Great-grandpa would be amazed.

 

 

 

 

One of his favorite games has moved into the 21st century.

Earlier this year, The Oasis senior center embraced a computerized game system that allows players to track as many as 30 bingo cards, in addition to whatever number they can handle on paper with an ink dauber.

"We got hooked up with Nannicola," said Oasis Director Dom Dalpoas. "They said if we would purchase the papers from them, they would let us use their console and hand-held computer games."

According to the company's Web site, Nannicola is one of the largest distributors of charitable gaming products in the U.S.

"The games aren't all on the computer," Dalpoas said. "People can still purchase papers."

Dalpoas said the computerized games allow people with visual problems to play, because the machine does the actual playing.

"There are limitations to a person's ability to cover all of the numbers when they're called," he said. "The computer also allows you to play more than you can physically do.

"It's a novel idea in the old game of bingo. We've tried to increase the prizes so people can win more.

"We've tried to bring something new to the area to see how the community of Logan County responds."

For almost as many years as The Oasis has existed, the senior center has sponsored bingo games at Lincoln Recreation Center once a week to help support center programs and activities.

And while the particulars of the game haven't changed that much over the years, the tools have evolved.

Bingo is a game of chance that can be traced to an Italian lottery in 1530. In its earlier versions, equipment was limited to lists of numbers, a handful of corn or beans and somebody willing to pull discs out of a box and yell out the numbers.

According to the About.com Web site, the game was introduced to America in 1929 at a carnival in Georgia. Cards were marked with beans and the winner called out "beano."

New York toy salesman Edwin Lowe commercialized the game. He hired Columbia University math professor Carl Leffler to help increase the number of combinations in bingo cards. Leffler had invented 6,000 different combinations by 1930, when he is said to have gone insane.

A Catholic priest first approached Lowe about using the game for raising church funds. By 1934, an estimated 10,000 games were played weekly. According to the Web site, more than $90 million is spent weekly today on bingo games in North America alone.

As times changed, bingo halls installed microphones so everyone could hear. The gaming board got involved and began licensing the game.

Not too long ago, players began daubing the numbers on disposable paper cards with ink, doing away with reusable cards and loose marker chips that could become jiggled out of place. Special bags were created for transporting the ink markers.

Similar games of chance appeared, sans the familiar B-I-N-G-O at the top of each card. Players began calling out "I got it," instead of "Bingo."

Oasis volunteer Darlene Freeman trained about seven hours to learn to use the new computerized equipment. On Tuesday, she was distributing hand-held computer terminals, after entering the proper number of games and collecting the fees.

"We can have it all working in about 15 minutes if everyone helps," she said, surveying the equipment.

The numbered balls churn around an air-filled chamber, then pop up one at a time in a system similar to that used by the state lottery.

Last week, Jennifer Steele took her turn as the caller early in the evening. Each number she called lit up on a board at the front of the room. The most recent number blinked a few seconds. The board also showed how many numbers had been called - information that affects the pay-out for some of the games.

If a game is won on paper, the numeric code for that card is entered into the computer and the numbers are automatically checked. If it's won on a computerized game, the unit beeps and flashes a win.

"If you're close to winning, the computer shows you where you are," said Alice Petro, an Oasis board member. Petro recently tried the computerized games for the first time and came away a convert.

Her friend, Mina Bradbury, started the evening with 12 paper cards and successfully daubed off numbers to win the first game. A few minutes later, she scored again, this time with one of the games loaded into her computer terminal.

"That's the first time I've ever won on the computer," Bradbury said, whooping as she waited to accept the payout.

Each public Tuesday night session starts at 6:50 p.m. and ends at 9:10 p.m. in the Rec Center ballroom. Eleven games are played during the first half of the evening with a total payout of $460. After a 10-minute break, the games resume. During the latter part of the evening, prize money totals $415.

A really lucky player can hit the $500 jackpot.

Paper cards cost $1 per game. Computerized cards are $12 per game for 18 cards; $15 for 24 cards; or $20 for 30 cards. Anyone age 18 or older is welcome, and players from several generations may show up on any given night.

Oasis director Dom Dalpoas said the turnout usually averages about 40 players a week. Last week, 15 of them rented computers.

"We have a good solid core who come to support the center and seem to have fun doing it," Dalpoas said.