Bingo, it’s not just for the senior center anymore. (Flickr CC / bridges&balloons)

As the Wyoming Legislature convenes, dedicated followers will tune in to live audio streaming from the House and Senate chambers, as well as the Joint Appropriations Committee meeting room. Though there will be spikes of drama and impassioned floor speechifying (perhaps especially in an election year) there will also be debates that drag on for hours as 90 part-time lawmakers bring research, personal experience, politics and personality to policy-making.  

Those interested in the Legislature but unwilling to dedicate the business hours of their workweek to an audio livestream will tune in to news sources like WyoFile to read about the decisions, with the arguments summarized.

If you’re in this second category but think perhaps this is the year to cross the divide from legislative newshawk to legislative chamber listening pro, WyoFile has you covered.

You want to catch the nuance of the debate on bills that interest you. Perhaps you even plan to visit the temporary Capitol building over the course of the budget session beginning Feb. 12. But you’re unsure. You’re afraid. You don’t know if you have what it takes to sit still and listen as 80 men and 10 women drone on for days. Plus, you have a job.

Are you ready to make the leap?

Will it help if we gamify it for you?

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter for an extra WYNGO edge

The WYNGO bingo card below is comprised of 24 phrases we’ve heard over and over again. Call them the working phrases of a citizen legislature, or the frustrating cliches of a slow-moving group of nitpickers. It depends on your take. 

In a two-part in-depth series on the death of a criminal justice reform bill last year, for example, variations of the phrase “it wasn’t ready for prime time” appeared three times — not counting the instances that didn’t survive the editing process. One frustrated lobbyist whose comments landed on the cutting room floor affected a western drawl when he told WyoFile that as the bill’s chances dimmed, “All I kept hearing was this annoying-ass cliche that they always say like ‘well it just wasn’t ready for prime time.’”

If you choose to play, print this card out and put it on your desk. As you tune in to House and Senate floor debates, keep your ears open for these phrases. Likewise you can watch for them in quotes in WyoFile’s ongoing coverage. When you hear or read one, cross it out. Compete with your friends. Get a line horizontally, vertically or diagonally and you’ve got Wyngo. The center WyoFile square is, just like our reporting, free.

Enjoy the game. And please, let us know how it goes and how quickly you were able to yell “Wyngo!”.

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  1. The Wyoming State Legislature will soon be in session. Stay tuned for more “Cheyennigans.”

    “No man’s life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session,” ~ Mark Twain

    Reply