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Bingo has been going on at the fire department here for about 25 years. Amissville’s fire department was among the first to try this as a fund raiser. It’s spread far and wide now and some localities have enormous crowds, although it’s hard to imagine a friendlier crowd than the one here.
On an average night there are probably around 3 dozen players. This Monday proved to be pretty average. Prizes range from a few dollars to potentially as much as $1,000.
Bingo starts promptly at 6:45 p.m. and it definitely pays to be on time. We arrived almost exactly at 6:45. But we didn’t know we needed to allow time to buy the bingo cards and, of course, get instructions.
Now, I know you’re all thinking that we must be idiots. How much do you need to know to play bingo? Well, you’d be surprised! They had about 28 games Monday night and there was quite a variety. I had no idea there were that many ways to play bingo. And after seeing this I’m guessing we didn’t even scratch the surface.
The evening included games such as “Crazy Ts” and “2 Postage Stamps” that I’d certainly never heard of. I thought of bingo as being about getting a row across, down or diagonally. Apparently I’m way behind the times when it comes to bingo innovation.
Fortunately, we were directed to sit next to a very helpful group. These six women live in Wildwood Forest in Amissville and have been playing bingo together on Monday nights for two years. They were very generous with their time and expertise and were happy to share their secrets to managing all those cards efficiently. . It was not only our ignorance of the variety of games that gave away our inexperience.
Clearly there are some bingo pros here. They bring special stands to hold their myriad cards. They bring big bags of bingo supplies. And, fortunately for us, they bring food to share!
The Fire Department sells hot dogs and other assorted items. But there’s also plenty of friendly sharing going on and we were offered chocolates and mints. And on other tables I saw cake and cookies and other treats being shared.
We found six cards at a time enough to manage. But some of the bingo regulars are watching anywhere from 18 to 24 cards. '
I think I’d need some additional practice to pull that off!
By the end of the evening we were starting to feel comfortable with all the varieties of games, happy about the new friends we’d made and even happier about our bingo winnings!
If you haven’t checked out the bingo games for yourself, set aside a Monday night and bring some friends! Or better yet, plan to meet your neighbors and make some new friends!
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