Bingo Madness

Before i left for the cruise i proclaimed that the one thing i absolutely would NOT be doing on the cruise was playing bingo. I mean, who the heck plays bingo? Do i look like a blue-hair? There was just no way i was going to play bingo. Silly, silly girl. How was i to know how much i would love bingo? Just like drugs it started slowly and escalated. One morning i was up and about by myself (Douglas was sleeping) so i ate breakfast, wrote in my journal, wrote out postcards that took 3 weeks to arrive through the mail and played Trivia with Oscar (i took 2nd with 22 out of 25 questions, but the winning couple who had 23 out of 25 gave me one of their medals so i could be a winner, too). Just as Trivia ended, Bingo was beginning. It was the first session - the FREE card session. Bingo is not free (they have to get the money for the prizes from somewhere), but at the first session they gave out one free card to everyone and had contests to win others - you know, the "first taste is free" thing. I wandered in and Trevor, the Bingo King was doing "name that theme song" for free bingo cards. You know i love "name that theme song." How could i say no to "name that theme song?" My love of competitive trivia is how i got my first taste of bingo. Here i am with my 2 free bingo boards. I couldn't believe i was going to play bingo, but i think a lot of addictions start like that. I was ready to go when Trevor announced that he needed a Bingo Commissioner to get us started; in fact he said, "Bingo Betty (the bingo machine) says that the commissioner needs to be a female over the age of 18 sitting on the left side of the room, wearing a purpley-mauvey shirt who is a little sassy." I kid you not, i looked around to see who he might be describing, looked down at my shirt and raised my hand with a, "Hey I'm a little sassy." Yep. [No kidding, Nik - he was talking about you all along - way to catch on to the obvious] Being Bingo commissioner (verifying that all 75 balls are present) garnered me 6 more free boards. I was hooked. The thing about Bingo is that the game isn't really all that interesting; it is all about the caller. Trevor is from LA and as you can see from the picture, he has personality to spare. Who knew Bingo could be such an interactive game? We shouted at Trevor, at Betty, at the numbers; we danced; we made various animal noises. It was a blast. Plus there were always 2-3 members of the cruise staff there to assist. One time Pikey sat down at my table and played an old card. Ponz lurked behind me and would point out where i had numbers. Marc hung out with me at another game and then went to get me nachos. It really was a party. Bingo was offered nearly every day, often twice a day with the jackpot game getting bigger and bigger. Each round of Bingo had a theme with matching door prizes. I won 2 free professional pictures (6X8 and 8X10) from Shutters. By the last day Bingo was so huge they had it in the theater. The final prizes were a cruise and a cash pot over $6000. I miss the "poke and fold." I miss screaming "Whatever, Trevor." I miss Benjamin the waiter showing up with the Drink of the Day at 11am. sigh... I can admit now i was so wrong with my Bingo-hate. Man, i loves me some cruise Bingo.