One of the first places I played bingo when I moved to California, was the Morongo Hotel and Casino out at Cabazon. As much as I enjoyed it, I hadn't been there in awhile since there are so many other places closer to me where I can play. Nonetheless, It was nice to revisit it recently. And for better or worse, the lack of pulltabs definitely makes a difference.
[00:00:04] It's not a game, it's a lunchtime. Hello, and welcome to The Broke Bingo Addict. This is a podcast that ventures through the wild and crazy world of bingo. This is much more than your grandmother's bingo. My name's Shari, and welcome to this week's episode, which as always is for entertainment purposes only. Hello, everybody, and welcome to this week's episode of The Broke Bingo Addict.
[00:00:32] You know, it seems like every day there's a new bingo hall opening. I don't know if anybody else has noticed that but me, but it's just like so many new bingo halls opening up out there, which I think is hilarious. I think one's called The Bicycle. It's a casino called Bingo at the Bike. There's another place in Industry City, Industrial City, I think it's Industry City. But they're just like popping up all over the place.
[00:00:58] Sadly, there is nothing popping up in my neck of the woods, and I'm still hoping that somehow, some way, somebody will come over to Culver City, or at least a lot closer to Culver City than what's currently out there. But that said, this past weekend, what I did is I visited one of my old haunts. I wasn't really planning on doing it, but as it turns out, it was my mother's birthday. My mom just turned 93. If you know me, you know that I grew up in Las Vegas.
[00:01:25] And so I was going there to celebrate her birthday, and she had mentioned that one of the things that she wanted to do was to go to Morongo. We had gone there years ago, and we'd had a really, really great time. It's actually one of the very first places, if you've listened to any of my prior podcasts, that I learned about bingo in Southern California. So it has a special spot for me because I used to go out there, take like three days off from the husband. I was like, I got to go. I take three days off. I check in the hotel. I would hang out there.
[00:01:54] I'd have a wonderful time eating, drinking, being merry by myself, and most importantly, playing bingo. So that was where I would like to go and just relax. And as I said, my mom really has a good time out there, too, and we hadn't been there in a really long time. Because I know so many other bingo places now, I really don't even have the need to go out to Morongo as much just because there's so many options for me now, whereas at that time, I didn't know of all the bingo halls that were in Southern California.
[00:02:22] But anyway, that said, I'm like, it's my mom. She's 93. If she wants to go to Morongo, we are going to go to Morongo. And it'd be kind of nice to go back and see what it was like. I think I mentioned that in my last podcast. Just see what the difference is of what it was like when I first played and what it's like now because things in the bingo community have actually changed. The main thing being the pool tab situation. Okay. So first of all, let me give you some of the details about Morongo.
[00:02:51] It is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Okay. So their bingo hall is only operational from Wednesday through Sunday. And if you don't know, it used to be in the main casino. Actually, it kept flip-flopping. There was a couple of years that one year we were in the main casino. Then they moved over to the auxiliary casino. I think they call that Casino Morongo. Instead of Morongo Casino, that one's called Casino Morongo. So it flip-flopped for a couple of years and they finally settled that it stayed over in Casino Morongo. So it's a separate location.
[00:03:19] It's kind of like in the parking lot, I guess you would say. You could walk over there. There's also a bowling alley over there. There's also gambling and a bar over there. So it's like kind of its own little entity over there that people can go and play. I actually like it. It's nice just to go over there and be separate from everything else that's going in the main casino. So we were there from Tuesday checking out on Friday.
[00:03:41] And again, even though they had bingo for three of those days, which would have been, actually I guess two of those days, which would have been Wednesday and Thursday, I just played one day. Because again, it wasn't just about me. It was about my mom and enjoying her time and celebrating her birthday. So I did play that Wednesday night. And just FYI, I'll tell you a couple of things. I looked online and it had said that it was only $25 buy-in for that, which was 36 cards and all this stuff. It had five early birds paying $200. Ten regular games paying $500.
[00:04:10] There was a double action progressive jackpot. As I recall, when I was there that night, I think it was paying close to $2,000 if you got it in so many numbers. But again, the consolation was $500. There was a $2,500 super bonanza jackpot with the pick eight progressive with 20 numbers or less. And again, the consolation prize was $500. So there was a few things going on. But supposedly it was the $25.
[00:04:38] And I say supposedly because you really could. But like so many other places in this country, this is a computer location. If you know me, you know I am not a big fan of the computers. The only saving grace about this place is they don't do millions of computers like they do in Texas. You're not going to walk in there and see people with 15, 20, 30 computers. I think the average, most people have one or they have two. So I went in there and I said, you know, I haven't been here for a while. What should I get?
[00:05:06] And the lady said, okay, if you want to do it, you can max out your computer for $125. I'm pretty sure it was $125. It was a hundred and something dollars. And I'm like, what happened to $25? And she's like, you can. But again, if you really want to get the best bang for your buck, you're going to get the computer. So like everybody else, I did go ahead. I paid my $125 for the computer. I got that. And I am a paper person. And I don't like just looking at a computer. That doesn't do it for me.
[00:05:35] So I also paid for paper packs. And the paper packs were only like $5. Then they had the double action that you could get for another $5. Or I think those are only $2. Okay. So I think there's only $2, but it was a small fee. And then they had the pick eight that you could buy extra one of that. And I think I got another $10 for that. So again, at this point, I've spent about $150 to do this game that I initially thought was only going to be about $25. In all honesty, I knew it wasn't going to be $25.
[00:06:03] But anyway, what they also had is they had one strip. This is the small little three-on strip. I think you see them in places that are generally like $3. And they were selling those. Again, I think they were about $5. Whatever it was, I bought three of those. Because what they had is they had that game, which was paying about $500.
[00:06:24] But if you didn't win that game, for all of those little strips that you got, if you wrote your name on them, you put them in a little wheel, you know, like a little raffle wheel. And if your name was pulled, you got to have a free computer. Okay. A free, fully loaded computer to play. Now, they call 20 names. So everybody plays the little strip. You see who wins. Wasn't me. So I took my three strips that didn't win. I took it up there. I put it.
[00:06:53] You sign it. You put your name on it. You sign it. And you put it into the little raffle bin. And I will tell you right now, every time I've played at Morongo, or virtually every time I've played at Morongo, when they've done this process, they did it based on strips this time. But they used to do it based on these little tabs. It was like these little star tabs or whatever that you could get. And whoever didn't win, you would take those tabs and you would put them in this little raffle bin. So again, same principle, just a different little game that they played.
[00:07:22] So I went up there. I put my thing in there, like I said. And son of a gun, I won a free computer. A lot of people are like, wow, you won a computer. And I honestly was not shocked at all. I expected to win a computer just because, like I said, it's been a rare occasion when I haven't won a computer there. So anyway, now I've got two computers plus my paper packs to play for this evening. And I will tell you a little story about this. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of the computers.
[00:07:49] But it is interesting to note that one time, actually I think it was my last time that I went out and played Morongo, for whatever reason, I ended up winning two computers. I think they limit it now. Like if you win one, you can't win another one. But for whatever it was, I ended up with three computers. And it's not a large room. It's not a very large area. So I could look around and see that I had virtually more computers than anybody else. I think everybody else maxed out at two computers and I had three. And everybody was like, oh, my God, you're going to win. You're going to win. You're so lucky. You're going to win.
[00:08:19] Do you know I didn't win a dime? I mean, you can go back and check. I think I talked about this in one of my earlier episodes. But not only did I not win a dime, but the people sitting next to me with their one lousy computer won like two or three times. So it's just all a matter of you're either going to win or you're not going to win. But I just thought that was really funny that, yeah, everybody's like, yeah, you're going to win. You're going to win. You've got three computers and everything. You're so lucky. And yeah, nothing. Not a doggone thing. So I got ready to play the game.
[00:08:47] The game start, which is interesting to me to compare to what's going on in other bingo halls. The game started at six o'clock. Okay? Doors opened at three. You can go in, get your seat, say whatever you want, get organized, have your little seat. They actually have people who will serve food. They have a restaurant nearby or a cafe. You can order your food. They'll bring it to you and whatnot. You get all situated. But the game doesn't actually start till six. And like I said, they start out with that lovely little strip game and then followed by the raffle.
[00:09:17] Then you also have included two 15-minute breaks. Starts at six, raffle, other stuff, two 15-minute breaks. Do you realize I got out of there by 8.30? I don't even think it was 8.30. I think it was like 8.20. Can you imagine? Can you absolutely imagine doing all that and getting out at 8.30? And why was it so quick, you say? Because they don't play any pull tabs, not one single pull tab.
[00:09:46] And clearly that makes all the difference in the world. Can you imagine going to Bosco Tech and getting out in two hours or less? I mean, the last time I played Bosco Tech, which is just a few weeks ago, it was supposed to be an early day, in fact. We were supposed to get in early. The check-in was like 1.30. Excuse me, not the check-in. The start of the game was at 1.30. You're thinking, great, this is wonderful. We should get out early because Bosco Tech usually starts at 3.30. We're starting two hours early. We should be out of here at no time flat, right?
[00:10:16] Or at least a reasonable hour, at least before midnight. Well, son of a gun, if that sucker still didn't get out till like almost 11 o'clock at night, right? So that's the difference. You're at Bosco Tech. You're only playing about 20 paper games. And the rest is just a massive amount of strips and pull tabs. And it takes so long. So I was tickled pink to be at Morongo sitting there playing my games, each game paying $500. And they had a reasonable amount of games, okay? They had, let me see.
[00:10:45] They had five early bird games paying $200 apiece. And then they had 10 regular games, as I said, paying $500 apiece. And then they had three specials with varying amounts. There was the double action, the bonanza, and the pick eight jackpot. So, you know, there was a few things going on there. And again, you got out at 8.30. So I thought that was really awesome. I was really happy. I enjoyed myself. It was reasonably priced considering everything that you got.
[00:11:14] And I would absolutely love to go there again. They have some other things that they offer. And full disclosure, Wednesday is technically the least expensive night, which I said the buy-in was $25. But then you've got on Thursday, it's called High Stakes Thursday. The buy-in is $70. Friday is all in Friday with a $50 buy-in, which I guess you get 300 cards on your computer. Saturday is also $50, but you don't get as many. I don't know why that is.
[00:11:43] I'd have to go look deeper into that. And then Sunday is a $40 buy-in. And then they've got all these other specials, just like any other casino. You've got Memorial Day specials. You've got Independence Day specials. So things like that. But again, what you don't have, if you'd like to save a little bit of money, is you don't have all those pull tabs. Although, in honesty, as I'm thinking about it, it's not so much that you save money because it's paying a lot for those computers to load them up completely and get all that. So not necessarily saving money, but you are saving time. So remember that.
[00:12:11] If you want to get in, you want to play some games and have a chance to win some money and still get out at a reasonable time, this is absolutely a good option for you. So I just want to do a quick shout-out to Morongo. I didn't know how much I enjoyed it until going back out there with my mom. So even though I've got so many places to play in Los Angeles now, again, none of them really close to my house, I'm going to think about going back out there again, maybe spending a couple of days out there and doing that. So that said, it's really interesting to visit someplace old like that.
[00:12:40] But what's also cool is while I was in Vegas, I went back to a place that I go to all the time. I play primarily at Sunset Station. And the key reason being that it's an all-paper location, which is really funny because, you know, you would think that people would want to go to the other places that have all the computers and all those things going on. But really, Sunset Station is really pretty popular. You know, there are a lot of people there usually playing on the paper. And I've always enjoyed going there because I feel like it's an even playing field.
[00:13:09] They're really a quick and easy place to go to because all the games are only an hour. They absolutely don't have any pull tabs whatsoever. So your games are like clockwork. They have the system down. It's an hour. You can go in and you can play one game. They play every odd hour starting at 9 a.m. and I think going to 11 p.m. But what was different this time is, interestingly enough, I have played at Sunset Station for, what, like 20 years.
[00:13:35] What happened this time is I went back and I parked my car where I usually park my car. I walked in. I was getting ready to go to the bingo hall, which is right by the door. If you know Sunset Station, you know where the little parking lot is. You can just go right in and you can just go right into the bingo hall and it's easy peasy. So I'm there. I get my stuff, my dauber. I'm ready. I stroll in there and the bingo hall, after all these years, has moved. And I'm just like, what? What the hell, people?
[00:14:04] It has moved to what was previously the buffet for some reason, which is also irritating. Sunset Station closed down its buffet so you can no longer get a buffet there, which, like I said, is very irritating. And they put the bingo hall over there. If you know, it's on the other side of the casino. So for those of us who are used to just parking on that side and walking in, now you've got to walk all the way over to the other side of the casino, over by the reward station to play bingo.
[00:14:33] And it was just such a culture shock. I was really outdone by that. And supposedly, I'm not the only person who was outdone. I saw the lady who runs the little drink concession, and she's been there for years, makes a fantastic mimosa. She's been there for so long, it's ridiculous. And she said she's lost a lot of clients. She said it's been very low turnout. Although, like I said, there were people, there were definitely people.
[00:14:59] But she said the typical turnout has been really reduced because a lot of people don't want to make that walk for such a long distance because it was very convenient to be right by that door or right by that parking area, which when you got to the hotel had one of those handicap doors that would open if you just waved your hand or pushed the button or whatever, it would let you in. So a lot of elderly people really liked that because you could just go in, easily take a few steps, sit down and be situated. And now she said, one of the ladies said to her,
[00:15:28] she doesn't want to have a heart attack or have to get a wheelchair because she can't make that walk all the way across the casino. So it's nice looking. It's a beautiful setup. Although I also don't like the fact that now they have smaller monitors than they used to have. Not really crazy about that. But yeah, it's interesting how something changes that it just throws you off like that. So again, I'm old school or I'm OG, as they would say, from having been there for so long. Maybe people who are coming in will like it better.
[00:15:58] Maybe people who are staying at the hotel will see it more visibly since it's in a different area. It's a more visible location for people who are gambling. Maybe they'll like it more and they'll go in there and they'll play and eventually they'll build up a bigger clientele than they have right now. But it was interesting to see that change happening. And it will be interesting to see what happens with that going forward. As it is, I mean, that's where I like to play. I'm going to have to adjust one way or the other.
[00:16:25] And, you know, eventually I'll get back and let you know how that's going. So anyway, two places that I like to play. I had a great time this past week playing bingo at both of those places. And I look forward to playing at them both again. I also look forward to you coming back and listening to the next episode of The Broke Bingo Addict. In the meantime, thanks so much for listening. Bye. Bye. Bye.