Under the N - 45... N 45 BINGO!!

Thursday night = Bingo night. 
So the family finished dinner and walked up to the CanAm centre.  All 5 of us....  We missed you B.   Anyway, we couldn't be late, they stop selling cards 5 minutes before 7 pm.  So we left the house at 6 pm.   For those of you who know the compound, you know that the CanAm centre is at max 5 min from the house.  So an hour got us there in plenty of time to learn how to play, buy our cards and some more dabbers (different colours even), get a glass of water (no snacks this year) and get some good seats.  We weren't the first ones there.

Waiting for Bingo to start.

 Mom knows people everywhere, so it should be no surprise that she invited one of her friends that came to play to sit with us.  Another couple also sat next to mom and dad - the same couple that sat next to them the last time they played - 9 months ago.  Anyway this couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary and neither of them look as old as their 90+ years.

 

 

Dad's not so sure about this

So having met all the other people at our end of the table, we were ready to get this game started.  The caller came to the microphone and announced that we'd be playing blue through pink before intermission and then grey, olive, brown and jackpot after.  So get your dabbers ready. This is quite a high tech system that they have - not even a year old yet.  Anyway the ball comes out and the caller puts it in front of a camera so that you can see (on one of three tv monitors) what number it is.  Then, after a few seconds, he calls it out and the number on the big score board lights up.  But the number doesn't actually count until he calls it out, even if you can see it on the screens before that...  Kinda makes you feel like you have ESP.

Grammi focused on dabbing the right numbers

Now since it is a new year, they added some new games.  This wasn't just any one straight line to win type of game.  We had to get such things as the "champagne glass", "lucky 13", "heart", and the "hair pin".  Remember that couple that had their 70th wedding anniversary that sat next to us - well, they won the "love letter" game - appropriate.





Intermission came. and so did the 50-50 draw.  We didn't buy tickets, so of course we didn't win.  As normal the person holding the first ticket drawn won the money.  However, other people also won.  They won a brownie.  Just one brownie - a snack for intermission.  So intermission was extra long as they read off the numbers of another 16 tickets.  Apparently a lady made a pan of brownies but there weren't enough for everyone, so they thought this was the fairest way to distribute them. Mom's friend (the one sitting with us) won one.


Bingo night resumed.  The patterns were so complex that geeky me had to colour some of the squares with the bingo dabber and others with a pen just so I wouldn't get confused about when to call bingo.  Mom decided it was our time to win, especially since the others at our table had already won (even if one was just a brownie).  She was extra determined. 






She was down to her last number on the second to last game.  She kept chanting 45 under her breath.  And then - finally - the 45 ball appears on the  TV monitor.  She got super excited, but couldn't call out BINGO until the caller called 45.  She was so excited she started nudging the 92 year old man beside her - who didn't have a clue what she was going on about.  The number was called and   BINGO!  Mom won the "big bucks".






After 2 1/2 hours of playing, the game was over and the hall was cleaned up, chairs and table put away, in under 10 minutes - just as dad said it would be - and we walked home having survived our first family bingo night.