A Great Game All Grown Up

A few Tuesdays ago, I discovered something glorious (that I’ve done every week since and I would’ve repeated this week had I not been—for lack of a better word—recovering from graduation weekend). That, my friends is Bingo.

Now I know what you’re thinking. I didn’t crash a kindergarten class party (creepy…but the M&M’s they always use would’ve been great), nor was I at a retirement home or a bingo hall (because last time there were…ummm…several noise complaints against me).

No this was a little kid game in a big kid setting. This was bingo…at a BAR.

Now if my kickball team experience or the great time my friends and I had playing our marvelous creation called “Rumopoly” were any indication, I should’ve known that these slightly modified elementary school games are always a good time. And my experience the last few Tuesday nights at “Mutha Effin Bingo” at Union Park—which has been getting a lot of love from me lately—was no exception. The bar gets absolutely packed Tuesday nights at 8:00 with college kids and young adults duking it out, not only to get a seat, but to get the elusive five-in-a-row and the chance to yell…you guessed it: BINGOOOOOOO!

The bar and talkative host cleverly drag out the six games of Bingo—with intervening trivia questions—to approximately three hours, so beware because those bar tabs add up. But who doesn’t want to hang out in a great atmosphere with the chance to win sweet prizes (like a Shake Weight, giant inflatable Bacardi bottle or actual bottle service) and sit on the edge of their seat waiting for the host to yell the highly-anticipated O-69 that results in everyone’s two favorite words: free shots?

Exactly. So say it with me: B-I-N-G-O(69). I mean it’s not exactly eating M&Ms or sitting with disapproving senior citizens, but—hey—it’s pretty damn fun.