Notes on the Side: Bingo!

Aside from having this perennial want to ride the choo-choo train over at SM City Davao, one of my recent cravings is to play Bingo at the mezzanine area in the second floor of SM. Always, when I am on my way to Karl’s Kofi Corner, I pass by the Bingo area and usually feel like settling in one of the tables. But no one wants to make a fool of themselves with me.

Bingo games are fun because they don’t usually rely so much on mind-boggling puzzles. You just listen and follow the letters and numbers. I like the routinary appeal to it–placing those circular markers over one letter after another and hoping to form a pattern and shout: “Bingo!” Plus, the incantatory sound  the announcer makes heightens the surreal feel of anticipating, if not praying, for patterns.

While an alternative cure to my craving is to play online bingo, I still want to experience the natural high of being in a crowd of people bowing in intense concentration over their bingo cards, and wishing secretly for moments to shine and say “Bingo!“  Of course, winning some money isn’t something you gloss over. *wink*