Bingo Players

B-9, I-24, G-56 – “BINGO”!! In today’s society, a game of Bingo is just about anywhere you turn. From senior centers to church halls and Casinos to campgrounds, you can easily join in for a fun game of Bingo. But is it fun? Is it stressful? Can you become addicted to this game or lose a lot of money? Do fights break out over some silly fun? The answer to all these questions is; anything is possible with Bingo, and I sure learned that while recently observing a game. Many people consider Bingo a game for seniors; however, with my experience in the adventurous game of Bingo, it is for all ages, even young kids play versions of Bingo in school.

Doors opened at 4:30 to allow for the set up of food and Bingo tables. People arrive at the St Mary’s Parish center on Main St in Norton, Ma every Friday evening starting as early as 4:15 to obtain a seat and mark out their spot. From miles away and as far as 2 hours, the contestants drive the distance to get their chance of winning at Bingo for the known high stakes at this facility. They scour the parking lot for the closest spot to the door. One at a time they lined up in the entrance like soldiers waiting for orders. Once the doors opened into the lobby, they hurried in like horses out from the gate on race day. First, they must purchase a “ticket sheet” which costs anywhere from $10.50-$30, depending on how many cards you want to play each game. Once you buy your ticket receipt, you then enter another line to obtain the actual ticket sheets. If you forgot your dabber, no problem, they sell them there as well! Your choices in color range from hot pink to lime green. Some had fancy decorations on the covers. One woman, stood there deciding on a color, and it came down to the color of her month of birth. She said she was superstitious, and the other colors were bad luck. People were eager to get into the building. By 6pm, the line to enter was out the door of the facility. One police officer was hired for crowd control. I couldn’t imagine needing one for a simple game of Bingo, but the night was soon to start, and quickly showed me a different side.

Once I bought some Bingo sheets, I quickly made my way into the hall. To my amazement, I came to the conclusion that there is a huge plus to coming in early. I also soon learned that arriving after 5:3o puts you at a disadvantage for finding a seat. A woman I saw waiting in line behind me was carrying 4 hot coffees. While walking past me I asked her if she was worried she wouldn’t find a seat. Her answer to me was “no, people save them for me, and I do the coffee run to get here late, I hate waiting for two hours like they do”. She then said, “Good luck finding a seat, they are cut throat in there”. A table was just setup in the corner of the building as I walked in, almost as if a sign hanging over it stated “newbies sit here”. I looked around, and felt so out of place. I was the youngest, besides my sister who came for support, and fulfills her crazy side of bingo. I certainly don’t call her an addict, but when we attend a campground bingo, she is eager for the game to start. The aisles were set up with tables end to end. There were tall trash receptacles at each end and the people playing the games made an assembly line with the trash from the tear off Bingo cards, handing it to the next until the last one deposited it in the container. It was like Santa’s helpers preparing toys in a story. They started at left, ended at last person to the right. The room was loud; you could barely hear the person next to you talk while waiting for the game to begin. The majority of the gamers were seniors, and I am assuming this is the case since it is a church atmosphere. Other games I have been to have had a mix of ages with the crowd.

The numbers quickly rang out-B-4, I-19, G-56, I-63, N-32. It was like rapid fire on a machine gun. BOOM BOOM BOOM. You couldn’t even understand what she just said, or at least I couldn’t follow the announcer. Next thing you know, someone rang out BINGO!! It wasn’t even 6:30 yet, and the games were set to start at 6:45. I read over my “Bingo Itinerary” list that I was handed upon purchasing the tickets. Overwhelmed, I asked the person next in the row next to mine if the games had begun, or did I miss something? She stated the games hadn’t started, but they were running some sort of quick game. To this day, I still cant figure out what that quick game was, except for complete confusion for a non-bingo player.

Above my seat, one at the other end of the hall and on stage were tv’s that had shown the ball drawn from the machine. Each time a ball was sucked up in the tube, they had this little camera set up that would show the exact number on these screens. I felt as if my idea of Bingo, had gone completely high tech. The stage was about 4 feet high and well lit. You could see what was going on from every angle og the building. You missed nothing, and heard everything. Once the games started, it became so quiet, I think it was possible to hear a phone on vibrate receive a call from three rows away. As they called out the numbers, they had this very large board that would light up the number and letter for all to see. I felt like I was at Fenway Park, with the results of a game on the scoreboard. You could tell when someone was about to yell BINGO! The hall would be super quiet, then they would read a ball that came out of the tube. While the next ball was coming out of the tube and on screen, you could hear people chatting and getting louder. They saw the ball on tv, and had to wait for someone to call the number before yelling BINGO. I was quick to learn that calling the game before the number is read was not tolerated.

The people were dressed casually. Some were in Sunday best, with their hair freshly curled wearing enough rouge to give make-up a new meaning. Others were dressed in sweat pants and t-shirts. We saw one gentleman, that was in a white Hanes style t-shirt, with an odd hat, an over coat, sweat pants and suspenders. He gave us a good chuckle. There were these cute buckets, about the size of a gallon of milk that had holders all the way around containing various dabbers of so many colors. I asked one lady why she had so many colors. Her response was “each game I play, I have a different color for that game, and it is a color I have used for 15 years on that style Bingo game”. Wow, some serious thought goes into these games. A few rows over from this woman was another gamer who had Trolls lined up around her cards. I wanted to go and ask her about her Trolls, however on my way another woman suggested I don’t bother her, as she can get very irritated and actually tell the police officer you are harassing her. I really didn’t need to know that bad the story behind the trolls.

There were 32 games in all. They started very easy, a regular Bingo, double Bingo and then a cover all. These were all games that I had played before. When they got to the hairpin, picnic table and butterfly, it was very reassuring when they put an example of what a winning game should look like on their lit up board on stage. Without this, I certainly would not know what these games meant, and how to play them. About 3 games in, the woman to my right, asked me if I knew the lucky number for the night, and that it meant all night, each game, it was a free space. I thanked her for this info, as once again, being new to this game, I didn’t know about their lucky number. The stakes were very high this night. About 320 people attended and they took in over 2300 for their high stales games. Many were $300 winner games, and most were $100 winners. I was told by one gamer that these Friday night Bingo games actually paid for the church’s new facility build next to the old one. About every three games, an employee from the Massachusetts Lottery commission went around and clicked his counter to get an idea of how many were playing. He sure put a lot of miles on his legs that night, this facility was enormous.

Towards the end of the night, I finally got a glimpse of how Bingo almost became a contact sport. It was about 10pm, and the room became quiet again after the prior winnings of 6 pack then 9 pack Bingo. This, as simple as it sounds, was to aim at lining up 3 numbers on top and 3 below, or 3 to the side of three others. The goal is to represent a 6 or 9 pack of drinks. Once over, the final game began. This was another coverall. A coverall is when you must cover every number on that card. You use the same card as the last two, therefore, by the time you start the coverall, you have about ¼ to ½ of the card already filled. Only problem was, the announcer lit a number up that she never called, and then accidently threw the called balls back in the machine. This created uproar amongst the gamers. The room became loud and many were showing their angry side by booing and cursing. I wasn’t sure if I should start running for cover, or leave before a fight broke out. These members were angry, and not backing down. The lottery attendant then climbed up on stage and got everyone’s attention, he explained that we all need to calm down, and remember accidents happen. He asked everyone to grin and bear it, and they would straighten out this mess in just a few seconds of running through the numbers and checking for the ones previously called. The game resumed about as quickly as it started to foil, and within about 5 minutes, I heard a BINGO, and that was my cue to head out the door. On my way out, I couldn’t believe that some of these seniors were just as rude and pushy leaving the building, as they were playing the game. I felt as though had I tripped and fell, they would have just walked over me with their walkers and scooters. The parking lot was just as bad, no one waited for the next person to cross the driveway, and they all were in such a rush. It was as if there was another Bingo game about to start, across town and they had to get there. I could hear them all saying goodbye, and reminding each other that next week the stakes are going to be about $3000. If the stakes were $10, 000, you still wouldn’t see me attend another Bingo game. It was a long night, warm, loud and yet at times too quiet. I felt overwhelmed, confused and at times lost. I will take a lousy campground bingo game any day of the week, to a high stakes, popular Friday night event like this.