It’s amazing what you can do in one night if you don’t try. After work Jody and I went to eat at Rosie’s Tamale House for dinner. Afterward we didn’t have any plans until she suggested Bingo and being the stick in the mud I am I had to let the idea sink in a while before I wanted to do it since I have a difficult time trying new things. Now you know I had played the game Bingo when I was a kid, but I had never been to a Bingo hall. I had a blast even though we only got there in time for two games. There were all kinds of people there, of all races, classes, ages, and types. Little old ladies with ziplocs full of ink dobbers, sun-darkened guys with blurred tattoos smoking and looking tired, groups of college kids drinking Coors Light from a case they brought, people who looked like they just came from work, just a cross-section of society though I’d imagine most of the people there were lower to lower-middle class.
There is a casual quality to Bingo. One woman had a trash can next to her as she shelled walnuts in between the numbers, other people were smoking or drinking or whispering quietly with each other. It was very quiet except for the sound of the numbers being called and people repeating the numbers to themselves in hushed tones. Imagine a room full of hundreds of people looking intently at the table surface in front of them, their hands moving like pieces of some giant human loom.
Bingo halls have also apparently embraced technology. I saw several flatscreen terminals where you could play your bingo cards electronically, as well as these little wireless monchrome LCD displays that would display all the numbers called during that game. That’s not to mention the signs which kept track of all the numbers call and the twenty-inch televisions hung in every corner to display the closeup of the next numbered ping pong ball.
The best part is it’s cheap. The dobbers cost one dollar each, the cards (which are actually large sheets of newsprint with nine individual cards printed on them) are also a dollar each. Mind you, if you Bingo you win the pot, which in our case was either $300 or $750. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours.
There is a fevered quality to it. You have to pay attention. You have to make sure you mark each of your numbers if they’re called without missing any. And, if you’re looking over 18 different squares that is easy to do. So, I would watch the screen, wait for the announcer to call the number, and then scan each of my squares two or three times blotting as I went along. Runners would roam the floor in case you wanted to buy an extra sheet on the fly.
The longer the games go on without someone Bingo’ing the more people start to talk as the anticipation gets to them. “One more”,”Someone’s going to Bingo soon”,”Hurry!”. I never actually heard anyone say Bingo, but it really lets the air out of everyone. Dobbers pushed aside, the now worthless Bingo cards soaked in places with colorful ink, folded in half and placed in piles or slid into nearby trash cans.
When the last game was finished around 10:15pm everyone gathered their dobbers and cigarettes and related junk and shuffled out of the building. We ran over to Donn’s Depot to listen to Donn play the piano and to watch the old romantic couples slow-dance to the old stuff (“You don’t know me”). That always makes me smile.
I remembered that “The Chronicles of Riddick” was opening for a 12:01am show at Westgate so we went over there to see that. They were giving out free posters for some reason. The movies was quite enjoyable, especially if you like action flicks. As with most movies of that type, I’m sure I will forget almost everything about it by tomorrow. It’s just not the kind of thing you’re going to spend much time thinking about unless you’re just wondering over a particular plot point. If you like sci-fi or action you will probably enjoy it.