Every player has their own system, and some carry special cases for their Bingo game gear. One couple even had what appeared to be a Bingo “tackle box” to hold their rainbow of daubers and good luck charms. I was a first-timer; a rookie ready to learn.
Adults of all ages started setting up their playing areas like they had done it a thousand times before, and everything had its place. The “buy-in” for the monthly Bingo event at Wheeling Post 1 in Elm Grove was $25 for nine boards and 16 games, and I stuck with the basic package even though I saw some players with 18 and 27 sheets.
Bingo savants, apparently.
Emcee Travis Erickson was terrific as he partnered with the technology for the “call”, and following the National Anthem, Post 1 past commander John Powell even offered the crowd a “Play Bingo!” to get us started.
And off we went, one letter and number after another; I daubed this one and that one, and for the first six games, I needed only one more to win. At one point I contemplated, “Do I just say ‘BINGO’ or do I say something like ‘BA-DA-BINGO!!’”
And then for Game 7, it was the “Four Corners” game, and I raced out with the three daubed blocks in the first nine calls and I thought … THIS. HAS. TO. BE. THE. ONE. … C’mon!! O-72! O-72! O-72!!
Nope.
And that’s when I figured it out. That’s when I knew for sure. Bingo makes you cuss.
That’s also when it was time for a new dauber strategy. On the way in, the ladies were selling the bingo markers and I chose two and nicknamed them “Orange Crush” and “Purple Rain”. Initially, I was alternating my markers per game, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
It was time to uncap both daubers and attack these boards like a double-fisted pro, and the second half included more “One Line Anyway” games, a “Plus Sign” contest, and a “Inside Picture Frame” for No. 16.
Better yet, there was an add-on “Cover All” as the 17th and final chance to win the biggest cash-money of the evening.
I’ve learned a bingo player wants silence around them as their losing streak extends into embarrassment, and it seems you get quietly and politely serious as time runs short, too. Despite my enthusiasm, a terrific atmosphere at Post 1, the volunteer veterans who worked the event, and the food, snacks, and cash bar (yes, they have non-alcoholic beer!), I ended as an “O-FER”!
And, as the baseball fan that I am, 0-for-17 is a troubling slump, but there’s good news – the game of bingo doesn’t remind me of America’s pastime. Instead, it reminds me of golf and of the occasional great shot mixed in with all the lost balls and double bogeys.
That’s because you can get soooo close to winning a Bingo game, and that gives you enough hope to always go back again and again. And I will – the next Post 1 Bingo event is scheduled for August 2 with doors opening at 1:30 p.m. – and I’ll be in my same seat in the same row with my same “Orange Crush” and “Purple Rain” daubers ready to proclaim, “BA-DA-BINGO!!”
