CHEYENNE â 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 â also a woman with a mullet â 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 âfree spaceâ center square.
Few of the tens of thousands of out-of-staters who flock to the Daddy of âEm All each year know about CFD Bingo. Theyâre lured by rodeo, country music and anything else even remotely associated with the American West.
For locals, itâs 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.
âItâs just one of those things locals chuckle about,â said Cheyenne resident Harvey Deselms, who said he makes a point of sharing the bingo card each year.
âI repost that every Frontier Days, and itâs fun to open that dialogue,â 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: âI had the coolest mullet when I worked at the Old West Museum in the 1980s and 1990s,â he said. âI have a picture of myself with George Strait with a mullet.â
Like other fashion trends, âMullets are back in style, it seems,â Deselms said.
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 plumberâs 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 itâs not clear how fresh it was. We counted it anyway.
As it was 11 a.m. to noon, thereâs some relief that a drunk person vomiting, a fight or somebody getting arrested werenât observed in that 60 minutes.
For those, itâs best to be there after dark, said Ashley Yuckenberg, a CFD volunteer who said sheâs âdefinitely seen a lot of thoseâ bingo items.
âI worked the Luke Bryan concert, and Iâve definitely seen a man with a mullet, a woman with no bra, Iâve seen the jeans tucked into boots,â she said. âI didnât see anybody actually arrested, but have seen someone getting kicked out.
âOh, and I saw a fight last night. I also saw a young man in overalls with no shirt and lots of neck tattoos.â
The Offenders
By far, the box easiest to check off is someone wearing shorts with cowboy boots. Itâs not even close.
That doesnât 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.
âI donât know why that one would be on there,â she said. Finding boots and shorts âis too easy, I think.â
Jake Galbreath, 18, is a Cheyenne native who said he loves Frontier Days â 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.
âIf I wasnât with him, I would look at that and think heâs an out-of-stater,â she quipped.
âYeah, I know. It breaks the rule,â Galbreath said. âItâs because theyâre skinny jeans and wonât go over the boots.â
He even knew of the bingo game and wore the getup anyway, he said.
âYeah, I was born and raised here, and I saw (the bingo card) on Facebook. I think itâs great,â he said.
Both said theyâve observed most, if not all, of the things on the bingo card in the three years theyâve been attending CFD together.
âWeâre here from open to close, so I think if you do that you have a good chance of filling out all the squares,â Galbreath said.

Spot The Out-Of-Stater
D.J. Adams of Cheyenne doesnât 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 hadnât 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.
âOh yeah, for sure,â Adams said. âTheyâre the ones wearing the 10-gallon hat and the shiny boots that have never been worked. They think theyâre cowboys, but have never stacked a pile of hay.
âTheyâre either a celebrity or from out of state.â
While Galbreath could be mistaken for an out-of-stater, he said he also can spot them.
âItâs obvious,â he said. âCowboy boots or hats with shorts, thatâs a sign. Thatâs what gives it away.â
Montgomery, in her shorts, hat and boots, might disagree. But the Cheyenne native also said she can spot someone from out-of-state âfrom a mile away.â
âUsually, they have cowboy hats and sneakers, thatâs a good indication,â she said. âAnd the cowboy hat is brand new. And the boots, if they donât look like theyâve been in the dirt, theyâre from out of state.â
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.
âIâve been to horse riding lessons and Iâm just country,â she said. âI listen to country music and just love it.â
Some Things You Donât Want To Know
Cheyenne Frontier Days Bingo really has no rules as itâs floated around social media for years. But if there were rules, exempting shuttle bus drivers would have to be No. 1.
Thatâs 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: âOh yes, Iâve seen more than few mullets,â Bennetts said. âIâm pretty sure that one woman with red hair had a pretty good mullet going on.â
⢠Shorts with boots, and fringe: âLots of shorts and boots, for sure,â he said. âAnd fringe, yes, there have been quite a few ladies come through who like their fringe.â
⢠Shorts with writing on the butt: âI think they said, âGiddyap.ââ
⢠Seen a fight: âIâve heard words exchanged, but havenât seen any physical fights yet.â
⢠Saggy pants: âOh man, donât get me started. Yes, I see a lot of that, and I hate it.â
⢠Drunk person crying: âIâve seen a lot of tears, but I canât guarantee if they were drunk or not.â
⢠Plumberâs crack: âOh, hell yeah. I donât want to go there, but Iâve seen plenty of that.â
Cheyenne Frontier Days Bingo is harmless fun, Bennetts said. But be careful what you wish for when you start playing.
âI just watch people coming on and off the bus,â he said. âBut you also learn things along the way â sometimes things I donât want to know.â
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.