Offering prizes from rice cookers to TVs, Welcome Back Bingo took over the Otter Student Union Ballroom Tuesday night, filling the ballroom’s seats with eager Otters – ink dotters in hand and bingo cards at the ready.
The night was hosted by Student Engagement and Leadership, and supported by OtterCare (formerly known as Basic Needs) as well as Student Housing and Residential Life. Due to the event’s popularity, the Welcome Back Bingo game is always split into two separate hour and a half long sessions, with all attendees freely allowed to participate in both sessions for double the chances of getting their hands on sweet prizes. Each participant was given a pad of 10 bingo sheets with three cards on each sheet. Each round followed a different variation of winning ‘bingo,’ such as the ‘box’ variation where nine squares on the card must form a box in order to win a bingo. There were also stranger ways of winning, like the ‘kite’ variation, where four squares must be dotted to form a box with three additional diagonal squares to form a kite shape and string pattern.
The first prizes given away ranged from coffee makers, rice cookers, air purifiers and other free goods. However, the main attraction was the final prize given away at the end of the last round; a Vizio 40- inch HD TV. For Otters who may be living in dorms with no space for a TV, the alternative prize was a projector. OtterCare’s support for bingo night also made it possible for every winner to go home with both a snazzy prize as well as a bag of snacks and goodies. For Otters who tied, a friendly game of rock, paper, scissors settled who went home with the bingo prize, leaving their opponent with the choice of an Otter plushie or CSUMB beanie; ensuring no Otter went home empty handed.
Business and Korean exchange student Yejin Shin noted that the prizes were a big incentive for students to participate. “There’s a lot of expensive things on the prizes, so this makes many students come here,” said Shin, who fulfilled her own prophecy and took home the big TV prize at the end of the last game. “It’s really fun, like, not considering all the prizes. I just want to say to the students, ‘Just come and have fun.’”