Friday, January 17, 2014

Remember Where You Came From

My sister got me hooked on playing bingo at a local church a couple of years ago.  I wrote all about it here, on my 500th post anniversary.

It's very competitive and I'm still surprised at the variety of ages present.  It's not all old ladies, though they do make up a hefty percentage of players.

I can't go every week because it's hard for me to be out on a school night.  We play until like 9:30 and that's kind of late to be out.  I'm usually pretty wound down by then.

Now who's the old lady?

I went recently and, as I have almost every time I've gone, I won a little something.  I've never won big, but when I've won, it's usually been whatever it cost to play plus a little extra.

This round is my favorite and I think I've won on it twice.  Instead of calling each letter/number combination and posting it on the board, this one is faster and they don't call the letters.  They just call the numbers and they do it pretty quickly.  It's how I wish the whole night was played.

It's called the 'shotgun round'.  You have to cover the whole board.  It's funny how when it's not posted to the board, you feel a little lost if you think you might have missed a number.

This time, I had two boards, which my sister says we always do.  I can't remember having to balance two boards in such a cutthroat game before.  I was very busy going between the two boards.

Did I mention it's my favorite round?

I was ONE NUMBER away from winning when someone yelled BINGO!  I was kind of sad because I love to win this one.

As they were checking on the woman who yelled bingo, my sister and a friend noticed that I had only #31 left and I had already covered it on the board above, so they were sure it had been called.  Since there's no penalty for calling a false bingo, except the shame of looking like an idiot (which I did once and had to hang my head although I think it shamed my sister more than it shamed me), I covered it and yelled bingo.  So did one more woman across the hall.

As the guy came over to read my card, the caller said something about how it was already closed out because the woman had yelled bingo.

Now, in most rounds, everyone who has legitimate bingo gets to be a winner and they split the prize for that round.  You'll hear the first loud and proud BINGO and then a few more echoes.  I wasn't surprised when she said that it was already closed after the first person yelled it out.  I thought this round was different, but I wasn't sure.

But no one in the room would have her claim that it was closed after the first bingo.  Even the caller was like WTF?  It didn't have it in print anywhere and she hadn't said before she started calling that it was just the first person.  It started to feel like Real Housewives at my table as they started to protest and I feared the table might just get flipped.

The caller gave in to the pressure and allowed my board and the other woman's board to be checked and indeed, there were 3 winners, so we split the prize.

As the man came back to give me the cash, he said that in the future, the definition of 'shotgun' is that there can only be one winner.  Well, someone should make that extra clear next week.

I wasn't going to dispute it because I totally understood.  It's so that lame people like me don't realize the error of their ways and call bingo after the fact.  If they had stood their ground, I would have been ok with it.  My table would have been irate, but I get it.  That's how I run bingo in my classroom.   I only ever allow one winner per round.

The Catholic church is much more forgiving.

I didn't deserve to win because I wasn't paying attention.  Sometimes, it's like I'm still Catholic with the guilt I create for myself.

Since my sister and my friend s-ster were the reason I ended up winning, I gave them each $1 and told them to buy something pretty for themselves.

I was feeling super generous because I was in a church hall.

Oh, and don't forget, when you play bingo at the local church, you need to remember where you came from.  That's why I wore this.
I've come so far.

Go 'Dores!

1 comment:

  1. I've always wanted to play bingo like this but didn't get my chance while I was still living in The States, sounds like fun!
    :) Danica

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