Nine players showed up for the 39th session of the season. A total of 20 games were played in which 43  bingos were played, only 2 of which were phonies that went unchallenged. We scored 14,755 points throughout the evening, for a 737.8 point-per-game average or 368.9 points per player per game, up a bit from last session.

We wished a happy birthday to Nathan Benedict, who turned 23 this session. As a special treat, we were happy to be visited by Nathan's parents, who were in town from Irvine. Click here for a picture of Nathan and his folks. We also saluted Nathan's 8-0 victory in the recent Phoenix tournament with a special presentation arranged by Linda Bredel. Linda was kind enough to have a special certificate printed up with the Latin salutation Salutrix Viro Erudito -- I salute you, man of great learning. Linda also had a cap emblazoned with a shortened version of this salutation -- SVE -- to remind us of his Scrabble prowess. Nathan's victory in Phoenix puts his NSA rating at 1890 and his North American rating from 54th to somewhere in the mid 30's. Needless to say, Nathan was the session's top player as well.

The Bingo King for the session was Josh Kassel, with 8 bingos in 4 games. The evening's contest for High Game was swept up by Nathan with a 566-pointer against Lewis Saul. The "Close Call" contest for the win of the narrowest margin saw Josh Kassel lose to Nathan by only 2 points in a 388-390 game. Other notable "close calls" included Ed Saunders vs. Gary Wagman in a 383-377 battle and Linda Bredel vs. Lewis Saul in a 339-334 slugfest. Nathan takes home $8.00 in prizes for the session.

The four Jackpot prizes (Triple-Triple, Double-Double, 9+ Bingo, and "Deja Bingo") all went unclaimed. Each of these will have $1.13 added to their totals. Featuring the letter "O," three folks scored points in The Alphabet Bingo Contest. Ed Saunders remains in 1st place with 16 points, trailed by Linda Bredel with 8 points. Josh Kassel and Nathan Benedict are tied for 3rd place with 7 points.

Next Session (21 August) will feature the following contests:
- Low Win - A prize will be awarded to the player who plays the highest-scoring game. (~a quarter of dues collected)
- "High 3" Contest - A prize will be awarded to the player who scores the most amount of points in a play that uses only 3 tiles. In order to qualify for this prize, you must note the tiles you played and all the words formed as a result. (~a quarter of dues collected)
- Triple-Triple Jackpot - $2.51 plus an eighth of the evening's dues will be awarded to any player(s) who scores a Triple-Triple Play.
- Double-Double Jackpot - $1.13 plus an eighth of the evening's dues will be awarded to the player with the highest scoring Double-Double Play.
- 9+ Bingo Jackpot - A jackpot of $8.51 plus an eighth of the evening's dues will be awarded to any player(s) who scores a bingo containing nine or more letters. 
"Deja Bingo" Jackpot - A jackpot of $8.51 plus an eighth of the evening's dues will be awarded to any player(s) who plays the same bingo more than once in a session.
- Alphabet Bingo - The Alphabet Bingo letter for this session is "P." For each bingo you play that begins with the letter P, you score one point. ($26 Jackpot)