I visited a bingo Hall last night for the very first time and what an experience!

Straight away when we walked through the doors into the hall all the regulars looked at us like some sort of non local’s that shouldn’t be allowed there, I only had £10 on me which was enough for the usual big book of 6 tickets but we compromised on the 2 games; these were the Regional, which we got 3 tickets for and the final game that for some unknown reason was called the Manhattan which we got 2 tickets for.

It was around £21 for a full book that had 6 tickets on, if I remember rightly in the first big book there was around 8/9 games, then you got the regional game which was just 2 games but again 6 tickets and then the final book of the night which had 2 games. Time-wise it took around 2 hours from start to finish, which for me passed really quickly.

With this being my first time, I was rather clueless as to what to do and which order the games came in, soon one of the staff noticed the despair in my face and came over and told me what order the books went in and how the night ran, I often saw out of the corner of my eye that she kept looking over at us to make sure we were ok.

At first I found it hard checking and marking six tickets, I even had my partner helping me get numbers. After about 3 games I got the hang of running down the number column to check and mark numbers, but any slight break in concentration and you miss a number and it’s easily that game ruined, as you then check the big number board for the last number and then you miss your next number. I probably missed 5 numbers thought the entire night.

After a few games there was an interval and I needed to go outside for a breather and break from such a tense situation, whilst outside two of the regulars started talking to me and asking how I was finding it. When I asked which night was busiest, I was expecting them to say Friday night for some reason but they said Saturday, Sunday oh and Wednesday as you got a pasty pea supper.

I thought tonight was pretty busy it was only Monday and I would say there was at least 25 people in the bingo hall with maybe 25% of the seating bays occupied. When I asked how online bingo had affected them and replied with “this is now the only bingo hall in Harrogate and was nearly turned into 11 flats in December” you soon realise that a lot of people have abandoned their local hall.

The staff allowed us to split out tickets for the last few games, so that my partner could mark a few tickets and experience the thrill. For some reason this is normally forbidden, but i guess that because we where new the staff turned a blind eye. This left us both marking 3 tickets per game, which I found a doddle but I noticed straight away how my partner was left scrolling all over the place for numbers, and feel that she then sympathised with me for been edgy when I was attempting to mark 6 tickets .

The two Regional games where the highlight of the night, with winning stakes at £50 for one line, £100 for two lines and £400 for a full house. After a frantic 2 hours of bingo I think I am converted and found it so much more entertaining than playing online; I feel that I’ll be visiting my local bingo hall at least once a month.

Submitted by Chris Tender

Mar 17 2009