My friend Cassandra & a new friend Amanda all went out to dinner, sans kiddos (hallelujah!), at Casa Mexicana where we indulged ourselves with fajitas & a couple of margaritas....EACH. They weren't those little wussy ones either so we were feeling p-r-etty giggly & excited going over to the bingo hall across the street.
Well, we walk in, are directed to where we needed to obtain our 'hard packs' (a.k.a. game sheet stacks) & our free Dauber (a.k.a. ink blotter) for being first-timers. Woo-hoo! We just arrived & already 'won' something!! Well, we got something for free...almost the same thing, right?! Anywho...we're happy and obnoxious to all of the people already present and enthralled in a (come to find out) somewhat serious game of Bingo. So, we are lucky enough to find seats by a sweet African-American woman by the name of Lovely, and that's exactly what she was.
She tutored us on the different games & helped us along on our first Bingo journey. She was a professional Bingo-er. She had 24 games going at the same time, while we were only playing a measly 6. Yet, she would still occasionally notice when one of us missed a number and was sweet enough to Dab our spots for us. Then, we quickly caught on and were on a roll. About 7 of 15 games in, Cassandra was lucky enough to win one. She was looking at the monitor & the next number comes up so that people like Lovely who play so many cards at once can stay a little ahead of the game. The announcer then announces the number on the screen & THEN it's okay to yell Bingo if you have it. Well, she was excited as she saw the last number she needed pop up on the screen & prematurely yelled it out. Lovely then sweetly put her hand on Cass' shoulder and said "you can't yell that yet..." as we all gave it a good giggle & our cheeks turned red. As soon as the announcer got "I-22" out, Cass took full advantage of her luck & yelled it out again with valor. We were so excited for her and couldn't stop giggling until the people finally stopped looking our direction. The 'money-man' came over and paid her her winnings. It was great, or at least that's what all 3 of us thought.
Turns out the veterans of this bingo hall had a different feeling & so did Lovely. Since Cassandra won on a little '1-game piece', we think Lovely got a little jealous that she hadn't won anything yet. She didn't talk anymore. She didn't help Dab anymore. And she overall was a bit more reserved & concentrated on her bazillion game sheets. Amanda & I kept our hopes up to maybe get lucky & win one, but to no avail. I think that satisfied Lovely a bit. It's unreal the amount of money some people will pay for these games in hopes of barely doubling their money. Nuts, people... just nuts! Well, we had a good time anyway. Next time we go, we'll know to carry ourselves with a cooler demeanor and not be so 'kid's first time to the ice cream shop' excited.
Overall, we had a great time & are now just a little more cultured. I guess we have to go back...my pink Dauber still has plenty of ink!! :)
p.s. I did get pictures, but I'm too tired to post them right now. And I think I might leave that up to Cassandra once I get them to her. She's good at that. :)
2 comments:
The first time I met Blake's PawPaw and Granny (while we were dating), they took us to play BINGO. I never knew how serious the game of Bingo was until that night-ha! His Granny is HARD CORE! She plays twice a week!! We have gone back several times---Once I won 2 games in a row---Both worth $750 bucks each---And yeah, the "regulars" aren't too thrilled when an outsider wins...Especially two times in a row!! Talk about some DIRTY looks!! hehe:) Sounds like you girls had a blast!
I've always wanted to go play BINGO but never have. Maybe when you get back we can try it out in good 'ol Abilene :)
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