The ball pops out of the machine and rolls into view on big screens as dozens of players sit poised over their cards, daubers raised in quiet anticipation.

“Someone’s going to call out a bingo any time now,” said Darla Novak, bingo manager of 27 years at Kennewick’s Bingo Boulevard.

The next ball appeared on the screen and in a split second three players called out, “Bingo!” in succession.

Bingo Boulevard, located at 6222 W. John Day Ave. in Kennewick, has been in business since 1992. It’s the last remaining dedicated bingo hall in the Tri-Cities since Bingo City of Pasco and Bingo Palace of Kennewick closed years ago.

It’s a place for connections, where friends and family share laughs while vying for a win. It’s also a place that supports a longtime nonprofit’s mission to make the Tri-Cities a better place.

Columbia Center Rotary Club has owned and operated the hall for 33 years to fund its community service programs, scholarships, grants and more.

Missy Eckman, a Realtor with Exit Realty Tri-Cities, has been coming for three years. “I like it for the people and the friendships – it’s a great networking place. I’m not a huge gambler, but I love bingo. It’s a great place to go and relax,” she said.

It costs a minimum of $5 to play, but to play all 13 games featured each session, it costs $15.

More cards for each game are available at an additional cost as well as tablets synced with the current game being called that help players find matching numbers on up to 66 cards at a time.

Kids 10 and up can play, too, if they’re accompanied by a parent or guardian and bring official identification – a birth certificate or school ID.

Each game features a different shape pattern that players try to be the first to mark out on their card.

Games have names such as 7 Around the Corner, Flag, Goal Post, Any Block of 9 in a Corner, 4 Leaf Clover, Frame, Crazy L, or first to a blackout.

A neighbor invited Missy Eckman, a Realtor for Exit Realty Tri-Cities, to play bingo a few years ago and she has been hooked ever since. She says it’s the people who keep her coming back to Bingo Boulevard – both the friends she has made as well as the staff. 

| Photo by Laura Kostad

Bingo Boulevard also sells pull-tabs and offers holiday-related specials.

Katie Pierce stepped in as Bingo Boulevard’s new general manager about two months ago, after the death of former general manager, Wayne Bertz.

She said evening sessions are usually busier than the afternoon, regularly welcoming 110 to 170 players, while the afternoon typically sees 50 to 60 attendees. The hall can accommodate 300 people. Bingo Boulevard employs 11 people.

Prizes range from $100 up to $10,000 and each week that a prize isn’t won, the max number of squares needed to win goes up, increasing the chances of winning.

Novak said when the numbers are up, more players come out of the woodwork to see if they might be the lucky winner. In the case of a tie, prizes are split equally between players.

Proceeds power Rotary projects

Sharing the same building as the bingo hall is the headquarters for Columbia Center Rotary.

It’s one of six local clubs belonging to Rotary International. Rotary’s motto is “service above self.”

In the Tri-City community, the club has contributed to or directly funded dozens of projects and programs since it was founded in 1985. To date, it has contributed more than $2.5 million to some 70 projects both in the Tri-City community and internationally, according to its website.

“The success of the bingo operation has been the major source of funding for the projects we have completed in the Tri-City area,” said Mike Rader, secretary of Columbia Center Rotary’s charity board.

This includes additions to the Reach Museum, Washington State University Master Gardener Demonstration Garden and other on-campus projects, art installations at Columbia Gardens Wine & Artisan Village, Tri-Cities Youth Soccer Complex, Badger Mountain Dog Park and the family fishing pond, Playground of Dreams and J&S Dreamland Express train in Columbia Park.

Bingo Boulevard originally opened at Fourth Avenue and Vancouver Street in Kennewick after Rotarians determined it could be a source of income to fund club projects, said Rader.

A few years later, the property off Kellogg Street was acquired, and the 18,823-square-foot facility opened in 1997. 

Rader said that when the state banned all indoor smoking in 2005, the former nonsmoking section of the bingo hall was converted into an event center where the club holds its weekly meetings.

Bingo Boulevard, located at 6222 W. John Day Ave. in Kennewick, has been in business since 1992. It’s the last remaining dedicated bingo hall in the Tri-Cities since Bingo City of Pasco and Bingo Palace of Kennewick closed years ago.

| Photo by Laura Kostad

Community through bingo

Through the years, Bingo Boulevard has seen a lot of changes both in the technology for playing bingo, as well as weathering the Covid-19 pandemic that shut down operations for a year before being able to reopen under social distancing restrictions.

Many regulars at Bingo Boulevard have fond memories of former managers, the late Jim Savelli and Bertz, who made the atmosphere special and brought people together, Novak said. 

Phyllis Stiles, a 78-year-old who has been coming to Bingo Boulevard since its Fourth and Vancouver days, said what’s kept her coming back is the people. “(Bingo)’s just something to do that’s exciting. I don’t care if I win or not, you just go for the people. The workers are wonderful there ... everyone is so friendly. Plus, the money goes to a good cause and benefits locals.”

Though that’s not to say she hasn’t won.

“The payoffs are very good. I just won $10,000 in June. I thought I was going to die when I won $1,000! Bingo Boulevard is the best.”

Hours of operation 

The bingo hall is open Friday through Sunday, hosting an afternoon and evening session each day. It also has a snack bar that serves up hot dogs, nachos, prepackaged snacks and nonalcoholic bottled and canned beverages.

Doors open at 10:30 a.m. and play begins at noon for the afternoon session, which runs until around 2:30 p.m.

The doors open again at 4:30 p.m. for the evening session, with play starting at 6 p.m. and continuing until about 8:30 p.m.

Bingo Boulevard: 6222 W. John Day Ave., Kennewick, 509-783-2416.