Although its official name is Albert Lea Amateur Hockey Association Bar Bingo, everyone just calls it “Conger bingo.”

And it has been around since 2004.

The proceeds benefit the hockey association but the fun benefits the bingo players who show up Saturday afternoons year-round at Conger Municipal Liquor. Some play on occasion and some are loyal regulars.

You’ll usually find Rich and Frieda Boelke of Albert Lea in the corner booth.

“I like the atmosphere. There are a lot of fun people here,” Frieda said. “It’s my date day.”

“We used to go to the movies,” Rich added. “It was a lot cheaper.”

With that comment, the five people in the booth chuckled. The mood at Conger bingo is lighthearted and spirited. And it isn’t long before Frieda is yelling “Bingo!”

She compared the feeling of winning bingo to the feeling of accomplishing a goal.

David Prestholt of Twin Lakes said many times he hasn’t won at all but sometimes he wins several. He said one day he won five times.

“It’s a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and you get a chance to win $500, if you’re lucky,” he said.

Here is how Conger bingo works: You pay $1 per sheet. The players work their way through 15 games of bingo, each one different. The games have names such as cluster of nine, floating six pack, two postage stamps, railroad tracks and so on. There is a 75 percent payback on all games — not too exceed $99 — except for blackout.

Game 14 is blackout. The prize is $500 if you fill in all the squares within a set amount of called numbers. The amount starts at 48 numbers. If no one gets it, the consolation is $50 for the first blackout and next week the amount goes to 49 numbers. If no one wins, then 50. The amount goes up each week by one until someone wins the $500. Then it returns to 48.

There’s a catch, too. You can’t just walk in the bar in time for blackout, buy a card and expect to win it all. To be eligible for the blackout jackpot, you have to have been playing each game since at least Game 8.

On Saturday afternoon during Game 8, there were about 60 people at Conger Municipal and about 45 of them were playing bingo. Some were sitting at the bar. Some were at tables by themselves. Some were at multiple tables with friends and family. The crowd was a mix of young and old and men and women. Some were local and some were from out of the area.

And there always seems to be a crowd of non-players who are just enjoying the bar’s atmosphere. They ride snowmobiles in the winter and motorcycles in the summer.

Patty Hove is there managing the bingo every Saturday. She has done it since it began. She is the outside auditor for the Albert Lea Amateur Hockey Association. She doesn’t play. She handles the money, sells the bingo sheets, checks the winning ones and pretty much keeps track of everything.

“I am like their permanent fixture,” she said. “I love the hootin’ and hollerin’ when they win.”

The only time Conger bingo is canceled is for snowstorms or certain holidays. The crowds are smaller in the summer, so, for instance, there isn’t Conger bingo on Fourth of July weekend.

She said having Conger in bingo provides an advantage to having it in Albert Lea because the small town has a relaxed atmosphere.

Another aspect that makes Conger bingo special, Hove said, is that none of the proceeds goes to the bar.

Conger Municipal Liquor Manager Marie Helland said the bar benefits from being filled up. Saturday afternoon is the busiest time of the week unless the bar hosts a band or a special event on another day.

She always has one cook and one bartender staffed, but a second bartender often is needed during the bingo crowd as it transitions into the dinner crowd.

Helland said Conger bingo brings in different faces than at any other time of the week.

“It brings people out to have a good time,” she said.

1. Regular bingo or four corners

2. Flag

3. Cluster of nine

4. Hardway bingo

5. Letter X

6. Floating six pack

7. Crazy Z

8. The star

9. Two postage stamps

10. Small picture frame

11. Railroad tracks

12. Blackout minus one

13. Any nine numbers

14. Progressive blackout

15. Large diamond

George Gillespie, the manager of Eddie’s Bar in Albert Lea and owner of the Web-Room, was calling the numbers on Saturday. A microphone is used to make sure everyone can hear. Normally, Jenny Hove or Janet Schumaker call the numbers in the winter months. Gillespie substitutes for Jenny if the parking lot is icy. Jenny, who is Patty’s mother, has a bad hip.

Running the microphone means keeping the players interested.

“I try to tell a joke at the beginning of every session to lighten the mood,” Gillespie said.

The joke he told on Saturday was this:

“Ole and Lena live on a farm down near Emmons. The farm has been in the family for five generations and as far as Ole knew it had never been surveyed.

“So Ole hires a survey company to do the job. The survey representative comes out and completes the survey and returns a few days later to explain the results to Ole and Lena.

“The survey rep tells Ole and Lena, ‘As a result of the survey, it turns out your property is actually in Iowa and not Minnesota.’

“Lena looks to Ole and says, ‘Thank goodness for that. I don’t know if I could take another Minnesota winter.’”

Troy Prescher is the gambling manager for the hockey association. He said Conger bingo is a good revenue source. The association’s leading revenue source is from pull-tabs found at many bars in the area.

“Gambling helps offset the cost of ice and pays for traveling expenses for tournaments and some equipment,” Prescher said.

As a result, the association keeps the registration fee for kids low.

Prescher shows up at Conger bingo sometimes to help Patty sell bingo sheets. He said bingo has remained popular in Conger despite the 2006 opening of the Diamond Jo Casino in Northwood, Iowa.

“The friendly atmosphere is what brings a lot of people in there for us,” he said.