How Bingo Took Over Catholic Parish Halls

Michie

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Bingo arose in the U.S. during the Great Depression. By 1934, Americans were organizing 10,000 Bingo games a week.

Is there any other single word that bothexpresses exuberant success and one that is closely associated with Catholicism as “Bingo?”

What a game! It’s rare to come across any game that interests both young and old alike.

I recall sitting next to my parents in the basement of our Manhattan church playing Bingo on Friday nights. I especially recall the first time my parents trusted me with my own Bingo card.

Though Bingo is closely associated in the public imagination with Catholicism, the game’s origins are by far more interfaith and ecumenical.

I don’t have to explain the whys and wherefores of the game to cradle Catholics, but for our newly arrived brothers and sisters, allow me to illuminate you.

Bingo is a game of chance in which players match 24 numbers printed on small cards in a 5×5 matrix cards (including a FREE square in the middle which is considered automatically filled) with random numbers selected from one to 75. Each of the five columns of numbers printed on the card are labeled with the letters B, I, N, G and O. This facilitates identifying the called-out numbers.

Continued below.
 
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mourningdove~

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My Grandma loved to play bingo. She regularly went to the local church halls to play.
I only went one time to a church to play. I had travelled back home and was visiting her; she took me with her.
(Afterall, it was "Bingo Night"! :smile: )

And guess what? I won $500!!!
:clap:

... What a *special memory* happened for us that night!
 
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Michie

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My Grandma loved to play bingo. She regularly went to the local church halls to play.
I only went one time to a church to play. I had travelled back home and was visiting her; she took me with her.
(Afterall, it was "Bingo Night"! :smile: )

And guess what? I won $500!!!
:clap:

... What a *special memory* happened for us that night!
Lol! That is a great memory!
 
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