---

BRIDGEWATER - It's just after dinner and students are filing into the Dunn Conference Center in Crimson Hall on the campus of Bridgewater State College.

Rebecca Lee, a freshman from Abington, and Kara Bemis, a freshman from Northboro, stand on either side of the door. Bemis punches plastic cards students present her, while Lee hands out small paper sheets covered with numbers.

The students aren't streaming in to hear a speaker; they're not gathering for an Obama rally. They're here to play bingo. Every other Wednesday night, students arrive after dinner ready for a night of cover alls, checkerboards and prizes.

As an on-campus advertisement reads: "Bingo, it's not just for grandma anymore."

"Bingo let's us go back to being kids," Bemis said, "and it's a good way to have fun." Matt Miller, assistant director of student involvement and leadership at BSC, says this is the school's fourth year running bingo. They adopted the idea from other colleges.

Other Massachusetts colleges such Babson and Fitchburg State also hold occasional bingo events. And the game has cropped up at other schools across the nation at places such as Wayne State University, the University of Northern Colorado and Oklahoma State University, according to events calendars at college Web sites.

For only $200 in prizes, they can provide a night of entertainment. The activity is free to students and the first bingo night this year attracted more than 300 of them, Miller said. There wasn't enough room for everyone to sit down. Average attendance has been 100 to 120, up significantly from last year, he said.

"This year, it's been a big hit," Miller said. "I did not expect it to be as popular as it has been."

Eighteen round tables, each seating eight to 10 people, fill the room. A big white screen hangs at the front, looking like a piece of graph paper filled with numbers from zero to 75.

As the approximately 70 students - a slow attendance night compared with others this year - settle into their seats with their coffees, sodas and other drinks, Danielle Nadeau, a sophomore from Everett, leans over and speaks clearly into a microphone at a podium. She welcomes students and covers the basic rules.

"Everyone is required to applaud for the winner," she says. The students clap.

There are eight bingo nights each semester, and each has a theme. Tonight's is Halloween. The prizes are brightly colored round bags of candy and gift cards. Marshmallow Peeps shaped like little white ghosts stick up out of each bag.

Students who attend all eight bingo nights become eligible for special door prizes. One semester, all "frequent flyers" were given a T-shirt attesting to their commitment to the game. Those who attend the eighth and final bingo of the semester can also win a grand prize worth $200 to $300. In the past, airline tickets and a three-day cruise have been awarded.

Ten rounds of bingo are played. Each round, the pattern for bingo changes and is shown on the screen. As the night progresses, the screen displays patterns such as "H is for Hershey" and "C is for Candy." Nadeau calls "O-73," after being handed the first ball of the night. She seems a natural as "caller," and she is no novice. Her parents ran bingo for many years for a drum and bugle corps.

As numbers are called, students alternately cheer and boo, talk and shout, laugh and groan. They peer intently at their cards and applaud each time "Bingo!" is shouted from somewhere in the room.

A few rounds into the evening, Casey Mullen, a freshman from Randolph, returns smiling to her table near the back of the room with a purple sack of candy.

"The sugar is welcome, since I have to stay up until 3 a.m. to write a paper. That's when I'm most productive," she says.

Right away, Mullen is on her cell phone. "I called my aunt," she says. "Just had to call her."

Mullen told her aunt earlier in the evening that she had yet to win at bingo. "I was beside myself," Mullen says of winning.

So far, she has attended every game. "I'm very competitive. I like the variety of games," she says. "I try to switch out my (bingo chip) colors every game. Keeps me more focused."

Three young women are at the table next to Mullen's. Whitney Chapman, a senior from Whitman, says she and her friends sit at the same table at every bingo.

"It's our excuse to take a break," says Eileen Craven, a freshman from Mattapoisett, dressed in a green sweatshirt with "Red Sox" brightly lettered across the front. "I love bingo; it's fun."

At one event, she won iPod speakers.

Mary Jayne Meneses from Mattapoisett, another friend, says, "I've been coming since I was a freshman, and I'm a senior now."

She has missed only one bingo event in more than three years. In that time, she has won twice.

"I'm very unlucky," she says, laughing. One year, she won a grand prize: a New England Patriots jersey.

The week before, the theme was "Old Lady Bingo," and Menezes was chosen best-dressed "grandma" and received a T-shirt and two movie tickets.

Just past midway through the evening, everyone suddenly stands up. For a minute, it appears like bingo's version of the seventh inning stretch.

"Worst card bingo," reads the letters on the screen.

As the numbers are called, students sit down. The goal is to be the last one standing, the benefit of not having a single number called on your bingo card.

Rather quickly, only two students are left standing, freshman Mike Draper and sophomore Caitlyn Hanley. The two move to the front of the room.

"I'm nervous," Hanley says aloud.

Not to worry, though, Hanley wins and picks up a bag of candy along with a $15 Dunkin Donuts gift card.

"I want to win bingo before I graduate," Draper says afterwards.

This was Hanley's first bingo win. "A life goal completed," says a student sitting at her table.

"I just love bingo," Hanley says smiling, and adds, "I should be doing homework."

"The last game of the night is cover all," Nadeau announces. The goal in this final round is to cover every square on the bingo card.

"B-9," she says. "Wooooooo," howls someone up front. "No," yells another. Nadeau announces number after number. The excitement and noise escalate. "Does anybody need I-14?" she asks. About 10 hands go up, accompanied by shouts.

Suddenly, someone yells, "Bingo!" The crowd appears confused as everyone looks around noisily. Two young women have every number covered. And one is Caitlyn Hanley, who earlier won "worst card bingo."

The two students scurry to the front of the room where they face off in a round of the hand game Rock-Paper-Scissors, to determine the victor. Moments later, Hanley walks away with the prize: a $35 gift certificate from Friendly's.

ALEX SPEREDELOZZI is an intern at The Sun Chronicle and is pursuing a master's degree at the Harvard Extension School. He can be contacted at asperedelozzi@hotmail.com.