Fallon Deatherage-Bradley
News Editor
The Student Activities Board (SAB) Bingo is not your grandmother’s senior center Wednesday night time-waster.
Students at ISU know that SAB Bingo is an hour and half of heart pounding and palm sweating where valuable prizes are at stake.
Once a month, the PSUB Ballroom fills with a few hundred students ready to battle it out for prizes ranging from useful trinkets that every college student needs to big ticket items worth hundreds of dollars.
“The SAB team picks the prizes, but we are always asking what students want,” said Tiffany Hatfield, director of the student activities board and this year’s bingo number caller. “We pick things that we think college students need or want in their dorm or apartment.”
While the prize selection may be a big factor in attracting participants, there are other reasons to play the game. According to a study by Southampton University, playing can boost cognitive function, reduce stress and provide good exercise for the brain.
On Bingo night, it isn’t unusual to see a line that winds its way from the doors of the ballroom, to the tables and booths, and then back towards the copy center.
The volume of people is one of the logistical challenges that SAB must plan for. Setting an assembly line at the door that checks Bengal cards, hands out bingo cards and gets people seated allows the games to start only minutes after the doors open.
“We try to open the door as early as we can, so we can get everyone in on time,” Hatfield said. “With the amount of people that show up it can take a long time to get people through the doors.”
Originating as a state sanctioned lottery in Italy created in the 16th century, it’s estimated that nearly 8 percent of the world’s population has participated in a bingo game, higher than nearly any game in the world. While ISU may have always had a large turnout, there is no fear of running out of bingo cards as American bingo has a possible 552 quintillion possible card configuration.
SAB has set up three rules to maintain the integrity, fairness, and safety of the game.
- The rules are participants must stand when they only have one square left
- Participants must call their own bingo
- Participants must walk rather than run to the front to claim their prize
Attendants know the three rules and enforce them ruthlessly. When an overly excited winner takes a jog to the front the crowd will ensure that they are sent back to their seat and the prize redistributed to another winner with more restraint.
“When I went up I just kept thinking to myself, ‘Don’t run,’” said Kayanna Zamora, a freshman who won an activity tracker at the Sept. bingo.
Standing in front of hundreds, who are anticipating your every word, also makes for a great deal of pressure on the number caller.
“When I took this role over from last year’s Director, I was beyond scared,” Hatfield said. “But once I got the hand of things, I love it because you get to see everyone’s faces when you are calling.”
(Editor’s note: This article was updated from when it was first posted online to correct from Student Advisory Board to Student Activities Board.)
