b-i-ngo

I really dislike games.  Don't ask me why, but I do.  I would so much rather sit around and have a good, healthy conversation than try to guess what you're drawing on a dry erase board. Typically when I am around a group of game players, I'll sit on the periphery of the action watching the focus of the gamers.  I don't get it.  Never have.  Maybe someday I will.

Yesterday morning I got together with a group of women and somehow, before I could go for another Coke or make an excuse for my early departure we were playing Bingo.  First off, I had absolutely no idea how to play this game.  At all.  I panicked looking at the numbers on the paper in front of me and all of the blank spaces.  Is this like Sudoku where I have to complete the square?  What's going on?  It was not my finest moment.  Luckily my new friends were as bewildered as I was and we learned that you just mark off the number as it is called.  Easy enough, right?  Not so much.  Those numbers were tricky!  About halfway into the game, we all figured out a strategy together, based on how the numbers were placed on the page.  (One column was for 10-19, one for 20-29, etc. in ascending order)  We all felt like blondes and giggled.  And then we went silent.  All you could hear were mutterings of "Come one 88!"  

I was one square away from filling a whole block and yelling out the coveted key word, "Bingo!"  83.  It was in the last column.  One little square.  I focused on it so hard that I could just hear the woman call it out.

"83!"

It was real.  Not in my head.  "Bingo!  Bingo!!" I yelled.  I won?  Woah! My table was cheering me on and congratulating me when I looked back at the block ready to read off my winning numbers.  I was still a number short.  I had focused so hard on 83 that I failed to notice the 90 sitting unmarked beneath it.  Laughter ensued, and a fair share of blushing on my part.  I had not won.

The game continued and we tried to maintain banter while we all zeroed in on our cards.  One number here, one there.  Winners collected their prizes and our table stared forlornly at our near winners.  Come on 37! Come on 88! Come on 90!!

I might have to change my tune about games, because that was a lot of fun.  The women I met yesterday morning are absolutely lovely and I had such fun giggling with them as we struggled to find numbers.  There is now the promise of seeing a few of them more regularly, the lure of a book club, and a few hours enjoying the company of others.

"90!"

Near the end of the game, my number was called and my table member realized she had had a block filled for awhile already.  We laughed together and collected our prizes.  Wonderfully quirky, vibrant wall clocks.  What a great day!