Friday night 232 people traveled from New York City to San Francisco in an hour. How? They attended Road Trip Bingo Game Night, sponsored by SWEET, and travelled vicariously while playing ten rounds of bingo in the KAV. The trip began with a line, which originated outside the KAV, stretched back to the front doors of the Baughers Student Center, and wound its way towards and then into the Blue Bean Café.
Senior and SWEET programmer Lindsay Sympson said, “I’d never been to a Bingo night before, so I honestly wasn’t expecting this many people.” The SWEET employees had to find extra seats to accommodate everyone who attended.
Inside the KAV were tables set up with blue construction paper acting like table clothes. By the end of the night, the paper was full of doodles made with the bingo markers and pens provided by SWEET and other writing utensils that participants brought with them. If someone doodled with a highlighter, it glowed under the black light used to illuminate the room.
To play, participants had three bingo boards per round and, following regular rules of bingo, they needed to get either a straight line on an edge of a board or a diagonal line across the center. SWEET Programmer Sitara Ramjit called each number twice, and lucky participants marked the numbers off on their boards. People were amused when Ramjit called numbers like “B-4” and “O-69.” When participants won, they needed to stand up and say “Bingo!” before the next number was called or it would not count.
The first round of bingo brought the participants to The Big Apple with a prize consisting of a custom tote bag, one hundred dollars toward Broadway show tickets, and two free reserved spots on the SWEET NYC Trip. Senior Katherine Maldonado won this round and received the prizes after seniors and SWEET employees Elizabeth Acampora and Jennifer Gallo checked the numbers on Maldonado’s board with the numbers recorded on the screen in the front of the KAV.
Senior and SWEET employee Marissa Peduto announced four pre-reserved spots at the SWEET Over the Rainbow Paint Night as the prize for the next round, which was not themed. Sophomore Megan Kane won this round. Kane received Crayola crayons and a color book as while as the pre-reserved spots.
Then, participants were taken to Chicago as the third round began. There was a three-way tie for the prize of an EcoCity Backpack and a one hundred dollar gift card to The North Face. First-year Hannah Keeports won by answering both tie-breaking, true-or-false questions about the Windy City correctly. “I wasn’t expecting to win, so I was surprised. My board only had six marks. That was all,” Keeports said.
The next round was different than the rest. In order to win this round in Austin, Texas, participants needed to form an “H” on their boards, the same amount of marks as three regular bingos. Consequently, it took longer before a winner emerged. Sophomore Emma Christman won and received a Rubbermaid personal cooler, horseshoes, a picnic blanket and a seventy-five dollar Ticketmaster gift card.
Two people got bingo in the following round. “Texas had the first dome stadium” was the deciding true-or-false statement. First-year Catherine Stencler answered correctly with “true” and received an OSA fan pack, consisting of four assorted OSA T-shirts and an insulated E-fit water bottle.
Round six brought the bingo-players to Denver, Colorado. Here, they could win a High Sierra hydration pack, an industrial yoga mat, a Coleman two-person tent, a Pennsylvania trail guide and a one month unlimited rock climbing pass at Spooky Nook Facility. The winner was senior Morgan Chambers. The next round was not themed and Junior Emily Overfield won four pre-reserved, prepaid spots at the SWEET Laser Tag Trip.
Round eight was different; participants needed to form an “I” on their boards. Like round four, this took three times the effort and almost as much time. Sophomore Courtney Wood was the first to get bingo and went home with the Las Vegas themed prize package, which included an Aerolite suitcase, a twenty-five dollar gift card to Hollywood Casino, and seventy-five dollars toward Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus tickets.
Round nine was not themed. The prize was four pre-reserved, prepaid spots at the SWEET Ice Skating Trip. Senior Christopher Naradko won this round. The tenth rounded ended the night in San Francisco. Junior Caitlin Mitchell was the winner and received a beach bag and towel, a waterproof speaker, and fifty dollars toward paddle boarding lessons in Annapolis, MD.
The next SWEET event is an ice skating trip to Hershey Arena Feb. 5. For more information, visit the Hub in the BSC Mon. through Thurs. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. or Fri. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
–Rachel Lee
