I learned a little something about culture here. Not Slovak culture, but bingo fanatic culture, aka gambling addiction. The space is wide open and airy with lots of long tables, each seating one to three players - many players took up entire tables with their excessive quantity of bingo cards, wide variety of dabbers (often in a specifically designed tote bag), and in some cases, an array of good luck charms. Bright fluorescent lights illuminate the scene and a balcony with overflow seating was our vantage point for observation (and play). Their website says they have a smoking floor and a non smoking floor, so I was imagining a darker smoke filled social hall, but there is now no smoking allowed and I soon realized that bingo is not a social game. With my one bingo card, I had twelve boards to keep up with (twelve is the minimum for play = $12), and let me tell you, I had a hard time staying with it - they call them out fairly rapidly! Chatting and joking with my friend was hardly possible without blowing our game. The food was super limited, low quality, mostly packaged junk. No alcohol is served. There is only one reason to attend and that is for the hope of winning money. There was an interesting buzz in the room toward the end of each game, like the group had a psychic (more like experienced) knowledge that bingo was about to be called. This collective murmur felt like a communal expression of frustration and anxiety. We try so hard, come so close and rarely succeed. The demographic of the room is statistically disadvantaged peoples. In addition to bingo, dealers on the floor sell other sorts of game tickets, like paper slot machine cards. The psychological exchange between the dealers and the players was like a crack deal; the dealers knew many of the players, knew when to come around, what to say and used lingo an outsider would not understand. There was an antsy desperation to win among the addicted, me, I just wanted to get outta there. With a packed house, there is no doubt someone is winning, that is the Slovak Catholic Sokols and their beneficiaries. As for the venue, although full of characters, it has no character itself - it is one of those big quick construction metal buildings. read more
