Rugby’s Friends of the Lyric Theater hosted a unique game of Bingo at Dakota Farms Restaurant Monday night, with eye-catching designer bags for prizes.

“They’re like moneybags,” smiled Friends of the Lyric Board Member Jodie Kirchofner, who organized the fundraising event. “They’re designer bags. They’re arranged from $500 to $980 for the bags.”

Five bags sat on a long display table, artfully arranged around a vase, a replica shoe filled with chocolate truffles, and assorted dcor at the front of the restaurant’s banquet room. The purses featured labels such as Fossil, Gucci, Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade. Sizes ranged from a compact Kate Spade bag to a roomy light-tan Gucci tote.

The seats at the round banquet tables gradually filled, and players chatted as they played five rounds of blackout Bingo, each for a stylish prize. Cards were sold at $30 each, with the proceeds going to the Lyric Theater.

Kirchofner said, “Of course, every single penny (from Bingo card sales) goes to the Lyric Theater. Since all the purses were sponsored, everything else goes (to the Lyric), too.”

Some rounds had multiple winners. Two women playing for a pink leather Kate Spade bag dotted with clear plastic diamond shapes called, “Bingo” at the same time, and they put their names in a hat to draw either the bag or a coach wallet as a prize.

Kirchofner and Holly Niemi, who served as caller for the games, laughed and said, “We didn’t plan for this. We’ll have to figure something out for the next time we do this!”

The players shared in their laughter, and seemed to enjoy their evening.

Kirchofner, who organizes fundraisers for the Friends of the Lyric, noted, ” We haven’t done a lot of fundraising. The last one we did was probably a car show. It was probably three summers ago.”

“We’re hoping the designer handbag Bingo becomes an annual event, or semi-annual. We hope it’s a good one.”