Photo by Tom Mannion
Last Thursday, the College Programming Board hosted a Grocery Bingo Night in Friends Hall. Roughly 60 people attended the event for the chance to win free food, dorm supplies or a $100 ShopRite gift card.
Pop music filled the hall throughout the night, as groups of friends studied their bingo cards with care and snacked on hot chocolate and cookies provided by CPB. The event’s atmosphere was one of friendly – but fierce – competition. Tables of players screamed with either joy or frustration as each number was called.
The first grocery bag offered as a prize was lunch-themed: it contained bread, peanut butter, jelly and chips. When the winning number dropped, the crowd roared in anger as the first winner cheered.
Another prize, the “Baking Bag” – filled with cake mixes, baking supplies and a spatula – was won by student Braden Bock. Bock commented, “I was joking around about wanting to win this bag, but then I saw the spatula, and it was all worth it.”
One round of bingo, played for the “Breakfast Bag,” was a “border match.” In order to win, contestants needed to fill in the edges of their cards with chips. Danny Tafone, a freshman, commented wryly that presidential candidate Donald Trump would approve of a bingo card with a completed border. This round lasted 10 minutes; as the last few numbers were called, screams of agony were heard as players watched their chances of victory slip away from them.
Sophomore Brennan Critelli laid claim to the “Game Night Bag.” “I was so excited that I saw the last number on the board, and before the caller said it, I yelled out ‘BINGO!’” Critelli said.
The bag filled with exclusively microwavable meals was won by freshman Marina Cignilio, who screamed with delight when she claimed the eighth prize of the night.
The final prize, a $100 gift card to ShopRite, was won after a long “Full Card” round. The hotly contested Grocery Bingo has been a staple meal for CPB’s host of events this semester and in semesters past.
kferlita@ramapo.edu
