What comes to mind when you hear the word “bingo”? Can you see hordes of women hunched over formica tables, dabbers in hand, intently listening to the holiday-camp style caller trotting out the same old lines like “all on its own, number 1” and “Boris’s door, Number 10”?
Well in the old days that would have been a pretty accurate summary of a trip to the bingo, especially if you add in half pints of stout being nursed to last the night and a fog of cigarette smoke hanging in the air.
But it’s not just the laws about smoking in public that have changed, bingo has too. Gone are many of the old halls of old and the ones that are still open have transformed themselves into so-called “entertainment venues”. There’s also a whole new demographic that has taken up the game today. This has been largely driven by the runaway success of the online version of the game. The latest figures suggest that the typical online bingo player today is aged between 25 and 34 and it’s thought that there are a number of reasons for the game’s resurgence in popularity.
The free bonus bingo that incentivises players to start playing is important, but so is the wide choice of games and the speed of the online experience. It’s also started to introduce more men into playing, something the old-style halls never achieved or even attempted to do.
Bingo that’s totally bonkers
Another of the more unexpected offshoots of the online bingo boom has been that arrival of a number of clubs in Scotland and all round the UK putting on bingo nights. But the bingo playing is about all that they have in common with the old-style game.
Sometimes the clubs put on the events themselves but more often they’re run by the original, and arguably the best, inventor of the events, Bongo’s Bingo. This started on a distinctly small scale in Liverpool in 2015. The nights were the brainchild of a club DJ called Jonny Bongo (real name Lacey) and his partner Josh Burke while working at the city’s Camp and Furnace club. After huge early success, they decided to take the event on the road to other places including Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow.
The preferred venue for the Glasgow events, which are held several times a year, is the SWG3 arts complex near Kelvingrove on the banks of the Clyde. Held in the huge open space of the venue’s Galvanizers, it’s as wild a night as you’ll find in the city and it’s proved to be so popular that tickets tend to sell out almost as quickly as for Glastonbury. But at £7 for a full four hours of action, there’s no doubt at all that you’re really going to get your money’s worth.
The sweet spot between bingo and clubbing
As Jonny Bingo has explained in interviews, the idea has always been to create a night that’s more exciting than just going to enjoy a session at the bingo but more inclusive than heading for a club where the booming music means limited opportunities for interaction with friends. The result is a weirdly compelling combination of rave, cheesy club night, karaoke and, of course, bingo.
That this has wide appeal is easy to see from the huge cross section of people who head for Bongo’s Bingo with some coming for the music, some just for the experience and others for the bingo itself.
From the moment that things get going it’s an all action night that’s nothing if not high energy. A lot of this comes from Jonny Bongo himself. As a seasoned club DJ, he knows exactly how to push the crowd’s buttons so even the most reticent of them will soon be dancing on the tables and joining in the general fun and mayhem. The atmosphere itself is hyper-energetic and can rise to a level of being like being in a combination of an Ibiza-style rave and the world’s biggest hen party, although with men not just allowed but positively welcome.
Although it’s a bingo night, the games are interspersed with wild fun like 20-minute rave sessions (with glow sticks provided, of course!) and cheesy classics from ABBA to Roachford and everyone in between. So, the atmosphere is ever so slightly camp with the addition of dance-offs often featuring cross-dressing dancers and members of the audience plucked out of the crowd to come on stage.
Eyes down . . . for a cuddly unicorn
But let’s not forget the bingo itself. This is the part of the night when things get serious . . . ish. When the games are being played there’s almost total silence as the caller announces the numbers. And yes, he does use his own special phrases for different numbers, but most are too rude the repeat here. And if anyone makes the faux pas of shouting “house” prematurely they can expect some not too kind words of abuse to be directed their way.
As for the prizes, these are equally idiosyncratic. There is cash to be won and sometimes this can rise to as much as £750 on one of the evening’s later games. Before that there are far quirkier alternatives that have become real cult items to acquire. For example, there’s always a life-size cut out to win and in the past these have included figures like Philip Schofield and Ainsley Harriott and another of the most prized gifts is the toy unicorn that’s the size of a large dog.
Another great moment comes when the winner of a box of Coco Pops is announced and applauded. Unfortunately, the tradition is that they don’t take them home for breakfast, they open them and spray them all over the surrounding area. So, you could be finding pieces of the cereal in your hair for days afterwards.
To get a real feel for what a Glasgow night of Bongo’s Bingo is like there’s an online video that captures at least some of the madness. But, believe us when we say that the video really does only show you the half of it!