Why Bingo??

 A big GOOD MORNING to foggy California.  The forecast says clearing, but trust me ... it's foggy.  

When the sun finally came out, the mockingbirds were looming large in my back yard.  These guys will eat anything, from bugs to bird seed to chicken legs.  Here they are keeping all the sparrows at bay while they gobble down every last seed.  I watched them fight over who was first at the table while I sipped my phony coffee.  

Back to business ... I did forget to show you something yesterday.  While waiting for my Walmart order, I got this message.  See that interesting part about PLEASE BRING YOUR GOVERNMENT-ISSUED ID?  I actually got TWO messages telling me this.  So you need an ID to pick up groceries at Walmart in California, but not to vote?  Who knew ......

Anyhoo ... I completely forgot that this time of year there is absolutely NOTHING on TV.  Here's another interesting tidbit.  I have Dish Network.  All year I get to watch three different channels with those Hallmark movies ... until December 1.  On that day, they turn off every single one of those channels so you can only watch them on PAY PER VIEW.  No kidding.

My channels were slim pickings.  There are lots of BUY THIS channels (no thank you) and dozens of really weird kids cartoons.  What happened to the Roadrunner?  Everything else is a rerun.  

I watched ELF yet again (do you think acting in that movie would be embarrassing?) and ..... wait for it .....  FRED CLAUS.  Thank GOODNESS the National Finals Rodeo starts tomorrow!

And so .... that brought me to a Mexican lunch downtown and BINGO!!  What could be better?  Truly, the best part of the Castle is it gets me out of the house.  HERE WE GO ......

Both of our Hot Ball games are at the maximum $1199.  If it was $1200 or more, we would have to report it to IRS, and so they remain $1199.  That big pot brings in many more people than we normally have.  In fact, I think we can count the "old" players on both hands.  Everyone else is new to the game.  On this night, out of 137 people, probably 87 of them didn't know how to play our games.  That's a problem.

The good news is they don't know to bring the pitchforks and flaming torches with them either.  Not YET anyway.  The problem is it takes a long time to explain each and every game you see on the table because they are all completely different.  The farthest blue packets contain 12 games (all of which require a different configuration to win), the pink ones have 5 games, all adding up to 22 games of Bingo, not counting the pull tab games.  

 My Lady in Waiting explains exactly how to win.  That takes WAY too long.  I go with the short version ... ask someone at the table you sit at.  The goal is to get all 137 people to their table BEFORE the games begin in two hours.  I get to brag a bit here ... I'm VERY fast on the infernal machine.  So far I haven't been skunked ... but of course there is always a first time.

Here's a bad picture of the boards.  I'm more impressed by the Elk.  Isn't he a beauty?  So the bingo desk is a big piece of equipment that lives up on the stage.  When you touch a button, a ball comes out onto a camera that throws the image up on all of six television screens around both rooms.  The caller turns it so the number can be read.  That one will be the NEXT ball to be called.  The last one is set on the bingo board in front of him so the machine knows which ones HAVE been called.  

When someone yells Bingo, the machine will know if it is legit or not.  Complicated, yes?  I'll get some pictures next time.

This guy also keeps an eye on the peasants ... yes, we have TWO of these beauties in the dungeon, surrounded by live poinsettias purchased from a school to benefit their 6th Grade Camp.

While all that is going on in the main room, this is what you get from the Pull Tab Room.  Most of these are $1.00 each.  People buy hundreds of them.  Out of a full box, there is one $250 winner.  If you get one with big numbers on it, you get to play extra bingo games (usually eight), for $500 in winnings each game.  

$1199 ... $250 for each of 22 games ... and $500 for each of eight games ... so THAT is why people come to play BINGO!  It's four hours of fun that allows someone to buy Christmas presents and us to keep the donations flowing.

Amazingly, I saw no pitchforks, swords or lances on this night, except for one lady.  She decided I wasn't smiling enough and made some rude remarks.  MY flaming torch came out as I offered her a membership application so SHE could volunteer and do my job!! 

 The infernal machine had spit out a bad ticket and I was trying to figure out if I accidentally charged someone twice.  My brain didn't have time to listen to her complain.  She left in a huff.  I know, bad Nancy!!  BUT ... I figured out what the problem was and fixed it, so there's that!!

At the end of the night, I was exhausted.  There's way too much thinking involved in not only selling all those games, but keeping track of and making all those payouts all night long, AND balancing at the end of the night.  

AND one again ... we'll do it all NEXT week!!