The Remarkable Revival of Bingo Night
At EBO’s bingo events, lowbrow charm mixes with a highbrow menu. You’re handed a cocktail immediately upon walking in, you’re encouraged to throw back unlimited oysters, and it’s extremely likely you’ll do a bump of caviar. Plus, both recurring and new guests take the opportunity to dress for the occasion. “Everybody shows the fuck up,” Cervasio says.
Paris Geraniotis, a regular attendee, designs a new outfit for each event. One especially memorable getup involved a skirt and crop top made out of bingo cards. (On occasion, I’ve also been known to don a bingo-themed sequined vest.)
Geraniotis says bingo felt like the perfect opportunity to lean into the theme. “I’d played bingo a handful of times in high school—at my local Elks Club—so there was a nostalgic charm to revisiting it, just in a much cooler setting this time,” she says.
Then there’s the type of bingo that your local watering hole has started hosting weekly. In my opinion, part of its beauty is that it’s often quite laid-back—and it doesn’t feel weird to show up alone.
Bingo is becoming the new trivia night, argues Rev. Rusty Reams, the personality behind the Great Bingo Revival and an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church. In the early 2010s, you’d head to a bar to play a few rounds, he reasons, but now, midweek hangouts are getting the retro treatment.
In 2012, Reams introduced an old-school bingo event with a new-school twist to create a “rhythm and funk soul explosion.” Based in Lake Tahoe, Calif., the Great Bingo Revival mixes dancing, music, comedy, prizes, and improv into the game. It’s hosted by the colorfully costumed Reams and a group of go-go dancers that “serve as a mix of Vanna White from Wheel of Fortune and the LA Lakers girls,” Reams says.
