I went to a bingo game at a casino. My sister goes every week and convinced me to try it. The best thing about it was that I hated it, which tells me I’m not too far down the road to old coot yet.
The first bad thing – you buy this package of games that means you’re there for 3 hours, unless you want to walk out and toss any chance of winning out.
The first good thing – since you aren’t likely to win, you can walk out without decreasing your odds too much. But I didn’t understand that soon enough.
The second bad thing – instead of just rows, columns or diagonal, on most of the games you have to match these pictures that are drawn on the grid, like stars and stuff, that take a whole bunch more numbers to match.
The third bad thing – they have made the games so complicated, you need a machine to play it. It’s something like a wifi tablet. They load your game cards into it, and load the numbers in and mark your cards if the numbers match, all automatically. The machine actually tells you if you’ve won, but you STILL have to shout out BINGO or your win doesn’t count, presumably because your shout wakes up some of the nearby players.
Seriously, it was something like sitting down and getting punched in the face every time a number is called, though without the physical pain.
There is one more potential good thing – if you go to the weekly game that’s in the middle of a blizzard or really violent weather, or maybe a large prison break of some kind; the attendance may be way down. But they still run the same games with the same prizes, and your odds of winning go up accordingly. So, if you’re willing to throw your like in the pot, maybe you’ll win.
When I was 18 (many moons ago) and lived in Canada, my girlfriend’s mother went to Bingo all the time. They dragged me with them one night and I won twice! Both times I was pretty much oblivious that I had a winning card in front of me; I was trying to navigate all the cards that they had insisted I should get! My friend’s mom was not only busy blotching her cards with that spongy thingie… what do you call it…Dab-O-Ink, but keeping an eye on mine, too. First I won $350 dollars after receiving an elbow on the ribs and a, “For god’s sake yell BINGO!!!” The second time I won $50. Thanks again to my friend’s mom. I think she was disgusted with me for my lack of enthusiasm. But boy did I feel rich when I left there!
When I was on a cruise last month, my mom and I stood watching in the back of the room where they were playing Bingo. I just didn’t get the appeal. Each to his own, I suppose.
So basically you pay money to sit in a room full of elderly people and spectate for 3 hours as a machine plays bingo. If it wins and if you notice and if you remember to shout out on its behalf, only then you keep the winnings?
Thanks for the warning, I’ll make a note to avoid that unless the alternative is 3 hours trimming my own pubic hair with a hammer and chisel.
What more is there to say? It’s one of probably thousands small underfunded undersized, understaffed zoos, that can’t provide healthy environments for all their animals.
I’m told that you can also get the cards rather than the machines, but with all the weird pictures they use it’s hard to hand mark them when you might have a dozen or more cards.
Have you even been to the zoo because your post is pretty much complete BS.
Underfunded? Maybe you have this impression because of the numerous fundraisers and other events that benefit the zoo. The Henry Vilas Zoo is completely free and so it relies on donations and fundraising to operate and improve. The zoo opened a 2.4 million dollar animal health center in 2013, said to be one of the best in the nation, and construction is ongoing for a $10 million dollar Arctic Passage exhibit that will include bear and seal habitats and a restaurant. Does that sound underfunded to you?
Undersized? Do you mean the zoo itself or the animal habitats? In my opinion the zoo is the perfect size. And it’s free! With larger zoos the admission is expensive and you kind of feel like you have to spend the entire day to see everything and get your money’s worth. With the HVZ you can stop in for a few hours and you’re out nothing. And you can do that as often as you want. How much bigger could it get without having to charge admission?
If you mean the animal habitats they seem above standard to me, but I’m no expert. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums is, however, and the HVZ is accredited by this organization, which goes above and beyond what’s required by the federal government.
Understaffed? Not in my experience. When I’ve visited the public areas of the zoo are clean, the habitats seem clean and well kept, and the concession lines aren’t long. I often see volunteers helping out selling tickets for the train and that sort of thing.
Healthy environments/animal deaths? Again, they are AZA accredited so the zoo exceeds national standards for health and welfare. Admittedly, the zoo has suffered a string of animal deaths over the last year or two but most were due to old age. Certainly not large groups dying under suspicious circumstances like you posted earlier.
A lion in Sept 2013. Euthanized at age 18. Mean life expectancy is 16.8. A polar bear in May 2013. Euthanized at age 30 due to deteriorating health due to old age. Median life expectancy 24. A chimp in March 2013. Died after being anesthetized for a routine health examination. A red panda in February 2013. “Chang Tan lived past his life expectancy but had battled health problems. Zoo staff made the decision to humanely euthanize him on Saturday.” A Rhino in July 2012. Age 41 well past typical life expectancy. A lion in June 2012. At age 16 due to cancer.
While at HVZ she mothered 8 cubs with the male lion that died a little over a year later.
It seems like a giraffe died recently, too, but I don’t see an article about it.
Sorry for the long post but I actually think the zoo is one of the best things about our city.
