Originally Posted by puzzler
Oops, sounds like our Bingo meeting last week. I was one of those at the "winning" table and want you to know that the group at the table included a woman who had not won once in 4 years, a newcomer, and others who had become acquainted with each other in charity quilting meetings. We thought we were being creative in our identifications, not cheating--since others always worked to keep us honest. We were laughing so much because we were having fun. We each stopped calling "bingo" when we had won once or twice, so others could win. And, at least one of us played for another person at the table so she could win also. Everyone in the room won at least once by the end of the time. As to our inability to remember how we identified a block, most prints could be identified as more than one item, so we might not remember why we had chosen one ID without actually recording every marker on our "cards". I once could not properly identify one block in a line and had to wait to finish another line.
I am so sorry you did not have a good time.
Hm. That wasn't what I observed. In fact, the woman who joined us at our table to "teach" us how to play (her words, not mine) admitted that was what was happening at your table. She encouraged us to do the same thing, but I don't feel right about cheating. Still, I appreciate your clarifying things for me.
I continue to believe that the game could be improved if the rules were more clearly stated at the outset so that all are on equal footing. It spoiled the game for me, and I doubt I was the only one. I'm just the one who speaks up in these kinds of matters. It would be interesting to take a poll, but not everyone feels free to be honest when they are unhappy about something. It is just a game after all. I'll probably bow out next year.