Desperate Housewives September Edition

This may be predictable but the song in my head is “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper.

For the last four years, our neighborhood gets together once a month at each other’s homes to play bunco. There are 16 of us. Although we have had people leave the group and we’ve added new players, the majority of the group has remained together. This is not stepford wives stuff. We have an engineer, a veterinarian, a government worker, a small business owner and several teachers - among others. All of us are or were housewives. And we’ve all been desperate at one time or other I’m sure. The reason I believe this group has stayed together for so long is that we like each other. It’s that simple. We all know why we get together, community is important to all of us.

My neighbors are the nicest people. Really. Our little town should be in Money Magazine’s best places to live. It’s because of the people who live here. You can’t find that in any MLS listing anywhere.

We take the summers off so this is the first time we’ve met since May. We are very happy to see each other.

My guy friends and the husband will sometimes rib me. One guy actually took the time to explain the history of bunco to me. Because he’s like that.

It actually started back in England during the 18th century. It was introducted to the US in 1855 by a crooked gambler during the Gold Rush. It became a form of organized gambling and an efficient way of separating hard working citizens from their money in establishments called Bunco Parlors. Yikes.

Hence, the word Bunco came to be a general term that applied to all scams, swindling and confidence games. Oh my.

Through the Victorian era and prior to WWI, Bunco had achieved permanent placement as a traditional family or parlor game, promoting social interaction.

During this period Bunco groups consisting of 8-12 people and as many as 20 people enjoyed an evening of food, drink, conversation, and friendly competition.

During prohibition and the roaring 20’s, the infamous Bunco gambling parlors resurfaced in various regions of the US. The most notorious speak-easies and Bunco dice parlors were located in and around Chicago, Illinois.

The term “Bunco Squad” referred to the detectives who raided these establishments! Hands up lady!

After prohibition, Bunco group activity declined in the major cities of the country, but spread to the suburbs as housing developments and the migratory population expanded nationally. Probably because the suburbs found ways around the prohibition rules.

Since the early 1980’s Bunco group activity has increased due to a combination of circumstances; a return to traditional family values , a sense of neighborhood and community and the desire and need for social interaction. Thank you Ronald Reagan.

And we have great prizes.

I will look out the window next month for the Bunco Squad. Especially since it will be at my place!

I’ll also explain the chicken next month. By the end of the night, it was no longer called a chicken. I used Get Totally Rad’s Super Fun Happy action on all of these photos. Because it was that kind of night.

Thanks Tim for the history lesson.