Ooooweeee it's a chilly 42 degrees this morning here in cloudy overcast California. There was no transition period ... just BANG and it was winter. Time to turn up the heat a bit.
Basically I did nothing all day long in preparation for the return to huge crowds moaning and groaning over their loss of cash. I would do the same.
I arrived in time to sign checks like I was Rockefeller. I expected lots of Halloween costumes, but alas, the King put the quash on that idea. There were a few flashing light necklaces hanging around, but no ghouls or ghosts. It's enough that the peasants have pitchforks and flaming torches.
Sadly for me, my Lady in Waiting, though she said she would be late, did not show up at all. It's okay because my Fairy Godmother gets me through the worst of the line in record time. She can count faster than I can tap buttons on the infernal machine. The problem arises when she leaves to play some of the early games for big bucks.
Thankfully my previous replacement came in to help out. She said if I ever took off again I would be drawn and quartered. It seems the infernal machine did its magic on her fingers, causing a $500 received on account, which amounts to a $1,000 shortage. Yeah, that would make me panic too!!
Here's our setup ... the pink packets on the right are Early Birds, five games. Then comes the blue packets with twelve games, interspersed with the big green meanies (a hard one to play), the big blue borders where you get twice as many chances to win, followed up by the small green ones closest to me and two even smaller speed games. These are called much faster, so you better be on your toes.
For $34 you can play every single game. Most folks spend an average of $60 with some going up as high as $95+. That's right ... every single Tuesday the peasants dump money on us in the hopes of winning the $250 prize for each game.
The OTHER game going on is called Hot Ball. Each person pays $1.00 for each hot ball game we have (which is two), and they get their hand stamped. The Hot Ball Number is picked before the game starts and posted on the board. If you win any Bingo game with THAT NUMBER, you win my $250 pot and the Hot Ball Pot, which can vary in amount up to $1,199. Never EVER wash your hands, because without that stamp, you do not get the molaah!!
It happens that for the last five weeks, no one has won the Hot Ball pot. It's unheard of. Until tonight. $1,449 was handed out to the screams of the peasants. I'm not sure if that was happy screams or MAD screams because it wasn't them. No worries, our SECOND Hot Ball pot is ALSO $1,199.
The screams erupted before the number was even called. The SECOND pot went bye-bye and another $1,449 was handed out. Suddenly there were even MORE screams when the first winner won yet ANOTHER GAME!! You can imagine these were not happy screams.
Winner winner chicken dinner! That gal took home $1,699. Can you imagine? She probably spent much more than that over the previous weeks, but it's a nice haul just in time for Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas.
I finished out the night showing my stand-in what caused her infernal machine problem and how to fix it. I cleared the machine and asked for a grand total. WAIT!! WHAT?? It said I should have made $1,999 dollars? That CANNOT BE! I hate this machine!!
Further investigation into its guts determined that my stand-in did not erase its memory from last week. Whew!! That was scary!! No problemo .... I erased it with relish and mustard!!! TAKE THAT!! I also showed her how to do the same should it happen again.
And so ended another night of peasants screaming and crying over lost milk. The good news is they were also smiling, so we were safe ..... until next time!!
Those Bingo players take it very serious. Lol
ReplyDeleteThe Elks are lucky to have you.
Happy Wednesday!
Frances:)
They take it VERY seriously! LOL. It's fun most of the time, gets me out of the house!
DeleteRoughly, what is the difference between how much is spent buying into the games -vs- the payouts to the winners (just percentage, not actual dollars).
ReplyDeleteEarly voting here is Florida is going real well...2.5 million Republicans have voted (by mail or in person), 1.9 million Democrats, and 1.1 million "no party affiliation" (which I figure is voting at 65% Republican to 35% Democrat). Looking forward to ALL OF THIS TO BE OVER!!!
Basically I break even ... I pay out everything I take in. Where we make the money is from the sale of pull tabs and special games where the payout is maybe 25-50%. Those games pay more, so they buy more.
DeleteI'm hoping and praying Dave, I'm hoping and praying.
Wow. Now I know why I don't play bingo. I'm just not smart enough. I was confused reading this!
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone Elva ... the games are all different and require an instruction sheet which we hand out!!
DeleteDave, totally agree! Know this Bingo wouldn't work for me, I have a hard enough time following one card LOL
ReplyDeleteThat's me, not to mention I'm too cheap to spend that much money!!
DeleteAlways enjoy reading the bingo posts!
ReplyDeleteIt can be hilarious at times!
DeleteYou hate the machine and the machine hates you or maybe everyone who knows with machines.
ReplyDeleteThat thing ... it tries everyone's patience quite often! LOL
DeleteI'm sure glad you know what you're doing! ha ha, I'm sure you love it, deep down somewhere. :)
ReplyDeleteHahaha it's fun ... I get to meet and talk to lots of people and it gets me out of the house!!!
DeleteSo, if you play $34 a week and don't win for 7 weeks, give up, you've already spent almost $250. If you play $60 a week, only 3 weeks to make even, IF you win. No thanks.
ReplyDeleteAn ex-SIL opened a gaming place with slots, etc. The house ALWAYS comes out ahead. I feel bad for the people with gambling addiction, like her Dad. After the life he lived I'm so surpised she did such a thing. Part of the license fee is a $50,000 "donation" to the police retirement fund.