I am Finally a Winner!

The Winner!

posted by Melissa Baumgart
I went to Bingo yesterday.  Me, and three kids.  Turns out Bingo (which is still gambling, isn't it?) is open to anyone 10 years old and up.  They just have to have a guardian there over the age of 18.  Works for me, I needed someone to go with and the kids can be pretty fun (sometimes.)

After being to Bingo once before, the kids not only looked to me as the wise adult that I am, but as an expert in the game of Bingo as well.  We each got our own cards and daubers and set up near the football game.  Levi thought he would be able to watch the game, but little did he know the intense concentration that Bingo demands.

During the first game, the kids were a mess.  "Help me, I need help!"  "I am so behind, what number was called?'  "I am so nervous."  "This is so hard, I don't know what I am doing."  And various other cries for help were uttered by two of them, Lily seemed fairly comfortable and held her own.  After a couple games were played, they all got into a groove and settled down to win some money.  They were feeling lucky, and it was announced before each game.

Levi, deep in concentration.

Turns out the kids luck ran dry and they didn't win, but I did!  I won on a blackout game, 1st consolation prize.  Someone else got a Bingo at the same time, so we had to split the $50.00 prize and I won $25.00.  It wasn't the $300.00 I almost won last week, but it still felt good to be a winner.  Real good.

So good in fact, that after we got home from afternoon Bingo, I was rearing to go back to the 7pm game.  We all were, so me, Lily and Levi all jumped back in the van and headed north to 220th St. Bingo!  We chatted all the way up about what we would do if we won big, since the night games pay more.  As we pulled into the parking lot, it seemed dark.  And empty.  NO!  It couldn't be.  Was it closed?

Our sidewalk today.

Indeed, as we drove up in front of the door, the headlights of our minivan illuminated a plain piece of paper with red hand-written marker (not neatly) writing spelling it all out, "7PM Bingo Closed due to snow."  Snow?!  There was no snow!  We drove out of the parking lot, deflated and not quite sure what to do without Bingo.

We drove home and settled for a Family Movie Night.  We watched A Life In A Day, and it was liked by all, but I am pretty sure it paled in comparison to the $900.00 we were going to win at Bingo.

I love how short this snowman makes
me look.

The best news of all though, is that we woke up this morning to true snow.  The neighborhood we live in,  Capitol Hill, got at least 5-6 inches.  That is a lot of snow for Seattle.  The kids had a ball today, building snow people, sledding, and packing snow into forts for a snowball fight that went way into the darkness of the early Seattle night.  I even went out in the snow (I usually opt not to for some reason, I guess I am typically not prepared when it comes to warm clothing) and couldn't help but laugh and smile at everything.  I wonder if snow is as magical in a place that gets snow all winter, to is it because we live in a city where snow is a special and rare event.

Oh, and I lost on both my PowerBall tickets from yesterday.  And when I went to cash in my last scratch-off ticket that I thought I won $25.00 on, they guy just looked at me after scanning it and said, "You are not a winner."  And I thought, "Oh yeah buddy, well, you must not know me then.  Cause I believe (against all odds) that I am!"

-Melissa

220th Street Bingo

By Amy Baranski

This past weekend I ended up at 220th Street Bingo for the first time. It reminded me of grade school. That's where I learned how to gamble. Bingo was the weekly fundraiser at Holy Redeemer. Every Wednesday night the cafeteria would fill with blue hairs cigarette smoke and the smell of that sweetly sick nacho cheese flavor from the concessions stand. Every now and then my parents would volunteer to work the concessions. I'd dispense soda. There was usually a priest present.

This was bingo prior to the machines, or small computers, that are used at 220th Street Bingo, in addition to the paper and daubers. 

If you're looking for a breath free of pretentiousness in Seattle, head to 220th Street Bingo and take me with you. It's not flashy, and it's not trying to be anything. It's full of regular folks, mostly women, but some men, who are content to let the hours roll by with the chance of winning. Well, there's a bit more strategy to it than that, but I find myself only mildly interested in understanding the odds. It's the the passing of time and hopefull clingy-ness to luck that I enjoy. 

Of course, when we got to the bingo hall, I was nervous. I suppose that's natural as an outsider. But Melissa and I made friends quickly. The woman sitting to my left was sitting directly across from her twin who was wearing a sweatshirt that read "Leavenworth." There wasn't too much time to chit chat about the where-are-you-froms or the I-grew-up-heres. There were sequences and protocols to learn--a new language really.

Bingo, as I  previously thought of it, was simply winning five in a row: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. I had heard of black-out bingo--that's getting every number on your card. But teeter-totter, hardway bingo, crazy chair, crazy kite--with or without broken tail, chevron, double chevron, diamond, and little man were all new to me. Fortunately, there's a cheat sheet to which these patterns refer.

Another interesting component to bingo is that some of the games proceed directly from other games. This means that you start playing one game to achieve a specific pattern. Once someone yells bingo the bingo is verified and that game ends, but you keep using the same card for the next round.

I didn't win anything, and really I only came close once. But here are some things I picked up:

Don't call out bingo until the last number is called. Seems obvious. But this is important because you will see the next number on the screen before the caller calls it. So you're often playing one number ahead of the caller. But, you must hear the caller call the winning number before you say bingo, otherwise it's invalid. Also, it's your responsibility to make sure the caller hears or sees you say bingo.

Yell bingo. I asked one of the gentleman selling extra games if people really yell bingo. He says to me "what would you them yell, 'what the fuck?'"

It's okay to have a bingo troll. Bingo players believe in luck. This manifests itself in the changing of different dauber colors for different games, or having the same dauber for 30 years, placing little totems around your game board, or even turning your game board into an altar--as we saw one woman, referred to as Big Mama, do with several stacks of coins gingerly placed around wallet sized photos of her children or nieces and nephews. Big Mama was big and Big Mama won.

Play the extras: There are add-on games to play in between the regular bingo games. Apparently the odds are better with the extras, because less people tend to play. One of our extras was speed blackout. This was especially satisfying because table talk is prohibited and the caller calls the numbers fast without the arduously long pauses during regular games.

Tell people when you're "on". I could feel excitement build during the game when murmuring would start across the table or behind us. People would say "I'll be on with B39" and that message would reverberate down the line--perhaps with bingo teams playing together. What they mean is that when B39 is called they only need one more play to win. Being "on" in bingo is analogous to being on base in scoring position in baseball. 

That's about all I remember at this point, but I'd really like to go back. Anybody with a car interested?

Catch The... Bingo Bug

Our initial view of the Bingo Hall

posted by Melissa Baumgart
We went to BINGO!!!  And I loved it.  We drove up to Mountlake Terrace and took exit #179 off Interstate 5 headed north from Seattle.  After stopping to cash in my scratch-offs and PowerBall ticket at a convenience market, we headed to the Bingo Hall.  I think I speak for both of us when I say, we were extremely nervous and intimidated.  Everyone there looked seasoned, serious and prepared.

There were women with intricately designed Good Luck tokens of pictures and money like an alter on the table before them.  (This particular women won at least twice.)  I saw other tokens like a small plastic giraffe,  chocolate coins covered in gold tin, and a woman with an electric fan blowing on her.  Admittedly, the fan may not have been for luck.

Speed Blackout near win!

We headed to the counter and after admitting to this being our first time, and laughing at a requisite joke by the Bingo Hall staff, we "bought in" and purchased our own personal dobbers.  Mine was pink, Amy's green.  We decided on our table, one close to the caller.  I wanted to be sure to be seen when I called out my winning Bingo card.  A kindly young woman invited us to sit by her, so she could help us.  I was thankful, and felt a slight bit of calm wash over me.  We had been welcomed and accepted into the fold.

The welcoming woman said she had been playing Bingo for 15 years.  She didn't look a day over 30.

The games were not just straight -up Bingo.  There was "Little Man", "Kite with or without a Broken tail", "Chevron", "Hardway Chevron", "3 around 2 Corners"...and many more.  We asked for a cheat sheet with the designs displayed for each game.   Without that I would have been completely lost.

During one of the extra add-on games, "Speed Blackout", I was on.  That is what they call it when you only need one more spot to get the Bingo.  You could hear people through the hall at various times (usually way before I was even close to being on) calling out to their nearby peers, "I am on for B3" or something like that.  I was on for O70, and I was feeling the effects.  My heart was racing, my hands trembling.  The caller called out "O-Seventy.....One"  Crap!  So close!  It took me a good five to ten minutes to stop shaking from all the adrenaline I felt from my near win of $300.

Amy, deep in Bingo concentration.

I never did win.  But after spending only $10.00 for over two hours of fun, AND the possibility of winning big, all I want to do is go back to Bingo.  It's like when I was super into Bikram yoga (without all the sweating and calorie burning), it's all I wanted to do.  I have spent my last 24 hours scheming on how soon I can justify going back to Bingo.

I am reminded again, after attending the Bingo Hall, of how much I enjoy being around everyday Americans.  The crowd there was completely unpretentious.  I always feel comfortable in that kind of setting, and yet I find myself not attracted toward that lifestyle for my own life.  Oh, the humanity of us all.

-Melissa

B-I-N-G-O

PowerBall without the PowerPlay

posted by Melissa Baumgart
Here's a lesson for you.  When you play Powerball, always play the power play.  Always.  It could mean the difference between winning only $3.00 and winning a whopping $12.00!  Yes, sadly this happened to me.  Imagine my dismay when I saw "Winner $12.00" on the screen when I checked my tickets online, only to see that I had not played the power play.  That's the last time that will happen.  Well, once I figure out how to actually play the power play on the machine I bought my tickets from.

I also entered more sweepstakes online.  I entered to win the same trip to Palm Springs that Amy did, as well as multiple shopping sprees and various little prizes like books and kitchen gadgets.  There's a sort of thrill for me at first, like I am throwing caution to the wind and doing the unthinkable...sending my info into the ether waves for all to find, anything could happen, don't people warn about doing this kind of thing?  It feels risky and promising, hopeful even.  I have these moments where I picture myself winning, holding or using the prize, walking around in my new dream home on Provo River in Utah, depositing a big check (yes, I picture the one that's actual size is bigger than my body) into my local credit union.

Then at some point all that imaginary fervor gets wiped away by obsessive key clacking and google searching.  Entering the same info over and over, I start to feel like a junkie, like some lonely person sitting in front of a computer screen all day, unkept and smelly.  Thankfully, given the fact that I have school at 8am every day, a family to take care of and more school to attend throughout the day, this is not my life.  But I do wonder if there are people out there doing this all day.  And what's more?  Do they win?

Does anyone win?  Is this some wild goose chase?  I mean you should see some of these sites loaded with lists of sweepstakes to enter, they do not look reputable.  If I can pass that judgement to an internet site, the way you would to a brick and mortar business.  I try to keep my entries to places I have heard of, or people I know...like my good friends Oprah and Rachel Ray, HGTV, The Food Channel.

Clickity-clackity

So, after a week of online sweepstakes and lottery play, I am heading into something more hands-on.  I am going to go and play Bingo!  I remember playing Bingo when I was younger, and for the life of me, I can't remember where.  But I am sure that in the Ohio Valley there is no shortage of Bingo games to be found.  I do remember in college, going home with a girlfriend to her family's home in WV, and her Mom took us to play Bingo.  At first, I thought it couldn't be more lame...a weekend night spent in a Bingo hall with all these old ladies?  I was used to clubs and dancing, looking for guys to hook-up with.  Wasn't going to happen here.  But I did win some nominal amount that felt larger than life at the time.  And I ended up having a great night, despite my judgements going in.

Also, Healthival is still going strong.  I feel great.  Walking is good medicine, quiet and filled with thought.  I like to take note of what I choose to think about, and shift that pattern when necessary.  Driving doesn't offer that same opportunity, too many distractions and things to pay attention to outside of yourself.  I don't miss wheat, dairy or sugar.  But after a harrowing day with the Worker Retraining office at my school, I did kinda miss the alcohol, and on a Friday night.

Coupons are a challenge.  As I mentioned before, they tend to be for processed foods, of which I try to avoid as much as possible.  I am still working on how to save money on whole, healthy foods, and will keep you updated as to how that unfolds.

Cheers!
Melissa