Last week, my girlfriend and I went out for a meal-and-movie date. Lunch at the 99 at Rotterdam Square Mall, followed by a showing of A Quiet Place: Day One.
As we left the restaurant, we noticed that the mall anchor that once housed a K Mart now exists as a bingo hall.
And you know what? We thought that might be a fun event.
So on Friday, my plan was to pick her up, we would both go to Rotterdam Square Mall, and we would play bingo.
Of course, now I thinking … we’re probably going to need bingo chips. You know, those translucent little plastic discs that you put over your bingo card, and then when some other person at the other end of the all shouts “BINGO,” you can wipe the chips off and start fresh with a new game.
Okay. Hobby Lobby should have these in an aisle somewhere.
I stopped at Hobby Lobby. “I’m looking for bingo chips,” I said to one of the blue-polo-wearing workers.
“We don’t sell bingo chips,” she smiled. “Maybe Walmart has them.”
Okay. Walmart’s not far away. A quick jaunt over to Walmart.
“Where are your bingo chips?” I asked a Walmart worker.
“We have bingo games,” she said. “You know, with the little basket and the little balls.”
“No, I actually need the bingo chips.”
“Oh, we don’t carry those. Maybe you’ll find them at Michael’s.”
Okay. Sure, a craft and hobby store MIGHT carry them.
Over I go to Michael’s.
“Where do you keep bingo chips?” I asked.
“We can order them for you,” she said, “and you can pick them up next week.”
“Oh, that won’t do, I need them for tonight.”
The worker pulled out her phone. “Dollar Tree has them,” she cooed, “over on Albany-Shaker Road.”
Fine. I will not give up.
I mean, it’s not like if I don’t have official bingo chips, we can’t play bingo, right? No law says you can’t use pennies or buttons or pebbles or something else to cover your numbers.
Nah. I need to find bingo chips.
Arrived at Dollar Tree.
“Where are your bingo chips?” I asked.
“In the food aisle,” the worker responded.
“No, no, not potato chips, I need bingo chips.”
“Oh, we don’t have them.”
“The worker at Michael’s sent me over here, she said you had them.”
“Oh, she probably sent you there so that you wouldn’t keep looking in Michael’s. We don’t have bingo chips.”
This was the same song dance at every store I visited. Family Dollar – no dice. Target – nada. Even the thrift stores and the bargain closeout stores were bingo-chip-free.
Nuts. I guess I’ll just have to purchase a canister of bingo chips when my girlfriend and I go over to the bingo hall.
When we arrived, I asked one of the employees, “Where can I purchase bingo chips for the game tonight?”
“We don’t sell bingo chips,” he replied.
“But how do you play bingo without bingo chips?”
“Oh, you use ink dabbers. That’s how we play.”
“Yes, but wouldn’t you only use ink dabbers for the final bingo card, so that you’re not marking over cards as you re-use them?” I asked.
The worker then looked at me as if I had arrived from a time machine. “When was the last time you played bingo, mister?”
“I dunno … the VFW in Albany when I was a teenager, I guess.”
He then explained to me that the bingo game at the Rotterdam Square Mall features a booklet of bingo cards, and you use each booklet page for individual games. You dab that bingo sheet, and after the game, you tear it off and use a new colored bingo sheet with different numbers.
Palm, meet face.
Well, we ended up purchasing some ink dabbers there – she bought purple, I bought orange – and sat next to some very lovely people who filled us in on all the bingo nuances and etiquette. “Don’t talk above a whisper during the game,” she said, “people get grumpy if you do. And follow the pattern that the game requires – not every game is five squares across or down for a bingo, sometimes you have to spell a letter or make a shape with your ink dabber.”
In the end, we did have a good time. We didn’t win any big bucks, but we met some nice people and we had a relaxing evening.
And I kinda feel like a dim-bulb for looking all over the Capital District for bingo chips that I didn’t even need.
I’ll have to put that on my shopping list of things I’ll never find in my lifetime, along with striped paint, a glass hammer, a left-handed screwdriver and a DVD rewinder. 😀
Chuck The Writer 