What image comes to your mind when you think of bingo? A good guess would be old ladies, smoke from cigarettes and dark basements with no windows. However, some bingo halls in North America are reinventing themselves to reach younger generations.
In Canada, major cities like Toronto have nightclubs hosting ‘dirty bingo’, where vulgarity is used to establish ‘flesh fests’ hosted by Shirley, a transvestite. ‘Get lucky bingo’ is another option, mostly favored by punks, who get the chance to win x-rated toys. Also ‘bingo for life’ is an event hosted by a drag queen, where cross-dressing is nearly mandatory and money is raised for people with terminal illnesses.
In the U.S., the New Yorker ‘hipster bingo’ rewards indie concert’s attendees who spot hipster clichés in the crowd. Also in ‘buzzword bingo’ workers earn squares secretly, every time they catch a superior using corporate speak during a meeting. ‘Bitter bingo’, from Maryland, rewards women with squares according to the type of man that annoys them at a bar.
On the same line, in May, ABC will start broadcasting ‘National Bingo Night’, a TV program conceived for young generations.
What image comes to your mind when you think of bingo? A good guess would be old ladies, smoke from cigarettes and dark basements with no windows. However, some bingo halls in North America are reinventing themselves to reach younger generations.