We know that bingo is a game of chance as to whether the numbers on one of your cards are called before anyone else’s cards. The only real skill is in site selection to make sure you get the most bangs for your buck (usually free games).
However many people believe in being able to woo Lady Luck or flirt with Miss Fortune in a number of ways. Many people still believe that the entire world’s population can be grouped into one of the 12 star signs, with each star sign bestowing similar characteristics on those born within it. Most daily papers have a horoscope for each of the star signs and Bingo players may well read their horoscope to see if there’s any advice in there to help them choose what types of games to play online, what numbers are lucky for them, and how many cards to buy.
Some people believe they have a lucky number, and not just the “7” beloved of the Western World, and the “8” of the Orient. I have a chum whose lucky number is 91 (based on the house number where a favourite Auntie who he thought was a white witch used to live). It may well have been lucky in some settings, but awful for 75 or 90 number Bingo!
From my attendances at live Bingo, I know people who went in pairs, for luck, and always sat in their particular lucky places- sometimes queuing for ages to make sure they got the seats they wanted. This wasn’t always a dumb as it may seem. At Hastings on South coast of England, the most unpopular (or unlucky) seats were those at the right of the rear of the auditorium. This wasn’t superstition. That area was very close to the slot machines and children’s play area, where the noise and distraction could make you miss a number or worse still make a false call!
People may also have lucky daubers or pens for marking cards, or wear jewellery or lucky clothes to help them be successful. I had a mate who was a long-distance lorry driver who always played Bingo wearing a fake Rolex watch he bought in Turkey for about a pound. The hands of the watch went anticlockwise, and he had some strange notion that it interfered with time, and he could see a little bit into the future while wearing it and know what numbers were coming up! He did have a pretty big Bingo win at least once while wearing it!
A further tale told to me was that an apprentice Bingo caller was deemed to be ‘unlucky’ for the regulars and locals at a particular Bingo Hall. This was because tourists and occasional visitors seemed to win more often when he was running a game. He lasted just two weeks before he was given the push (fired). I wonder if he had a lucky Bingo charm.. because it certainly didn’t work for him!