Craftygal
Threatens to Change the "Face" of Bingo
Where
can you go to play a game with people forty years your age who are
not gathered for recreation, but would as soon kill you to win;
for the feel of a shaky dauber in your hand as it quickly searches
out the number called in the eight seconds before the next one is
called; and for the sound of defeat when the caller, sitting in
front of a wall-sized electronic scoreboard announces, "That's good!"?
Why, it's a night out playing bingo!
On July 26th,
craftygals Taryn, Christy, Jan, and me, as well as Colleene and
Jenny, friends of Jan, patronized Bingo World in Greece, NY to check
out the scene. We wanted to observe the reaction of the stereotypical
senior citizen crowd as young people gathered in their setting in
order to decide if bingo should be considered a cheap, "hip" night
out and if more young crafters would have fun playing this game
of chance.
I can’t
lie and say that Bingo is cool, but we did have fun observing the
process.
We entered the
den of bingo shortly after 7 p.m. wearing our matching "Ladies Sewing
Circle and Terrorist Society" T-shirts. My first sensation was that
of confusion as I infiltrated an alter-world that I was unfamiliar
with, where I didn't know the rules. As I followed Taryn, I felt
strangely disorientated and light-headed; however, she told me to
say "nine" to the cashier whereupon I paid $5 and was handed a large
booklet with nine bingo "faces," as they are called, on the front.
The cost was cheap, but, of course, we had to put another $2 down
for the Bonanza round, and because we didn’t come prepared,
we had to buy a $1.50 dauber. (I picked the souvenir "Bingo World"
dauber in pink.) Our Mother of Sorrows, the church that was hosting
the night's game, milked $8.50 out of me, but that's not bad for
three and a half hours of fine entertainment. Also, not bad considering
that the average bingo player lays down $51 per session, according
to Don Nowak, the bingo caller volunteering that evening. All for
a good cause, however, as the proceeds from the sessions go to fund
area parochial schools.
"I never played
bingo," says Nowak, a bingo volunteer for 22 years who says he does
it for the kids, like his grandson who attends McQuaid Jesuit High
School. "Bingo players are nuts."
Colleene caused
a commotion by starting a separate paying line for the "traditional"
paper bingo players from the computer players, already aggravating
the tension between the recreational versus gambling bingo personalities.
Nowak said that computers came on the scene about four or five months
ago, which enables people to play 29-59 faces of bingo with the
press of a key. About 50 people out of 200 play computer-based bingo
and they are definitely not out for recreation, but are out to win,
which "takes away the fun element," according to Nowak.
A bingo volunteer
in a "Mother of Sorrows" T-shirt, the church that was hosting the
game for the night, saw Christy's shirt and said, "I'm a hell
of a sewer," but when he remembered who he was volunteering for
he cupped his hand over his mouth in shock.
On the way to
sit down Taryn told me the rumor that older players get mad at the
young players if they win and take "their" money. I resolutely decided
I didn't want to win; I didn’t want to cause trouble. We decided
that if anyone won, we'd put the money in an outing fund–bingo
today, but Tahiti tomorrow. So we wished.
We did draw
attention to ourselves. As Nowak took his seat upon the throne in
front of the electronic board he said, "Oh, the 'Sewing Circle'
is here today."
Pre-game we
smelled each other's daubers to see if any smelled different or
better than the rest, but we agreed not to do any public huffing.
However, I came dangerously close to daubing my nose with the end
of Christy's (supposedly mint-scented) green marker. Social time
abruptly ended when the games began and we were hardly able to get
out a few hushed words to each other as it commenced at breakneck
speed of a new ball being called every eight seconds.
The players,
as a whole, were a surly, money-addicted bunch of old loons. Whenever
anyone yelled the magic "bingo," people groaned and just about threw
their daubers around the room. This is not what I was expecting.
A couple at the next table over–people that Taryn, Christy,
and I faced (being amateurs we were the only ones to be sitting
with our backs to the bingo caller and the board)–were extra
rude. They complained that the bingo caller was calling too fast
or too slowly, and yelled interesting expletives when someone had
played "bad bingo" and they prematurely had thrown out their board
thinking someone else had won. We pissed them off, too. They got
angry when Jan tried to take a picture, trying to snap an action
shot of Taryn and I. (The bingo caller, not missing a beat, responded
to the flash in spirit of the hosts of the evening by calling out
"God?" However, the bingo caller's wife was nice enough to offer
to take the picture seen here.) A couple of games later this man
in front of us yelled "bingo" so loudly and forcefully that he scared
Jenny, who was sitting with her back to him. Even after winning,
his cranky disposition didn't change.
I realized when
I could spare a moment of deep concentration on my board to look
around the room, that so many people were in it strictly to gamble.
I thought it would be an easy-going group of sweater-crocheting
seniors. Besides the surly people, there were sad people. A woman
sitting at the same table as us, but probably wishing she wasn't,
was playing both computer and paper (that's considered hardcore),
and had a good luck charm of an elephant on top of her computer.
I am sure there were some people there who were on welfare, or were
unemployed or otherwise in need of quick money, gambling like on
the racetrack.
Nowak said that
bingo is "lower-class gambling" and that half the players are addicted.
He said the average age of a bingo player is 60 years old and that
bingo is more popular among women, who make up 80 percent of a crowd,
and more prevalent among smokers, who make up about 75 percent of
a crowd. (Luckily, Bingo World has a separate room for smokers.)
Also, bingo, although it is popular everywhere, is more popular
among industrial cities, such as Rochester, according to Nowak.
Although Nowak
says that he sees younger people come out frequently, making up
10 percent of a crowd of 200, to win money, because it’s cheap,
and because there may not be anything better to do, he says "I don't
think [bingo] was historically intended to be for young people.
In order for it to appeal to younger people, " mused Nowak, "you'd
have to have a special bingo night for them, like rock-and-bowl."
The night didn’t
come without its reward. Taryn felt the "Zen" of bingo and related
her metaphysical experience to us. She was playing all of a sudden
she saw the dots on the page turn into something like a 3-D Magic
Eye picture and it was then she "understood" bingo. I think we all
did by that point. When it was all over, I couldn't believe how
fast the place cleared. Jan said humorously, "Now we'll never make
it [craftygal] to print."
Is bingo hip?
Definitely not. Some things you just can't change. However, what
is cool is that we got out and tried something different and unexpected
and, if only for a night, we got immersed in the underground drama
of a strange game and its equally interesting characters.
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"I
don't think [bingo] was historically intended to be for young people.
In order for it to appeal to younger people, " mused Nowak, "you'd
have to have a special bingo night for them, like rock-and-bowl."
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