The perfect [bingo] storm

The weather did not cooperate this week — and neither did caller Jeff Thomas! He totally went rogue on me and started making up his own games about halfway into his turn behind the bingo cage.

Jeff ditched the planned game (I think it was an “x”?)  in favor of highlighting the poor, neglected “N”s of bingo, and it turned out to be a winning strategy. Though perversely, as he pointed out, you don’t need any Ns to make an N on your bingo card.

Outside, Tony and Immer braved the downpour, the tornado watch, and the collapsing tent to grill up the regular Wednesday dogs, which Tony circulated on a cocktail tray to the hungry crowd.

Unsurprisingly, turnout was down some relative to weeks past. But, surprisingly, not by much. 

Inside, a flock of determined bingo players dried themselves off and hunkered down on the floor, on the stage, and anywhere else they could find some flat, empty surface.

Friend-of-VB Sheila Sachs won a game — possibly two? As we are using her bingo rig and her set of old-timey bingo cards for the run of VB, speculation has started to percolate in the bingosphere that she has somehow rigged the game. I don’t know how you fix a bingo game, but last week’s caller, David Wilcox, is convinced something is fishy. That Wilcox. Total troublemaker.

In any case, Sheila won’t have a chance to get her mitts on more hot sauce next week, as she is putting down the cards and stepping up to the bingo mic herself, with able assistance from fellow bingo regular Jen McLaughlin. Come by and heckle ’em at 6 PM on Wednesday August 26. Hopefully the grill will have dried out by then.