A local eating establishment in my community has been hosting bingo games on Thursday nights for the past two to three months. What started in week one as having 15-20 people, it has more than doubled in attendance. Grant it, the elderly are the majority of the crowd, yet it is an exciting and fun-filled atmosphere. I am one of the youngest regulars out there on Thursday nights, yet the age difference doesn't bother me.
I have been there for almost every single week. One night, I notched five bingos which just seemed magical. I always buy three cards at random draw. I don't know what I have, until I sit down and look at them. The first bingo card is free, but extra cards cost $2 each. The money from the extra cards goes into a pot for the blackout bingo money round. The total amount varies, yet it has been as high as nearly $120.
One night with my folks in attendance, I chose my usual three cards and we ate together before bingo started. Since that night to the present day, I have never seen anything like this. A particular card I placed on the right side, simply bested the other two in multiple rounds. In fact, this card notched the first bingo of the second round of action. In other rounds, it seemed to do quite well as I was one or two numbers away from a bingo in one or multiple places.
When it was time for the money round, I looked at that right side card and felt good coming in. Shortly into the blackout round, the caller was announcing numbers that corresponded to the numerals on the card. I was sliding the plates and was getting excited inside. However, during the middle of the round, the excitement faded away. The numbers being called were not matching up, and a cold spell was occurring. What turned out to be a great start was beginning to turn into a disaster. I was hoping the cold spell was not going to prolong until the end when someone shouts out, "Blackout!"
Then the tide turned. Numbers were being called and I was counting down the numbers, until G 55 remained. When that number was called, I hollered, "Bingo! Blackout!"
Upon further review, all the numbers that were announced, matched up with the numbers on the right side card. The total amount I won was $57 I could have won triple-digit cash figures, but the money was split due to another person who blacked out their card the same time as me. Still, $57 is a good haul.
Bingo is a game of unknowns with so much unpredictability. Like the famous Jerry Reed song, "When You're Hot, You're Hot". You can notch several numbers in a row and be feeling good. Or if a number is called, and you don't have it, someone else is marking it down.