CHEYENNE — Before the shuttle that drops people off at the Cheyenne Frontier Days gate, a visitor was already spotted wearing shorts with cowboy boots.
The same goes for someone with a neck tattoo, a man with a mullet — also a woman with a mullet — a woman with no bra, socks with sandals and a teenager wearing saggy pants.
Even before getting to the midway, the Cheyenne Frontier Days Bingo card was nearly a third filled, if you include the “free space” center square.
Few of the tens of thousands of out-of-staters who flock to the Daddy of ’Em All each year know about CFD Bingo. They’re lured by rodeo, country music and anything else even remotely associated with the American West.
For locals, it’s a self-deprecating game of spot the stereotype that they look forward to every year.
The premise is simple: The CFD Bingo card has 25 squares, each representing something to check off when a player sees it at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
“It’s just one of those things locals chuckle about,” said Cheyenne resident Harvey Deselms, who said he makes a point of sharing the bingo card each year.
“I repost that every Frontier Days, and it’s fun to open that dialogue,” he said.
Perhaps the most entertaining part of CFD Bingo is seeing how many of the squares you can check off by looking in a mirror, Deselms said.
Case in point: “I had the coolest mullet when I worked at the Old West Museum in the 1980s and 1990s,” he said. “I have a picture of myself with George Strait with a mullet.”
Like other fashion trends, “Mullets are back in style, it seems,” Deselms said.
Jeans tucked into boots is one of the stereotypes on the CFD Bingo card. While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
Jeans tucked into boots is one of the stereotypes on the CFD Bingo card. While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
Leela Costin, 14, of Illinois, left, with her fringe jacket and skirt, said she loves all things country. While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
D.J. Adams of Cheyenne doesn't check off any CFD Bingo squares, but the Wyoming native says he likes to play another game: spot the out-of-stater. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
This image checks off two squares of CFD Bingo: jeans tucked into boots, and boots with shorts. While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
While tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors flock to Cheyenne Frontier Days every year, locals love it too. And one of the more popular things they do is play CFD Bingo, a light-hearted game of spot the stereotype. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)
The Challenge
That shuttle bus ride to the Cheyenne Frontier Days grounds Friday was the beginning of a Cowboy State Daily experiment: How many spaces can be checked off in one hour at CFD?
The short answer is more than half.
Along with the ones out of the way just taking the shuttle, also observed was someone in a United States flag T-shirt, more than one plumber’s crack, a jacket with fringe on it and a fresh black eye.
That last one may be a little suspect; the black eye was very evident, but it’s not clear how fresh it was. We counted it anyway.
As it was 11 a.m. to noon, there’s some relief that a drunk person vomiting, a fight or somebody getting arrested weren’t observed in that 60 minutes.
For those, it’s best to be there after dark, said Ashley Yuckenberg, a CFD volunteer who said she’s “definitely seen a lot of those” bingo items.
“I worked the Luke Bryan concert, and I’ve definitely seen a man with a mullet, a woman with no bra, I’ve seen the jeans tucked into boots,” she said. “I didn’t see anybody actually arrested, but have seen someone getting kicked out.
“Oh, and I saw a fight last night. I also saw a young man in overalls with no shirt and lots of neck tattoos.”
The Offenders
By far, the box easiest to check off is someone wearing shorts with cowboy boots. It’s not even close.
That doesn’t mean whoever wears that combination is a wannabe cowboy or cowgirl, said Jenny Montgomery of Cheyenne.
She was wearing boots with yellow shorts on the midway Friday.
“I don’t know why that one would be on there,” she said. Finding boots and shorts “is too easy, I think.”
Jake Galbreath, 18, is a Cheyenne native who said he loves Frontier Days — and the concept of CFD Bingo.
Even if he checks off one of the boxes. On Friday, he was there with girlfriend Jamie McCoy, 17, with his jeans tucked into his cowboy boots.
Even his girlfriend shows no mercy with that.
“If I wasn’t with him, I would look at that and think he’s an out-of-stater,” she quipped.
“Yeah, I know. It breaks the rule,” Galbreath said. “It’s because they’re skinny jeans and won’t go over the boots.”
He even knew of the bingo game and wore the getup anyway, he said.
“Yeah, I was born and raised here, and I saw (the bingo card) on Facebook. I think it’s great,” he said.
Both said they’ve observed most, if not all, of the things on the bingo card in the three years they’ve been attending CFD together.
“We’re here from open to close, so I think if you do that you have a good chance of filling out all the squares,” Galbreath said.
Spot The Out-Of-Stater
D.J. Adams of Cheyenne doesn’t check off anything on the bingo card, but he was double-fisting giant, plastic gallon jugs of lemonade while watching his son go on rides on the midway.
He hadn’t heard of CFD Bingo, but likes another unofficial game locals play during rodeo week: spot the out-of-stater.
Every Cheyenne local or Wyomingite talked to on the fairgrounds Friday said they think they can spot out-of-staters from a mile away.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Adams said. “They’re the ones wearing the 10-gallon hat and the shiny boots that have never been worked. They think they’re cowboys, but have never stacked a pile of hay.
“They’re either a celebrity or from out of state.”
While Galbreath could be mistaken for an out-of-stater, he said he also can spot them.
“It’s obvious,” he said. “Cowboy boots or hats with shorts, that’s a sign. That’s what gives it away.”
Montgomery, in her shorts, hat and boots, might disagree. But the Cheyenne native also said she can spot someone from out-of-state “from a mile away.”
“Usually, they have cowboy hats and sneakers, that’s a good indication,” she said. “And the cowboy hat is brand new. And the boots, if they don’t look like they’ve been in the dirt, they’re from out of state.”
One of those out-of-staters who look the part is Leela Costin. The 14-year-old from Illinois also checks off a box in her fringe jacket.
She said she had been looking forward to Cheyenne Frontier Days for a long time and loves Western culture.
“I’ve been to horse riding lessons and I’m just country,” she said. “I listen to country music and just love it.”
Some Things You Don’t Want To Know
Cheyenne Frontier Days Bingo really has no rules as it’s floated around social media for years. But if there were rules, exempting shuttle bus drivers would have to be No. 1.
That’s because they can fill out a blackout of the card pretty easily, said Kevin Bennetts, a Laramie County School District bus driver who runs a shuttle back and forth during CFD.
In fact, he jokes that there are times he can probably check all the boxes with one load of visitors.
• Man and woman with a mullet: “Oh yes, I’ve seen more than few mullets,” Bennetts said. “I’m pretty sure that one woman with red hair had a pretty good mullet going on.”
• Shorts with boots, and fringe: “Lots of shorts and boots, for sure,” he said. “And fringe, yes, there have been quite a few ladies come through who like their fringe.”
• Shorts with writing on the butt: “I think they said, ‘Giddyap.’”
• Seen a fight: “I’ve heard words exchanged, but haven’t seen any physical fights yet.”
• Saggy pants: “Oh man, don’t get me started. Yes, I see a lot of that, and I hate it.”
• Drunk person crying: “I’ve seen a lot of tears, but I can’t guarantee if they were drunk or not.”
• Plumber’s crack: “Oh, hell yeah. I don’t want to go there, but I’ve seen plenty of that.”
Cheyenne Frontier Days Bingo is harmless fun, Bennetts said. But be careful what you wish for when you start playing.
“I just watch people coming on and off the bus,” he said. “But you also learn things along the way — sometimes things I don’t want to know.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
