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1st Bryan Benwitz returned to 2023 form with a spotless 4-0 +291 record. He scored above 400 in each of his four games, starting with a win over Ron Malzer, 407-339. PROTRUDE and TOILETS were his bingos there, while Ron had BRIEFED. Bryan went on to hand Andy Bohnsack his only loss of the evening, 466-364, getting down STILLMAN, BITTERNS, and GREENIE in the process. The bingo spigot continued to flow bountifully as Bryan found three more bingos (HAIRPINS, PIXELATE, AREOLAS) to defeat Thomas Reinke 470-420. If Strength of Schedule was a stat we kept track of, Bryan's final opponent ensured that he had the toughest schedule of all competitors; however, Bryan's scoring prowess remained indomitable as he defeated Charles Reinke 423-352 and cemented his undefeated record. This was despite getting outbingoed two to one (SMARTEN vs. ASTHENIA and IMPLIED).

2nd Andy Bohnsack maintained his top spot in the yearly standings with a not-quite-spotless 4-1 +235 record. His first-round matchup was actually two matchups when he took on Dennis Lloyd and Richard Lauder at the same time. The game against Richard was somewhat of a struggle, but Andy came away with the victory, 353-324. Against Dennis, Andy fared considerably better and took the win comfortably, 448-313, bingoing with SCARVES and RAGOUTED. This success was rewarded with a second-round pairing against Bryan Benwitz, but Andy's luck ran out as he was outbingoed 1-3 and lost 364-466. W's were back on the menu in the final two games as Andy took down Charles Reinke 479-395 (bingoing with KINGLETS, PREORDER, and LAZIEST, the latter scoring an impressive 120 points) and then immediately vanquished Thomas Reinke 535-446. The game against Thomas saw Andy return to his bingo-happy playing style of yore, as he played OUTRATES, VOLATILE, EIRENIC, and DITCHER. If Bryan can be Bingowitz, why can't Andy be Bingohnsack? Hmm, doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

3rd Thomas Reinke rounded out the top three with a 3-2 +136 record. A 459-413 win over Charles Reinke started things off right, although Thomas' bingos of ISATINE and ISOTONES were similar enough in consonant placement so as to be somewhat suspicious (Charles' bingos of ANTLERED, MARVIER#, and ANODISE aroused no such suspicion). Thomas failed to bingo in a game against Sara McLaughlin, but Sara was also starved of bingos and the result was a 409-281 win for Thomas. Suspicious occurrences kept piling up in around three as Thomas played two at once and scored 420 in both of them. One game was a loss (420-470 vs. Bryan Benwitz), while the other was a win (420-319 vs. Dennis Lloyd). Thomas scored well in the final game, and bingoed twice with STRINGED and TEXASES but his 446 points were not enough as Andy Bohnsack bingoed four times (as described above) en route to 535 points.

Sara's SURPRIZE was bingo of the week as she correctly inferred the alternate spelling of the more common SURPRISE.

1st Charles Reinke was the only undefeated with a 4-0 record and a smaller-than-usual +118 spread. He started off with a close 403-387 win over Lynda Finn, getting down ALLUSION while Lynda got PLUNGER and VOYAGERS. In round two, a brotherly brawl against Thomas Reinke was adorned exclusively with Collins-only bingos: Charles had FILANDER# vs. Thomas' THULITES# and GRAINES#. It was a low-scoring game by Collins standards, but still a win for Charles, 396-365. The brotherly brawl part 2 was also close, but much higher scoring, with Charles winning 514-480. Charles' triple-triple of PINACOID# for 149 supplemented his non triple-triples of ENCORED and SEMIOVAL. A 444-407 win versus Bryan Benwitz rounded out Charles' healthy collection of victories.

2nd Richard Lauder showed true grit in coming back from a rough patch of games (2-10 combined in the three sessions previous) to finish 3-1 +206. The night started on a sour note with a 311-460 walloping at the hands of Dave Kinzer. Dave got down BATTENS and SCURRIED, while Richard has UNDERLAP to drag himself above 300. Happily, Richard's fortunes abruptly changed in round two, as he wiped the floor with Helen Flores, playing HOARILY and SAVINES in a 466-306 win. Against Thomas Reinke, Richard found DERIDING and FURRIEST to secure a nailbiting one-point victory, 422-421. Richard was steadfastly unimpressed by Thomas' ultra-high-probability seven-letter plays of SIENITE and ATONIES. Richard finished his strong performance with a lopsided 488-294 win over Francesca Lazio. Richard's four decades of accumulated Scrabble wisdom probably helped, but bingos of BETHELS, OMERTAS, and OFTENER didn't hurt either.

3rd Sara McLaughlin went 3-1 for the third time in five sessions, this time with a +157 spread and a solid 390 average. She played an ever-coveted Q bingo, QUARTILE for 71, in her first round matchup against Sue Goldstein, and won 370-323. Facing off against Francesca Lazio, Sara found PIONEERS and FAINTLY to take a comfortable 424-331 win (Francesca got REMAINS in the losing effort). But true dominance was reserved for round three, where Sara smacked down John Bialek by a score of 477-293, playing another two bingos in the process (DONATED and SHIFTER). Perfection in the form of a 4-0 record was cruelly snatched away when Bryan Benwitz beat her in the last round, 289-456.

Also of note was David Kinzers, 2-1 +224 record, which should have been 3-0 had it not been for a scoring error in round two which was not noticed until the final scores had been tabulated and agreed upon. This writer supposes that some sort of precedent was set by ruling that the scores written down on the players' scorecards were indeed the final scores of the game.

1st Andy Bohnsack made a rare second-straight-week appearance and dominated, going 4-0 +408 with a 463 per-game average. His point totals only went up as the night went along, which bodes poorly for whoever has to play him next time she shows up (assuming the upward trend continues). Andy's first game was a 426-356 win over John Bialek, where the appropriate OUTDUEL was played by the victor, in addition to TARRING. Two more bingos, ORANGES and BLASTERS, propelled Andy to a 441-362 win against Bryan Benwitz. Andy's biggest win came against Charles Reinke, a 492-338 obliteration, and he then wrapped up his perfect performance by playing four bingos (SCANTIER, REPOSITS, IDEALLY, FOLDOVER*) against Dennis Lloyd in a 493-388 victory.

2nd Charles Reinke finished with a 4-1 +124 record, the only hiccup being the clobbering he received from Andy Bohnsack in round three. Playing two players at once in the first round, Charles narrowly escaped with wins against Dennis Lloyd and Lynda Finn, coincidentally winning each game by sixteen points (421-405 vs. Lynda, 439-423 vs. Dennis). Among the highlights was Charles' 56-point ATTRITED, the lowest possible score for an eight-letter bingo (assuming that one is counting one's plays accurately). Charles upped his margin of victory to decidedly comfortable levels when he beat Thomas Reinke 572-396 in round two, getting down bingos of BRONDES#, ROTATION, and MISFIRED. For his fourth and final win, Charles prevailed against Bryan Benwitz, 435-365, playing ABATORS and SHOELACE to Bryan's SPUMONES and RIDLEYS.

3rd Helen Flores went 3-1, but her one loss was large enough to leave her point spread in the negatives at -26. She started off with a bingoless 371-350 win against Richard Lauder, who played PASTERN and SACARINE* in his losing effort (SACCHARINE is the correct spelling, but unlikely to ever get played as a ten-letter word). More phonies, this time provided by Helen, were in store when she beat Wendy Bialek 400-295 with the aid of RADIATER* (only RADIATOR) as well as the valid RETAINS. A 348-521 loss to Thomas Reinke was the definitive blow which would keep Helen out of the top spot in the nightly standings, but she recovered to beat Sue Goldstein in the final game, 326-305.

Thomas' 167-point OBTUSITY was word of the week, played in a 623-386 win against Lynda Finn.