Bingo: a pastime that was once reserved for the oldies – sat in old-timey bingo halls on seriously uncomfortable plastic chairs, dauber in hand. However, bingo has somehow wormed its way into the hearts of millennials. There are bingo events and websites popping up all over the shop, and the trend is pretty hard to ignore.
Breaking news: bingo is cool.
The bingo game has changed
No longer are we confined to stuffy bingo halls. Bingo is everywhere. You can get yourself down to a fancy new bingo venue, you can take part in the new trend that is a bingo rave, and you can even play a game or two online from the comfort of your sofa.
How about a game of bingo where instead of shouting out numbers, the host plays a movie theme and you need to know the name of the film to cross it off?
Sounds pretty awesome. Dabbers at the ready, we’re about to tell you where you can get your bingo on across London…
There’s plenty going on in London
Musical Bingo’s Summer Party
When: Thursday 24th August, 7pm ’til 11pm
Where: Concrete, Shoreditch High Street
First off, what’s musical bingo? Remember earlier when we talked about playing movie themes instead of numbers? Well, that’s it. Apart from the fact that it doesn’t have to be music from films, it can be any piece of music.
Musical Bingo is hosting their summer party this August right here in the ‘Ditch. There’ll be three rounds of feel-good, summer and dance jams. All you have to do is get down there, enjoy the summer sun, and holler when you hit a full house.
Rebel Bingo – Return To The Underworld
When: Saturday 7th October, 8pm ’til 11pm
Where: Somewhere along the River Thames (mysterious, eh?)
So, everything about this event is a pretty mysterious. It describes itself as a “very intense and emotional style of bingo”. They talk about a “fresh new approach to bingo”, but don’t give much away regarding what exactly makes it different. This is the reason this event has piqued our interest.
This event has travelled far and wide, from New York, LA, and Vegas to Ibiza, Preston, and London. They’ll be running a few regular events from September (dates TBC) but the biggie is their Return To The Underworld party in October. It certainly seems like a bingo event you don’t want to miss, as Rebel Bingo nights usually involve live music acts, glitter, music, burlesque dancers and more.
Steamy Bingo & Bottomless Brunch
When: Every Saturday, 11am ’til 2pm
Where: The Candlemaker, Clapham
What’s the one thing that could make a game of bingo even better? That’s right… bottomless brunch. We Londoners love a good Mimosa, which is why Tina Turner Tea Lady hosts a steamy bingo and brunch event every single Saturday.
Fully equipped with all your brunchy dream-foods and a pimp your own Bloody Mary bar, Steamy Bingo & Bottomless Brunch is a spot on way to get in on the bingo trend.
“cocktails-1149171_1920” (Public Domain) by creativebta
Boogaloo Stu Bingo
When: Every Wednesday, 7.30pm ’til 10pm
Where: The Birds, Leyton
Take a good old game of bingo, add a hilarious, eccentric host, and you’ve got Boogaloo Stu Bingo. There’s nothing super different about the game of bingo here, but why try to fix something that’s not broken?
If a proper pub and a bit of stand-up comedy tickles your fancy, this is the event to get you on the bingo train.
The online bingo boom
Not only has the rise in bingo’s popularity led to tons of bingo nights, it’s created an even bigger boom of online bingo games, and in fact, the world wide web may well be where the new bingo trend started. Nowadays, there are so many bingo websites out there, which often include themed bingo rooms, live chat and hosts on live video, that other websites to compare the various online bingo offerings have also popped up. They’ll also point out which providers offer sign-up bonuses, a marketing tactic frequently seen in the online casino world that bingo has also embraced.
See you there…
So, there you have it. Undeniable evidence that bingo truly is taking over. It seems that there is a bingo event for every Londoner out there, from music to comedy, from brunch to super secret bingo parties. You can even jump on the trend online. You’ve seriously got no excuse not to get involved in the game that’s slowly taking over the world.
