Neighborhood Entertains Themselves While Social Distancing by Playing “Balcony Bingo” [Video]

• Residents of one apartment complex in Madrid play bingo on their balcony every night to lift their spirits.
• The prize for winning the game is the honor of choosing the music to be played to announce the next game.
• Spain records 56,197 COVID-19 cases, along with 4,145 fatalities as of Thursday.

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Spain is under total lockdown as the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase. The country records the fourth-highest number of confirmed cases worldwide, second highest in Europe. But residents of one particular apartment complex in Madrid, refuse to let the lockdown bring their spirits down.

Cristina Pruenza and her husband decided to bring their neighborhood together every night with a game of bingo. Since their community is under quarantine and gathering everybody in one room is not an option, each player maintains a safe social distance between one another by playing inside their personal apartment balcony. From there, the players listen as the designated caller shout out the numbers.

No me aburro con el bingo de la urbanización #YoMeQuedoEnCasa #SolidaridadEnLaCuarentena pic.twitter.com/V99YI7bqhL— Cristina Pruenza (@CristinaPruenza) March 24, 2020

Those who would want to play the game will find extra bingo cards at the elevator of their apartment building, Christina says. “It helps us stay entertained at night,” she continued. “It brings us all together to laugh, and to be happy. And it creates an incredible feeling of solidarity.”

The actual game starts 6:15 PM, from Monday through Friday, but because calling everyone over is not an option, there is pre-game music played at 6:00 PM sharp to remind everybody that their bingo game is about to start. The prize for winning the bingo game is the honor of choosing the music to be played to announce the next game.

Cristina taped one of their bingo games and shared it on Twitter to show everybody how they entertain themselves indoors. Her translated caption for the tweet reads, “I’m not bored with housing development bingo” adding “#IStayAtHome” and “#SolidarityInQuarantine” at the end of her tweet.

“It is so satisfying to see all our neighbors having fun together,” Cristina said. “These little moments where we are all helping one another is what really makes me happy.”

Health experts around the world agree that isolation may help flatten the curve. Whether be it social distancing or country lockdown, the reduced number of people on the streets contributes to slowing down the spread of the coronavirus to ease the burden on healthcare workers.

Spain records 56,197 COVID-19 cases, along with 4,145 fatalities as of Thursday afternoon.

Source: People