BINGO! That’s what you shout when you get the right combination of numbers on your board. It’s a classic, sometimes quaint game of chance, but it’s been given a dusty twist at Pioneertown’s own Desert Bingo. Here’s Desert Bingo founder Karma:
“In a nutshell, Desert Bingo is the most fun you can have in the desert on a Monday night. It’s a local bingo game that started in 2022. It’s grown significantly since then.
“The idea is that the community gets together, we play bingo, the boards are for sale. That money is donated to whatever non-profit we’re supporting on the night. All the prizes, and the great prizes, are donated by local businesses.”
Karma moved to the Morongo Basin during covid, and didn’t know how to meet her neighbors.
“I had a personal agenda, I was like, how does a person meet people in the desert? I moved to Portland and I had a local bingo game there, also on Monday nights. That’s where I made my first friends.
“The idea stuck with me, and I was like, “What if I started a bingo night.” It worked! Some of my best friends I’ve met at bingo.
“The feedback I’ve gotten – – it’s not just me making friends. It started off and has grown into this incredible community event. It’s produced a lot of new friendships. I think a lot of people have actually come out and met their neighbors. We all live in the desert. We’re so far away from one another all the time, this is a consistent event that you know local people will attend on a regular basis.”
Desert Bingo isn’t just making connections between desert dwellers. It connects major funding with deserving non-profits, like the Joshua Tree No-Kill Shelter, Unity Home, Boys & Girls Club, and schools like Landers Elementary School and La Contenta Middle School.
“One hundred percent of whatever we sell goes directly to the non-profit we’re supporting that evening. We support several non-profits. The prizes are all donated.
“Our biggest fundraising has been for the Joshua Tree No-Kill Shelter. We’re about to hit $40,000 in funds we’ve donated to them
“Our mission is to help kids and animals. We’re really focused on those types of organizations.”
And all of the prizes are donated from a who’s who of local businesses.
“They enjoy it. It’s part of their community plan. It’s a great way to turn a $100 prize donation into a $1000 donation for the non-profits.
“The most insane prize? I’ve lived in America for a long time. I never got into Jeopardy, but I got some tickets to go to taping of the show. I posted the prize on social media, and people flew in. I was like what? People were so excited about that prize.
“People love tattoos. Concert tickets.”
Monday’s (March 3) sees Desert Bingo raise funds for local snake rescuer Danielle Wall.
“This is going to be our third event for Dani. They are always massive events. The community really comes out so strong for her. It’s a sell out every time. The prizes fall into my lap. Everyone wants to support Dani. I think she does so much good work in the world. As a person who has called her a few times, I’m absolutely petrified of snakes. I don’t want to hurt them. I just think it’s incredible that someone like that exists.The snake season is starting right now.“
And how do you play desert bingo?
“You just show up. Mondays at Red Dog. There’s a desert bingo game going on all the time. The games start at 6:30 but it’s advisable to get there a little early if you want to get a seat. It’s pretty popular these days, and even with their indoor/outdoor set up, it fills up pretty quickly. If you want to know which non-profits we’re supporting that Monday, it’s a good idea to follow @desertbingo on instagram.
“And it’s something that, by some miracle, this community has raised to date $84,231 playing bingo. Give it a couple more games and we’re going to hit one hundred thousand dollars.”
