BINGO in Jamaica

Not Just For Old Ladies Who Smoke!

I don’t know about you but when I think of Bingo I sure don’t think of sitting around with a bunch of Jamaican men in an outdoor bar, with bingo cards and plastic markers.

There were nights in my apartment that I got downright bored when my neighbors didn’t come home from work. I just knew that they stopped at one of the multiple bars in our neighborhood on their way home. Usually when this was the case they would eventually call me and tell me to come. This is how I ended up at a bar 4 or 5 nights a week while living in Jamaica. This was one of the nights when I got the call to walk up the hill and join my landlord and my neighbor at one of our roadside bars. It’s on the street level of a local guest house.

When I arrived I seriously had to laugh because tonight was BINGO night and I had no idea this was a regular occurrance up here. There were only about 5 people there all sitting at different little tables with multiple bingo cards spread out in front of them. The female bartender whom I knew from another bar up a different road, had a little bingo ball spinner on the bar and was randomly calling out numbers. This was the funniest thing ever! I sat with my landlord and watched him play this round until somebody won. Included in the game were my neighbor, my landlord, an old rasta man and and Indian dude I’ve seen around this area before, and another Jamaican lady. Every once in a while a random person would walk by in the street, play a couple cards while having a drink and then keep on walking.

When the new round started my landlord paid for his new cards and then handed them to me while he sat back and had his drinks. The night carried on and he continued to pay for his rounds and making me play them – variations of one line, any two lines, one X, and blackout. My neighbor won once and my landlord never won at all but he kept playing and kept paying for my drinks!