B-I-N-G-O

Last night I was able to check one more item off my list...Bingo. No, not just elementary school-style bingo. The real deal. This whole phenomenon was somewhat of a mystery to me as I'm pretty sure we don't have these bingo halls in Tennessee, at least not that I ever noticed. But they seem to pop up all around me here in Kentucky and I'm sure are popular in other areas of the country as well (many of my Catholic friends were familiar with playing the game at church....why don't we Protestants have this?). My friend, Sarah, and I decided to hit up the local bingo hall (Is this the proper name for these metal buildings with BINGO written on the side?). We had gotten recommendations on this particular one and it wasn't too far away. Neither one of us had a clue to how it worked and were a little nervous that the whole thing would involve us sitting at our table mystified as to what was going on around us. I would say this turned out to be pretty accurate.

We walked through the parking lot and were greeted (as I have become accustomed to here in KY) by a cloud of cigarette smoke at the door. Fortunately, this habit was not allowed inside the building, for which I was very thankful. I immediately scanned the room for a friendly face to help us figure out what the heck to do. Sarah reassured me that my country accent would enable us to be welcomed and assistance offered. I saw a guy with a UT cap and quickly went to ask him where to go (I figured I could always start the conversation with a comment on our win today!). He directed me to the counter in the corner where a couple of women were selling the Bingo cards. As we walked up, another guy approached the woman in charge and they began playfully "fighting" with one another. We awkwardly waited for her assistance as they swatted at each other. When they ended their "fight," I began with, "We are new at this..." and they all broke into laughter. Great. ....but she quickly explained they were laughing because of their embarassment over their childish behavior in front of new people....oh, ok. Still awkward. She explained which cards we should purchase and directed us to the concession area where we could purchase our dobber (this highlighter-type instrument for marking our cards. Apparently you don't use chips or pieces of paper in the professional bingo world). We did so and found an open space to sit. We were both a little dazed and awed by the number of people filling this large space and the seriousness of this game.

They had just begun the first game, so we quickly sat down and stole a peak at our neighbors. She smiled at us and quickly explained how to begin. Seriously, it took some focused concentration!! This was no social event....you had to continually pay attention to the calling and the design you needed to win. Each round had multiple bingo cards, and you would be playing to win with designs such as....four corners, postage stamp, do-dad, sixpack, crazy kite.....I learned so much!! But, the best part...you can win some serious money. The minimum was $75.00 and it went up to $1000. (Working for a non-profit, this is a lot for me!) Oh, and apparently, not only are there Bingo games going on throughout the night, there are these other mysterious games....there were guys walking around constantly shouting "Chicken, Pigs, Kings, Blackout..." I have no idea what was going on with that, but people kept pulling out cash and purchasing these pull tabs and many were winning money on that....whew...way too much to keep up with! And who has that much cash?

But, all that to say, it was so much fun!! I'm so glad I decided to do this, because it was another authentic local tradition that I'm glad I got to be a part of....in fact, I'm thinking about making it a regular event (although I probably can't afford this more than once a month!) plus next time I'll know what's going on. And, they have it EVERY NIGHT of the week!!

Now back to enjoy the day in my cozy apartment watching the snow fall outside....feels like Christmas already!