A Bingo Event Trifecta

[00:00:04] It's not a game, it's a real game.

[00:00:08] Hello, and welcome to The Broke Bingo Addict.

[00:00:12] This is a podcast that ventures through the wild and crazy world of bingo.

[00:00:16] This is much more than your grandmother's bingo.

[00:00:19] My name's Shari, and welcome to this week's episode, which as always is for entertainment purposes only.

[00:00:27] Hi there, and welcome to this week's episode of The Broke Bingo Addict.

[00:00:33] I feel like starting this episode out with that soundbite that goes,

[00:00:38] Girl, we had a time last night. We had a time last night.

[00:00:46] Actually, I want to say we had a time this month, okay?

[00:00:51] Starting from like mid-October to now, I went to three of, I'd say like my favorite kind of bingo events.

[00:01:00] Not all of my favorites, but three of my favorite bingo events.

[00:01:04] And we started out with October 19th being up in Stockton for winter's big bingo event.

[00:01:12] So that was the 19th, and it was so much fun.

[00:01:17] This is the second time I've been up there, and it's kind of cool when it's your second time because you know a little bit more.

[00:01:24] You're a little bit more coordinated with what goes on, with how to be, you know, with how to get the most out of that experience.

[00:01:32] So I drove up there, rented a car, drove up there, had a nice little hotel.

[00:01:37] Nothing exciting, but it was in a nice location.

[00:01:40] And if I ever go up there again, I absolutely will stay at that hotel because, like I said, it was a nice location.

[00:01:46] It was convenient.

[00:01:47] There were restaurants.

[00:01:48] Now I know there's a lot more shopping and anything, and it was only like 12 minutes away from winter.

[00:01:53] So that was nice.

[00:01:54] And I also got there in time for the event.

[00:01:57] Last time, I think I was there way too early.

[00:02:00] Doors open like at 1 o'clock.

[00:02:01] The event didn't start till like 5, 5.30.

[00:02:05] So I was there way too early.

[00:02:06] But this time, I was better acquainted with the Bingo Me Now app, so I had already purchased everything I needed.

[00:02:12] I was a little bit concerned about finding a good spot to sit.

[00:02:15] But when I got up there, I talked to Frank.

[00:02:16] He was like, yeah, you can sit right over here if you want, which was great, which was sitting by Sonia and Carla and her sister.

[00:02:23] So it was really nice.

[00:02:25] It worked out very, very well.

[00:02:26] And I had a good time.

[00:02:27] And surprisingly, I actually won this time.

[00:02:31] Always makes going to these events a lot more fun if you actually win.

[00:02:36] I didn't win a lot, and they had a lot going on too.

[00:02:38] They had so many games that were paying $5,000.

[00:02:41] You had other horse races and pool tabs and strips and whatnot going on, but a lot of opportunities to win a lot of money.

[00:02:49] But I did win a pool tab.

[00:02:52] I split a $1,500 pool tab.

[00:02:54] So that was fun because, like I said, the first time I went up there, I did not win a dime.

[00:02:59] But the only thing that you can keep in comparison between the two events, it was definitely a lot of fun.

[00:03:05] And it cracks me up too because when you're there, I don't know how many people have been there or haven't been there, but it's connected to a horse racing location.

[00:03:14] I don't know what they call it, a bookie place, whatever, but they have horse racing there.

[00:03:18] So while you're sitting there waiting for the event to go, you're actually watching all these horse races, like something like Santa Anita or whatever, all across the place.

[00:03:26] And I didn't bet this time, but I'm telling you, if I go up there again for another event, I'm absolutely going to be there early and do that where you actually bet on the horses to see if you win while you're waiting for the event to go on.

[00:03:36] So that was kind of cool.

[00:03:37] I had never done that before, surprisingly.

[00:03:40] So anyway, like I said, I actually won.

[00:03:43] I was sitting next to one of my little Los Angeles partners, Sassy Sonia.

[00:03:48] She won a gazillion times.

[00:03:52] She won so many times, but it was fun.

[00:03:55] One of the things she got, though, was something where they have two games, okay?

[00:03:59] They're two bingo games.

[00:04:01] They're on paper.

[00:04:02] I think it was a three-on strip.

[00:04:04] You had to get one bingo in the first box.

[00:04:07] You had to get two bingos in the second box.

[00:04:08] So you had to get three bingos in the third box.

[00:04:10] I think that's the game.

[00:04:12] Anyway, it was something like that.

[00:04:13] And when you won the game, whoever won the game got $500 in money from winners.

[00:04:21] But it wasn't like money money.

[00:04:22] It was, what would it be, like coupons or credits or whatever.

[00:04:25] It was fake money.

[00:04:27] Not fake money, but it was money that had to be spent there.

[00:04:30] I know I said that very poorly, but it was money that had to be spent there.

[00:04:33] And they had two of those type of events, and she won both of them,

[00:04:38] which was hysterical because toward the end of the night, she didn't realize that you can actually save that money.

[00:04:43] And anytime you go back to winners, you could use that money.

[00:04:46] But we didn't know that in the beginning.

[00:04:47] And she and I, I was trying to help her.

[00:04:49] We're trying to just like buy pool tabs up the wazoo so she can get rid of that money.

[00:04:53] And at one point, they were like selling five alarm fire pool tabs, and it was getting toward the end of the evening.

[00:04:58] And again, she had all this money that she needed to get rid of, she thought.

[00:05:01] So she was just buying a ton of that particular pool tabs.

[00:05:05] So when it was all said and done, she had like 30 of them.

[00:05:09] Okay.

[00:05:09] I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it was at least like 15 or 20 of that particular pool tab.

[00:05:14] And I was like, girl, you absolutely need to win this.

[00:05:17] And so she had a ton of them.

[00:05:19] I had maybe two.

[00:05:20] Might have even been just one.

[00:05:23] But when it came down to it, she actually got on for her last number really, really quickly on like one of the pool tabs.

[00:05:28] I think she needed a B, like B15 or something.

[00:05:31] She needed it really quickly.

[00:05:32] But when everything was said and done, I'd actually got on myself.

[00:05:36] I remember I needed B8.

[00:05:38] So she's still got the 15 or whatever pool tabs.

[00:05:40] I've got the one.

[00:05:41] She's on for it.

[00:05:42] I'm on for it.

[00:05:43] And then lo and behold, she ends up winning on another one of the pool tabs, another one of the same pool tab, but not the one that she initially got set for early on.

[00:05:51] But I was thinking that's just so funny.

[00:05:53] Thank God she won that.

[00:05:54] But I was also hoping that I would have won on my B8.

[00:05:57] But anyway, it was a lot of fun.

[00:05:59] If you can't win yourself, it's always so nice to have people that you're with or your friends see them win.

[00:06:04] And there were a lot of really good ones.

[00:06:06] There are a lot of people who did pretty well.

[00:06:08] I think Paulette, who runs Live, Love, Play, Bingo, out here in Pasadena, she did well.

[00:06:13] And a bunch of others did well, too.

[00:06:15] As would be expected, Cash did well, I think.

[00:06:18] And I think Tanya won a couple of times.

[00:06:20] Unfortunately, there were a lot of other people that I know that didn't win.

[00:06:23] But as I said, everybody had a good time.

[00:06:26] And I can't wait to go back to another one of those events, something similar, sometime next year.

[00:06:31] Because it just gets better and better the more familiar you are with a particular location and how they do things,

[00:06:38] how they play bingo, how they sell stuff, and what you win.

[00:06:43] So anyway, so that was the start of my trifecta.

[00:06:46] The next thing, actually, was Osco Tech had an event on October 26th.

[00:06:51] That was a Saturday.

[00:06:52] And it was celebrating not only Halloween, but they were also celebrating the birthday of Tanya,

[00:06:57] a.k.a. Conficience of a Bingo Addict and Pressure.

[00:07:00] So it was a nice combination of things.

[00:07:02] It was fun to have so many people dress up for the event.

[00:07:06] I went back to my old 80s costume that I wore for another party.

[00:07:10] It looked okay.

[00:07:11] A lot of people liked it.

[00:07:12] I think I had makeup on and surprised people, even though it was 80s makeup.

[00:07:16] People were surprised to see that, which was funny.

[00:07:18] So many people said they didn't recognize me.

[00:07:19] But as much fun as that was, I have to say, it wasn't as much fun as last year when I put a buttload of effort into looking like Tori, the bingo caller.

[00:07:29] And even though it may not look like it was a lot of effort, trust me, it was a lot of effort.

[00:07:32] I had to find an outfit that matched what she was wearing in a picture that I was trying to mimic.

[00:07:37] And it didn't quite look like that.

[00:07:38] So I had to do all these little kind of maneuvers to make something look like it.

[00:07:41] I had to find a wig to look like her.

[00:07:43] I had to find a necklace that looked like her.

[00:07:46] Yeah, it was a lot more work that went into it last year than this year.

[00:07:49] And I had a lot of fun.

[00:07:50] I still kind of ticked I didn't win.

[00:07:51] But either or, it was a good time.

[00:07:54] Paul always does a great job of trying to make these events like extra special.

[00:07:59] You know, of course, there was a band.

[00:08:00] And, you know, there was a costume contest, not only for single people, but also for couples.

[00:08:07] There was the table contest to see, you know, who had the best decorated table.

[00:08:12] There was a pumpkin contest to see who had the best pumpkin, everything.

[00:08:16] And again, it was just so nice to see people that I really enjoy playing with.

[00:08:21] People who were there, I couldn't believe, were M. Lucky and his brother Pete.

[00:08:25] They gave me a present, which was really sweet that I didn't see coming, didn't expect.

[00:08:30] I got these lovely candles and that was so nice of them.

[00:08:32] Beagle people are so sweet.

[00:08:34] So, but as usual, a long day.

[00:08:39] Paul likes to get a lot of stuff in.

[00:08:41] So you really get your bang for your buck.

[00:08:43] But it wasn't too bad.

[00:08:44] I think we got out of there at a reasonable time.

[00:08:46] I don't think it was like midnight or something like that.

[00:08:48] It was definitely after 11.

[00:08:50] So I'm gonna go with that.

[00:08:51] It was after 11, but it was before midnight.

[00:08:54] But there were so many things going on.

[00:08:56] So many pool tabs.

[00:08:58] For you people who like pool tabs, trust me, there were a buttload of pool tabs.

[00:09:03] But he also had the strips and the strips were paying $2,000 a piece.

[00:09:07] Now, I actually didn't win one of the strips, but surprise, surprise, Tori.

[00:09:14] I actually won a pool tab.

[00:09:16] I think I split another pool tab with somebody.

[00:09:19] So I got $500 for that.

[00:09:21] But again, that was a big surprise because I have rarely won out at Bosco Tech.

[00:09:26] As much as I enjoy going out there and I will continue to go out there whenever I can,

[00:09:30] I have very rarely won out there.

[00:09:33] And I have to say, I was actually really hoping my friend Pam would win.

[00:09:36] She has such a good time out there too.

[00:09:38] And we don't get to go play bingo as often as we used to.

[00:09:40] So I was really hoping that she would win something.

[00:09:43] But still, it was nice that I won.

[00:09:46] And I think, did I get an instant?

[00:09:48] No, I didn't get an instant.

[00:09:48] But like I said, I did win and that was a lot of fun.

[00:09:51] So that was event number two.

[00:09:54] And I love Paul for his event.

[00:09:56] So it was good to see those people.

[00:09:58] And it's funny to see people that I just saw up in Stockton and then see them down at

[00:10:03] Bosco Tech and know that I'm going to my third event and I'm going to see those same

[00:10:07] people there.

[00:10:07] It's like this whole little tour of bingo players going across Southern California and

[00:10:12] Nevada.

[00:10:12] So it was pretty funny.

[00:10:14] Rounding out the three places, this past weekend, I went to South Point in Las Vegas.

[00:10:20] The South Point $2 million extravaganza that was held.

[00:10:24] I think it's a four-day event.

[00:10:26] There's two days, Monday and Tuesday.

[00:10:28] And then there's the second two days, which were Friday and Saturday.

[00:10:31] I cannot possibly afford all four days.

[00:10:34] So I went to the latter days.

[00:10:36] I didn't go on the first two days, not only because I didn't want to pay that much, but

[00:10:41] primarily because it was election day was that Tuesday.

[00:10:45] And I was really, like most of the country, really, really concerned about following what

[00:10:49] was going on with the election.

[00:10:50] And at this point, I could have just gone ahead and gone to bingo.

[00:10:54] But anyway, that said, it was also my birthday week.

[00:10:57] So I was in Vegas with my family, hanging out, chilling with them and looking forward to

[00:11:03] going to South Point.

[00:11:04] So I did.

[00:11:04] I went there and just so many fun people there.

[00:11:08] So let's see.

[00:11:09] So Cash was there.

[00:11:11] The Bay Area Babes were there.

[00:11:13] Actually, I only got to see Gigi.

[00:11:16] Tyrell was there, formerly Bingo Buddha.

[00:11:18] Somebody thought he was my son, which I think is really funny.

[00:11:21] And we're going to play on that for a very long time.

[00:11:24] So it's good.

[00:11:24] You go to South Point.

[00:11:25] You check in the day ahead.

[00:11:27] If you've learned anything, yes, please know this.

[00:11:30] If you're going to play at South Point for these extravaganzas or extravaganzas, please

[00:11:35] do yourself a huge favor and check in the day before.

[00:11:40] They usually have that nice hotel package where you can check in the night before and you pay

[00:11:44] for that night.

[00:11:45] And then you get the next two nights free.

[00:11:47] It usually comes out to about $100.

[00:11:48] So that's a really great package.

[00:11:50] But the real bonus for that is that you're there that day where you can pick up all your

[00:11:56] stuff for the two days of play, okay?

[00:11:58] You can pick up all the paper or anything extra you want to get.

[00:12:01] You can pay for it the day before.

[00:12:04] And that saves you from having to get the day of each day, by the way, each day early and

[00:12:10] standing in a long line to make sure you get all of your stuff, okay?

[00:12:13] If you get it that day before, you can buy everything you want for both days and not having

[00:12:18] to worry about getting up there early.

[00:12:20] The event starts like around 11 o'clock.

[00:12:23] They start having these raffles where you can win $250.

[00:12:26] So you go there.

[00:12:26] So you kind of want to be there at that time.

[00:12:28] They have coffee.

[00:12:29] They have little pastries.

[00:12:30] And you get started prepping for the day and relaxing and enjoy yourself.

[00:12:34] But otherwise, like I said, you got to get up early if you haven't bought in previously

[00:12:38] and do that again each day.

[00:12:40] It's not like you can go the next day and buy everything for the day after.

[00:12:43] But it's each individual day.

[00:12:44] So again, a little word to the wise about that.

[00:12:47] So anyway, that said, I was at my table.

[00:12:49] I wasn't sure if I was going to make the event.

[00:12:51] So I didn't like hook up with people previously who had said, you know, why don't you sit with

[00:12:55] us?

[00:12:55] I just grabbed a table at the last minute with these people.

[00:12:59] And very nice.

[00:13:00] That's the thing about this event that I've always loved.

[00:13:02] You meet people from all over the world and people that you wouldn't normally run into

[00:13:07] and you just have a really good time.

[00:13:09] So most of the people at my table this time were a family that were from Texas.

[00:13:15] It was like, what was it?

[00:13:17] Yeah, there were five of them.

[00:13:19] They were all from Texas.

[00:13:20] And then I was there with another young lady that was really, really funny.

[00:13:25] She was young and pretty and clearly had a husband who decided to sponsor her.

[00:13:29] I think she talked him into sponsoring her.

[00:13:32] He gave her $5,000.

[00:13:35] Yes, she did say this, $5,000.

[00:13:39] Now, bless her little heart.

[00:13:41] If I was young and pretty and could get some guy to give me $5,000, trust me, I would.

[00:13:45] She had spent $1,300 a day on her package.

[00:13:50] So I will just let you know that for these games, for this event, I think the max that

[00:13:55] you can do, if you want to get every possible bingo card that you can get, it is $1,300.

[00:14:02] Okay?

[00:14:03] And I looked at her computer and I think she had.

[00:14:05] She had almost 600 cards, right?

[00:14:07] So I wasn't doing that.

[00:14:09] I had only bought the $300 package each day.

[00:14:12] And I think my cards were definitely less than 200, like 160 something, whatever.

[00:14:17] It kind of made sense for what she had paid that she'd gotten that many.

[00:14:21] The irony of it all being is while we all had a really good time and she was quite cute

[00:14:26] on the last day, she got a little tipsy, but for the most part, really, really cute.

[00:14:30] She didn't win anything more than I won.

[00:14:32] And I paid a lot less.

[00:14:34] And I will divulge again that last year at the same event, I did win $12,500.

[00:14:40] I split a $2,500 game.

[00:14:43] And I had once again only paid the $300 buy-in.

[00:14:47] And that's what I like to do.

[00:14:48] I think from what I've heard from other people, that seems to be the nice common little ground

[00:14:52] because there's also a $450 package.

[00:14:55] But even that, even though I've done that before, it seems like that $300 package is

[00:14:59] kind of the sweet spot.

[00:15:02] Again, people can spend as much money as they want.

[00:15:04] If you've got it, absolutely spend what's going to make you happy and feel like you're

[00:15:08] going to win something.

[00:15:09] Because I don't know if I have it mentioned for those of you who may not be aware, each

[00:15:13] one of those games pays $20,000.

[00:15:15] So if you want to make that investment of like $5,000 for the course of the two days

[00:15:21] or whatever, hey, I can certainly understand if some people feel like spending that kind

[00:15:25] of money as an investment.

[00:15:27] Because there is a $50,000 game like twice that day.

[00:15:31] I think twice each day.

[00:15:32] So over the course of four days, there's four $50,000 games.

[00:15:36] Then there's a $25,000 second chance, which again is the one that I won last year and

[00:15:40] split with somebody.

[00:15:41] So I can understand people pouring money into that because there absolutely is a lot of money

[00:15:47] to be won.

[00:15:48] But anyway, I had a great time.

[00:15:51] She didn't win.

[00:15:52] I didn't win.

[00:15:53] But there actually was a lady at our table who did win.

[00:15:56] She won one of the $20,000 games.

[00:15:58] Unfortunately, she won it with 22 other people.

[00:16:03] She got roughly $900.

[00:16:06] And you know, $900 is $900.

[00:16:08] It was certainly $900 that I didn't win.

[00:16:11] So God bless her.

[00:16:12] And to show you how sweet she was, she actually tipped the rest of us.

[00:16:15] You know, so I thought that was kind of sweet.

[00:16:18] She didn't have to do that and was greatly appreciated just because of the thoughtfulness

[00:16:23] of it.

[00:16:23] Because again, she certainly got considerably less than what she thought she was going to

[00:16:29] get.

[00:16:29] But she did get to yell bingo amongst all those people.

[00:16:32] And that was nice.

[00:16:33] Now, I had another friend that was Ty.

[00:16:35] Ty had a nice win.

[00:16:36] And he won $10,000.

[00:16:37] And then in what they have is called a super session I was playing.

[00:16:41] And the lovely Lisa won the $5,000 double action.

[00:16:47] Okay?

[00:16:47] I mean, that was pretty exciting.

[00:16:49] So even though I didn't win, like I said, it was a great time.

[00:16:52] It was great to see other people win.

[00:16:54] It was great to just be around a lot of people enjoying the game of bingo as much as I enjoy

[00:16:59] the game of bingo.

[00:17:00] And it just kind of really made my birthday weekend slash semi-birthday month really, really special.

[00:17:07] So that was the end of my trifecta.

[00:17:09] I look forward to going to some of these events again next year.

[00:17:13] We'll see.

[00:17:14] Hopefully, I'll win some more money.

[00:17:16] But in the meantime, that's it for this week's episode of The Broke Bingo Addict.

[00:17:20] I hope you enjoyed it.

[00:17:22] And again, I hope you'll come back for the next one.

[00:17:24] Thanks so much.

[00:17:25] Bye.

[00:17:26] Bye.

[00:17:26] Bye.

[00:17:27] Bye.