A Great Night Out (Bingo)

Member Name: ickleannie

Product:	Bingo
Date:	08/11/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You Might Win Big

Disadvantages: None

Every six months or so my ex uni pals and myself meet up for a couple of nights of painting the town red , a tradition which has been going on now for about ten years. I must confess its brilliant to have been able to stay in touch for all of these years and it is equally fab that we are almost always a complete group again on most occasions (there is the odd absentee) who travel far and wide for our special weekends where invariably a good time is always had by all. This is probably due to the fact that most of us are married now with children and don't get to go out very often however our long-suffering husbands wouldn't dare try to get involved in stopping our twice yearly meetings.

This time around we met in Glasgow and had planned a series of things to do over the weekend. It was also a combined hen party too which just added to the fun. One of the activities on the menu was visiting a Bingo hall and I have to say this was surrounded by a whole lot of hilarity. I have always associated this game with ladies of a certain age and never thought that in my early thirties that it would be a place where I would want to be seen in however we had decided to go for a game before hitting the town. In addition I had been assured that it sold wine so I was quite happy to give it a go.

We arrived at our destination all eight of us and I don't think the Mecca new what was going to hit it that night. The plan was to play Bingo and then hit the bright lights of Glasgow City Centre afterwards. With hindsight we must have all looked a bit odd waltzing through the doors all dressed up to the nines in all of our glitz and glamour and yes I was aware of a few odd looks in our direction. Between eight of us only one person actually had a valid membership to be entitled to use the facilities in the club. Then the fun really began as the steward on the door said that we would need to either sign up for a membership or get a member to sign us in. We all gathered around on the smart couches in the front of the Bingo Hall and one by one we pounced on unsuspecting members of the public and asked if they would be so kind as to sign us in. Well this took a good twenty minutes or so however we managed and then proceeded to the Bingo Foyer.

Now I became really confused how many tickets did I want asked the pleasant lady on the book sales . One of our group was a bingo fanatic and persuaded us to buy six of each books. Telling the rest of us bingo virgins that we would get the hang of it all quickly and that if we got only a couple of books that we would be bored. I wasn't overly convinced at this point however bowing to her superior knowledge I purchased a set of six books, link, national and a couple of flyers. It was all Greek to me so I just went with the flow. This little lot cost £19 which I thought was quite steep until I was told that we would be playing for £1000 houses whatever those were! My thoughts were interrupted rather rudely when one of my party had decided to catch her high heel on a grate in the floor and landed rather unceremoniously at my feet. My goodness all she had had to drink at this point was a soft drink. Luckily only her pride was hurt and she received a free bingo pen from a rather embarrassed looking chap in a suit. I just knew that this was going to be a long night!!!

Now that we had our cards we proceeded through the doors into the most enormous room I had ever seen., with row upon row of tables and chairs. There was also an upstairs too. As we were on a night out we decided that it would be wise to perch ourselves between the bar, toillet and smoking entrance as a few of our party liked to partake in a quick puff. Next to the bar was just fine for me. We descended upon two double tables next to each other. In front of each space were electronic bingo boards and I was informed by my friend that this was for mini bingo. Numbers for this were being called as we took our seats and to me it was being called at warp speed. There was a collection of what looked liked poker chips which you apparently had to cover on your game card. Each game here cost extra money between 20p and £1 per game. I decided that I would give this a miss as I felt like I had already spent enough money on my bingo books.

I was surprised that there was a café attached to the bingo hall. You could get things like tea or coffee and a cake or a full meal if desired. In addition there was table service which I thought was a bit posh for a bingo hall. One thing that struck me was the price list which was extremely reasonable. For example steak pie and chips was only £2.50. The bar was not particularly well stocked however it sold everything that our party required including mini bottles of wine. These were around £1.50 each and the poor woman had to go and stock up as we all decided to take two each at once to save us having to go back later for more!!!

We checked our cards and realised that we didn't have any bingo pens luckily they sold them at the bar. I decided to opt for a normal ink pen while some of my friends opted for dabbers. I tried one to see what it was like and decided that it was a good idea not to have chosen one. I ended up with my hands covered in ink and wasn't particularly accurate at dabbing in the appropriate place. I had decided to put a ring around my numbers or cross them off. My goodness hark at me getting technical already.

A man in a suit appeared on a central plinth and ran through all of the books that we had purchased to ensure that we had the correct cards. He also checked the serial numbers for the national game and ran through the prize money which was a whopping fifty thousand pounds!! Then with a flurry of cheesy seventies style music the game was about to begin. We were informed that we would be playing a line followed by two lines and finally a full house. The fun certainly began although the numbers being called for this game were a lot slower than the mini bingo it took me a good few games to ensure that I had actually managed to cross off the ones that had been called around half way through I realised that I had got it and was able to keep up. One of our party even managed to shout on two lines and received a £25 prize which went into our kitty for later on that night. Unfortunately however that was all we managed to win between the eight of us. I waited on one number a couple of times and the buzz you get is amazing. There was a twenty minute break in the middle of the game were they called more mini bingo and you got a chance to pop to the loo or have a smoke or refresh your drinks. The second part of the night included a link game were you joined up with other clubs and the prize money was huge, they also call the national in this part too. It was all really exciting with a fab atmosphere. The whole playing experience lasted around two hours and finished around 9.15pm ideal then if like us you fancy nipping into town later on. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would certainly recommend it to all if you haven't been before. The books can be expensive however it is a good laugh. The food and drink is cheap and it keeps you entertained for a couple of hours. With the added incentive that you might win big one day. I can now see the attraction of Bingo and will certainly be returning.

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