The halls of New Ulm High School echoed with the faint sound of gobbling, jokes, and bingo numbers, as the entire school played the annual game of turkey bingo. Turkey bingo is always played within the last hour of the day, on the last day of school before Thanksgiving break.

Turkey Bingo has been a school tradition for many years. One of the head coordinators of the event, Matthew Nelson, said, “It must have started 15 years ago or something like that.”  The game has remained pretty much the same, except for the prizes changing from year to year, said Nelson. 

Turkey bingo is comprised of multiple bingo games, including classic bingo, four corners, picture frame, and sometimes even blackout. The bingo numbers are called out over the intercom by the student council president for everyone in the classrooms playing bingo to hear. Along with the bingo numbers, Thanksgiving-themed jokes are commonly told over the intercom during the game. “This year, Owen Rasche came up with some jokes for everybody,” Nelson said.

Playing turkey bingo is similar to playing a normal game of bingo, aside from a few select rules. “Everybody gets a card. You can get two cards if you wear an alternative beauty sweater,” Nelson said. Another turkey bingo-specific rule is that winners must gobble all the way down to the commons to claim their prize. “If you don’t gobble, you don’t get a prize,” said Nelson.

The numerous prizes are picked out by the senior student council members at Menards. The prizes’ values range from one to around five dollars. “They just get stuff that they think would be cool prizes,” Nelson said.

Students who get a bingo are allowed to choose one prize, and there was quite a variety this year.

“I got a jar of pickles because I love pickles,” said Mallory Larson, a senior and turkey bingo winner.

“I chose a phone mount because my other one broke,” said Ainsley Augustin, another senior turkey bingo winner.