Bingo in Smoky Lake was well attended

By Irene van der Kloet

Most of us know how to play bingo, but the bingo evenings held these days are a whole new dimension. Participants have a choice of games they can play depending on which row or card needs to be filled first. The most common that even not experienced bingo players will know is the “five series of go-go games”: players must have a straight line or four corners, two straight lines or one straight line and four corners; they can have the letter X, a picture frame or a full card, whichever fills up first. Every time a person has a correct Bingo, a prize is awarded. The typical award is $30, but if two players have Bingo simultaneously, they’ll share the $30. However, no one will get paid less than $10, so if five players have Bingo, they’ll all get $10. On June 1, 2022, a Bingo event was held in the Complex in Smoky Lake. As of 6:00 pm, the participants started purchasing their cards. With a choice from seven different games, there is a lot to choose from, but typically, everyone buys at least one card per game and, most of the time, more. Some people buy five or ten cards of one game; how they keep track of every number on all these cards is admirable and – no doubt – requires experience. A Bingo dabber is used to mark the numbers that have been called or mark numbers that will not be called, like in the “odd-and-even” game where only odd or even numbers will be called, depending on the date (as this game was on June 1, only odd numbers were called in this game).

Bingo is a fundraiser for the hosting organization, and it is strictly regulated by and requires a license from Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC). In Smoky Lake, the Ag Society organizes the Bingos with the help of either Kinettes or Hockey club members. If neither of these clubs is available on a particular evening, other volunteers are called in. That happened to be the case on this day, where all the people selling cards were inexperienced volunteers from the community, as were the two checkers who check the cards after someone calls Bingo. With approximately 60 participants, most of them at an advanced age, the hall was filling up quite well. Bingo is for everyone, for every age, but it seems to attract an aging crowd that will be happy they can participate in these games again. An evening out, spend a little money, win a little money and have fun.