Arrive Early!

Yes, it feels strange starting pre-drinks at half 5, frantically guzzling down rum and coke while simultaneously making your dinner, but arriving early to Bongo’s Bingo is essential. Tables fill quickly, and if you want to be showered in Coco Pops and have a front-row view of all the night’s debauchery, arriving by 7pm is your number 1 focus for the evening.

Don’t get too sloshed

Pace yourself, because the event is at least 4 hours long. In order to enjoy oneself, one must master the bevved:focussed ratio; the high art of being drunk enough to not question why a Henry Hoover is crowd surfing and sober enough to be able to cross off every number that gets called out.

Practice your dance-off dance moves

If two people call out “Bingo!” at the same time, they’re subjected to a dance-off in order to decide the winner. So make sure to have a fully rehearsed dance routine and some complex lap-dance moves at your disposal.

Get in the zone with a cheesy playlist

The pre-drinks playlist is an essential part of a night out no matter where you’re going but, when it comes to Bongos Bingo, it’s even more important to set the mood right away. Think Fruity but with a little bit of school disco thrown in – load up your Spotify with every throwback 2000’s banger you can think of and when you arrive you’ll feel right at home!

Wear flat shoes

The last thing you want to happen is to end up flat on a tequila-soaked floor covered in Coco Pops because you’ve just snapped a heel while dancing on the benches. You can’t get away with not dancing on the benches, so make sure you wear some practical footwear to avoid looking like more of a fool.

The numbers are arranged vertically

This may seem obvious to some people, but two of the Music Ed team were caught out by this. The numbers are arranged in columns of tens. So if the number 72 is read out for example, make sure you check just the 70’s column, rather than the frantic page scanning we spent doing in the first round.

 

Brace Yourself for Possible Mild Heartbreak

There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs throughout the evening, including a giant inflatable rubber duck, bottles of alcohol, and a massive fluffy unicorn. There are six rounds and each one has a first place cash prize. This increases to a gargantuan prize of £500 in the final round. Needless to say, it’s slightly painful to have been miles off of winning anything all evening, to then find yourself one number from winning £500 at the end of the night… (Clare’s not bitter at all)

 

If you fancy a game or two then head over to https://www.bongosbingo.co.uk/ for more information; there are dates available weekly through March and April.

 

Clare Redman, Meg Firth, Rhiannon-Skye Boden