The Letdowns of BINGO

Recently, one of the things that we've enjoyed doing with friends is going out to restaurants that offer the wonderful game of BINGO. You relax, have a great food, great company, great conversation, and of course play BINGO and hopefully win a round that will pay for your tab. It's a great way to spend time with friends and catch up.

We enjoyed one such adventure not too long ago at "Lucky 13's" in Bloomington. The food was great. The place was packed and everyone was having a great time. They play a total of about 15 rounds of BINGO on Sunday afternoons. Each round, the winning BINGO receives $100. I was pretty excited because most restaurants offer a $20 prize each round, which for me is amazing! Winning $5 is amazing to me. The fact that it was a $100 prize was very, very, exciting!!

On this particular round, we were playing the "arrow" round which means your winning BINGO has to form an "arrow point" facing any direction. As each number was called it seemed like Noah and I were getting closer and closer to winning this round. I'd look over at his card. He'd look over at mine and we would nearly shriek with excitement. You know that feeling right? When you only have a few numbers left. Then finally, when you only need one number and you mention that fact to everyone that you are sitting with.
"I only need one more!!!"

As we are sitting at the table, whispering that last number that we need to our selves...."B10...B10....B10" it happens. "O77" the announcer calls. A second later, someone yells, "BINGO" and everyone else in the room lets out the "bummed out sigh" at the same time. Darn it!!!

So, we disappointedly pile our used BINGO cards on the table with their pretty, colorful dots and we imagine what we would have done with the $100 if we would have won. As we are chatting, something grabs my attention on Noah's last BINGO card and as I take a closer look at the card, I ask, "Are you kidding me??"

There it was. Noah's WINNING BINGO CARD!!!! He had the winning BINGO half way through the round and he didn't even notice it!!! Seriously, how could he have missed that? Uggghhhhh. It of course was too late for him to go up and claim his prize. Someone else had already done that. Noah just hung his head in dismay. I couldn't be frustrated with the poor guy for too long.

In the end, we of course just have to laugh at it. I had to learn to swallow my frustration (I know it's just a hundred bucks, but to me that's a lot of money), suck it up, and laugh it off. It just wasn't meant to be.

Maybe next time. If this is what we have to be most disappointed in right now...well, I'd say we are doing alright.