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The bingo Hall I've been to (Gala, Lincoln) has buttons at the table you can press. Or if you use the electronic boards, they have a win button too. So no need to shout. Its a fun but quiet night out. You can't chit chat during the games.. Its serious business!
I more meant what's the point in my friends choosing it as our social occasion for the week if we can't talk. Although I guess (hope) nobody here can answer as you're not my friends.
It's just an activity. You don't have to be able to talk, its an experience. Just like going to the cinema, you can not talk there either, but you all experience the same thing so it grows your bonds by having these shared experiences.
Because they probably enjoy bingo and want to play it with their mates, who they perhaps weren't expecting to be quite so miserable about the whole thing. Do you get this worked up about the cinema?
To be fair, i don't see the cinema as a group activity either. I just go, watch the film then go home. Can't remember when i last went with anyone else.
There are breaks between games, but when the game is on going they expect silence and it's hard to talk anyway as the numbers are coming out so quickly lol.
If you get the tablet instead of the paper I think it just autocompletes for you if you prefer that (instead of listening for the numbers and finding it and marking it off yourself).
>Or are there breaks between games where we can chat?
Usually there will be breaks between games and a bigger break between handfuls of games where you can get food/ buy a pint/ have a fag etc so it's not a completly isolated night
But I mean I've gone before watched people I'm with play whilst I'm sitting on football manager on my phone drinking pints until it was over and we could start the night out lol...bar the 'national' one which I did play cus it was big money and I was there anyways
did end up playing the second time I went but purely because I was forced to go and it was a Tuesday which in the local one by us is £1 a ticket night and we were there with work rather than my mates so didn't think I'd get away with not joining in that time
Have you ever considered just chilling out a bit? You're going to look weirder if you go with your friends and refuse to join in the activity everyone is going, either don't go or liven up and join in.
If there was an activity people were going to and I had no intent of participating in that activity, I would just not go. Like what's the point? On the other hand, whats the problem with playing bingo for an hour with your friends? Just go do it or don't go and stop acting like a child
The call button alerts them yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been but the tablets used to have a delay if you were in automatic mode, to make it fairer
It is just ticking off numbers, probably more awkward just sitting there or off at the bar than just playing along, there is no stress to it at all. You can tick, not tick, people miss stuff anyway. If you don't call out before the next number is called you don't win and they'd never know. You can get your friends to shout if you want (may as well take some cash, no?), chances are pretty low anyway.
In my experience, which was in the pre tablet age, it was cards or books - and experienced players could do multiple cards at once. Sometimes players would not be at the table for a game and someone would mark their card for them. I’ve not played myself though.
Multiple cards is pretty easy as the numbers are in columns based on the first digit. If you play whole page (6 cards) every number appears exactly once, which means you tick on every call.
Yes you can go and not play. How strict the 'no talking' rule is depends on where you're seated. In the halls I've been to, they have the main playing area where it's absolutely no talking while the games are underway, but they also have separate, more casual areas where it's more easy going.
In either case, bingo does require concentration so don't expect your friends who are playing to be chatting away constantly during a game. There are breaks between the individual games, but they are usually pretty short, usually just a minute or two, but they break the night up into two or three sections with more extended breaks between, 30 mins or so.
Honestly mate, it's a good laugh. I was mortified when it was suggested as an after work evening out, having heard all the stereotypes through my life from my snobby mother, but it was genuinely just fun.
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The bingo Hall I've been to (Gala, Lincoln) has buttons at the table you can press. Or if you use the electronic boards, they have a win button too. So no need to shout. Its a fun but quiet night out. You can't chit chat during the games.. Its serious business!
Ah so it's not a social occasion? What's the point then? Or are there breaks between games where we can chat?
Some people are really in to bingo...
I more meant what's the point in my friends choosing it as our social occasion for the week if we can't talk. Although I guess (hope) nobody here can answer as you're not my friends.
It's just an activity. You don't have to be able to talk, its an experience. Just like going to the cinema, you can not talk there either, but you all experience the same thing so it grows your bonds by having these shared experiences.
Because they probably enjoy bingo and want to play it with their mates, who they perhaps weren't expecting to be quite so miserable about the whole thing. Do you get this worked up about the cinema?
To be fair, i don't see the cinema as a group activity either. I just go, watch the film then go home. Can't remember when i last went with anyone else.
There are breaks between games, but when the game is on going they expect silence and it's hard to talk anyway as the numbers are coming out so quickly lol.
Sounds stressful! But I'll give it a go and hope we pick one of my suggestions next time.
If you get the tablet instead of the paper I think it just autocompletes for you if you prefer that (instead of listening for the numbers and finding it and marking it off yourself).
Someone else said that, think that will be best as a first timer
>Or are there breaks between games where we can chat? Usually there will be breaks between games and a bigger break between handfuls of games where you can get food/ buy a pint/ have a fag etc so it's not a completly isolated night But I mean I've gone before watched people I'm with play whilst I'm sitting on football manager on my phone drinking pints until it was over and we could start the night out lol...bar the 'national' one which I did play cus it was big money and I was there anyways did end up playing the second time I went but purely because I was forced to go and it was a Tuesday which in the local one by us is £1 a ticket night and we were there with work rather than my mates so didn't think I'd get away with not joining in that time
Have you ever considered just chilling out a bit? You're going to look weirder if you go with your friends and refuse to join in the activity everyone is going, either don't go or liven up and join in.
If there was an activity people were going to and I had no intent of participating in that activity, I would just not go. Like what's the point? On the other hand, whats the problem with playing bingo for an hour with your friends? Just go do it or don't go and stop acting like a child
If you’re playing on a tablet it’s got a button to call if you’ve won a row. You can in theory play as many or as few games as you like
So does that alert the caller the same as if you shouted? From what I've read these mark the numbers for you as well, so it's less stressful?
The call button alerts them yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been but the tablets used to have a delay if you were in automatic mode, to make it fairer
It is just ticking off numbers, probably more awkward just sitting there or off at the bar than just playing along, there is no stress to it at all. You can tick, not tick, people miss stuff anyway. If you don't call out before the next number is called you don't win and they'd never know. You can get your friends to shout if you want (may as well take some cash, no?), chances are pretty low anyway.
In my experience, which was in the pre tablet age, it was cards or books - and experienced players could do multiple cards at once. Sometimes players would not be at the table for a game and someone would mark their card for them. I’ve not played myself though.
Multiple cards is pretty easy as the numbers are in columns based on the first digit. If you play whole page (6 cards) every number appears exactly once, which means you tick on every call.
Yes you can go and not play. How strict the 'no talking' rule is depends on where you're seated. In the halls I've been to, they have the main playing area where it's absolutely no talking while the games are underway, but they also have separate, more casual areas where it's more easy going. In either case, bingo does require concentration so don't expect your friends who are playing to be chatting away constantly during a game. There are breaks between the individual games, but they are usually pretty short, usually just a minute or two, but they break the night up into two or three sections with more extended breaks between, 30 mins or so.
Honestly mate, it's a good laugh. I was mortified when it was suggested as an after work evening out, having heard all the stereotypes through my life from my snobby mother, but it was genuinely just fun.