounty on his head, given the newly-minted ten-game winning streak...

1st Charles Reinke recorded the first undefeated performance of the young club season, going 5-0 +622 to extend his early lead in the yearly standings. He started with a solid 418-359 win over Bryan Benwitz, finding DIVERTED and CAVEOLA (which anagrams to COAEVAL if CAVEOLA doesn't fit) to Bryan's SCREWUPS, a rare UW bingo. In round two, Charles became embroiled in a high-scoring Collins shootout which ended in his favor, 563-484. The phony PUNCTAL* for 101 points, possibly a combination of valid words PUNCTA and PUNCTUAL, was crucial for Charles' victory, as were his valid bingo finds of QUARTIER, TORTIES#, and OROLOGY. The flow of bingos continued unabated in the next round as Charles got six bingos across the two games of his two-on-one: GROWTHS, MONTAGES, and TENONING in a 440-422 win over Dennis Lloyd; ANORTHIC, BEWIGGED, and UPSTAIRS to defeat Lynda "Provider of Delicious Birthday Cake" Finn 465-336. Charles' evening ended with a total drubbing of Mark, his 599 winning score coming tantalizingly close to the season's first 600 game.

2nd Dennis Lloyd was the only other player to finish with a record above .500, going 3-1 +220. Despite being rendered temporarily sightless by a reading glasses mishap in round one, Dennis wiped for the floor with Sara McLaughlin, winning 538-385. The suspicious-but-valid GRUNTLES, and a 103-point ACHIEST, helped him out thee. That big win was followed up by a smaller win (but a win nonetheless) against Dave Kinzer, 378-349. Dave won the bingo battle (RESEATS and MEANINGS vs. Dennis' CAVITIES) but would probably have preferred an actual win. After a well-fought 422-440 loss to Charles Reinke in the third round, Dennis was faced with the prospect of back-to-back Reinke-provided defeats, but rather than roll over and take the punishment, Dennis turned the tables and toppled Thomas Reinke by a score of 404-348.

A notable loss occured in round one when Thomas lost to Mark by one point, 510-511. That is tied for the fifth-highest losing score since 2011. Bryan Benwitz also made an early entry on the "highest-scoring bingo of the year" list with a 140-point GAINLIER.

1st Bryan Benwitz regained his typical top spot in the weekly standings with a 3-1 +257 record, although his stats weren't as eye-popping as they usually are, with a "mere" 412 points-per-game average and "only" seven bingos. He faced a tough opponent in round one, but needed little time to warm up as he got the win over Thomas Reinke, 419-384, finding STOMATE and NEROLIS in the process. In round two, Andy Bohnsack discovered that if you prevent Bryan from bingoing so dang often, your chances of winning drastically go up; their contest ended 405-349 in Andy's favor, with Andy getting two bingos (TINGLED, GLIMPSE) to Bryan's one (RELOADER). The rest of the evening went quite smoothly for Bryan, as he made easy work of Lynda Finn, 439-317 (playing RAMOSELY and DUNITES), then made even easier work of Ron Malzer, 440-284 (playing TOASTIER and TAPERERS).

2nd Charles Reinke finished at 3-1 +34, a good enough record to keep him in first place on the yearly standings after two weeks (this writer will refrain from hoping for a premature end to the club season, as that feels dangerously like summoning another COVID). The source of Charles' small spread total was a somewhat disastrous first-round game against the capable (too capable) Mark Kenas; in the end, Charles was knocked flat by Mark's grand total of 592 points, compared to Charles' paltry 354. Mark played RARITIES, PENNERS, MUENSTER, and a 176-point 3x3 SLABBERY. For future reference, SLABBERY means "abounding in slabber (drool)", not "a place where slabs are made". Charles was a bit shellshocked going into round two but managed to secure the win against Sara McLaughlin, 369-343, finding DOTIEST against Sara's SANDERS. Sweet, sweet revenge was savored in round three as Charles got a win in a rematch against Mark Kenas, 469-445. He then finished his night by defeating Lynda Finn 552-330, thanks to bonus plays of OZONISER, NEGATING, and a low-probability nine-letter CABOCHONS.

3rd Thomas Reinke went 3-2 +159, finishing ahead of the other 3-2 player, Lynda Finn, on spread. Thomas had mixed success in round one as his two-on-one win over Ron Malzer, 460-385, was counteracted by his loss to Bryan Benwitz, 384-419. He then sunk further into the negatives with a tough 450-474 loss to Mark Kenas, where his ACEROLA and BASTIDE# fell short against Mark's VIRGULES and TENSING. In the third round, Thomas faced off against noted bingo fiend Andy Bohnsack, and while Andy did win the bingo battle (BOOTEES, LAMINATED, STEARIC vs. YESTERN, TARRIER), it was Thomas' win by a decently-sized margin, 481-406. Thomas concluded his evening of wordy warfare with another Mark Kenas rumble which he won 468-400, finding the nifty FROSTNIP in addition to the more prosaic PALTERED.

Many Word of the Week candidates were present in players' bingo lists, among them Mark's SLABBERY and MAGMATA, Thomas' FROSTNIP, and Lynda's SHOWGIRL, but Word of the Week went to Charles' CABOCHONS.