BINGO!
I accompanied my Aunt Linda to Bingo last night. I haven’t played since I was 10 and went with my grandma.
Boy has Bingo changed. It used to be all you had to do was get five numbers in a row to win. Not any more. Now you have to get things called “postage stamps” and “six packs” and “49ers.”
And it’s not the laid-back fun event I remember. People weren’t there to have fun, they were there to WIN. If you talked too loudly they would shush you. If we were playing a game that didn’t require you to use any numbers from the “N” column and a ball dropped with an N, people would start screaming “NO N!!”
These people were serious. The guy sitting next to us had 10 daubers (the ink used to mark your Bingo card for the two people reading this who may not know how Bingo is played). He also had a seat cushion with a bingo design and a bag with bingo balls on it. He even had a computerized Bingo game that was connected to the Bingo machine in the front and it would tell you when you had a Bingo. I know, WEIRD.
The only thing that was the same from when I was a kid was that the entire event was at a Catholic church. Those Catholics know how to run an efficient Bingo hall, that’s for sure.
What I also noticed was it wasn’t just games of Bingo. They had games in between that they’d sell tickets for. Those cheesy pull tab tickets that they sell in the really cheap gas stations were being sold in mass.
Lucky for those games, it was the only time I won all night. They gave everyone a raffle ticket at the beginning of the night and during the intermission they started drawing for prizes. My number was the first one called. I got to pick an envelope and I won $100. Not too shabby, huh?
I’ll definitely go again. It was a fun way to spend a Friday evening. I guess it’s beginning…the next step is the cat isn’t it? I wonder if I have to go right away and get the shawl or if I can wait ‘til winter?
Boy has Bingo changed. It used to be all you had to do was get five numbers in a row to win. Not any more. Now you have to get things called “postage stamps” and “six packs” and “49ers.”
And it’s not the laid-back fun event I remember. People weren’t there to have fun, they were there to WIN. If you talked too loudly they would shush you. If we were playing a game that didn’t require you to use any numbers from the “N” column and a ball dropped with an N, people would start screaming “NO N!!”
These people were serious. The guy sitting next to us had 10 daubers (the ink used to mark your Bingo card for the two people reading this who may not know how Bingo is played). He also had a seat cushion with a bingo design and a bag with bingo balls on it. He even had a computerized Bingo game that was connected to the Bingo machine in the front and it would tell you when you had a Bingo. I know, WEIRD.
The only thing that was the same from when I was a kid was that the entire event was at a Catholic church. Those Catholics know how to run an efficient Bingo hall, that’s for sure.
What I also noticed was it wasn’t just games of Bingo. They had games in between that they’d sell tickets for. Those cheesy pull tab tickets that they sell in the really cheap gas stations were being sold in mass.
Lucky for those games, it was the only time I won all night. They gave everyone a raffle ticket at the beginning of the night and during the intermission they started drawing for prizes. My number was the first one called. I got to pick an envelope and I won $100. Not too shabby, huh?
I’ll definitely go again. It was a fun way to spend a Friday evening. I guess it’s beginning…the next step is the cat isn’t it? I wonder if I have to go right away and get the shawl or if I can wait ‘til winter?
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