In our Hansville area we have everything a person could want for fun: sailing, fishing, dinner dances, wine and chocolate tasting parties, Halloween and Easter Egg parties, potlucks, New Years Eve parties, opening day of boating parties, the Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast the huge community rummage sale and Koffee Klatches at the Hansville Store.
We have a community center by a lake where we can swim, a Ladies Aid group to help those in need, the Boot Scootin’ Grannies for entertainment, the Pinewood Derby for little and big kids, craft and knitting and sewing groups, and a Neighbors Luncheon at the community center.
As if that weren’t enough, we now have — drum roll please — bingo.
On March 26 there will be bingo played at the community center at Buck Lake. An early bird game will be played at a slower pace for those wishing to learn the game, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. From 7-9 p.m. the game will go full force and the jackpots will depend on the number of game cards sold. Children younger than 18 must be accompanied by an adult. (See www.Hansville.org for more information).
Playing bingo brings back memories of learning to count. My first grade teacher handed out cards every Friday afternoon and we played two games of bingo. The winners got to clean the black boards —that meant erasing and then wiping it down with a damp rag and since we were all little kids that meant also climbing the ladder to get to the high spots. It was very special to win a game and get this privilege.
Much later in life, bingo became a special time between my mother and me when she was in an assisted care facility. Once again, Friday was bingo day and we would hurry through lunch in order to get to the recreation room and get our seats at the best table. As far as I could see, all the tables were the same but
Mom had a favorite and she was pretty lucky at winning so maybe there was merit to her strategy.
For these games, the winners were given tickets so you could bring a friend to movie night or an outing or a bouquet of fresh flowers. (All the residents could go on trips or to movies for free with popcorn, but guests had to pay $1.)
The true origin of bingo dates back as far as the mid-16th century and is connected, strangely enough to the unification of Italy in 1530. This unification saw the introduction of a national lottery system, known as “Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” held each week. Interestingly, this lottery is today still a major source of income to the government, contributing more than $75 million each year to the budget. Then the French developed a passion for Le Lotto.
Finally, in 1929, a carnival operator brought this game to America but with his own twist. He laid out cards on his table with dried beans in dishes. When he called out a number the patrons who had paid for a card covered this number with a bean. It was then called Beano. A toy salesman named Edwin S. Lowe saw this and decided to capitalize on it by making up his own cards and he tested it on his friends. When it was overwhelmingly approved, he put together kits with all the necessary cards and calling numbers and voila — bingo was born.
So now since we lost our only stop-light-on-wheels, Hansville we’ll have Bingo instead. Fair compensation? Maybe. Let the fun begin.
Contact Donna Lee Anderson at welltoldtales@aol.com
