Student Free Bingo
When Leicester University students held a bingo
bash for the elderly from around the city at Christmas in 2007, it was cited
as merely another feel-good story from the festive period. While organising
a meal followed by a game of free
bingo for the old folk around
the town took some doing, the inspiring nature of the tale has seen a
dramatic rise in the popularity of the game within student groups, spawning
some interesting varieties.
Drinking Bingo
It is no secret that students like to relax after a long day’s lectures
with a drink or two at the local student union. Guaranteed preferential
rates on drinks from suppliers make them attractive bets for students eager
to maximise their spending power. An increasing trend around the unions of
the country is to hold high-octane bingo nights, whereby the winners receive
drinks-related prizes rather than the usual monetary ones. Some students
have taken this one step further and taken the game to an “unofficial”
level, whereby they would garner a large amount of shot glasses in which is
poured a low-percentage alcoholic beverage, usually beer or cider.
The numbers on the cards are written in small sizes in the corner of each
box, leaving just enough space for a shot glass to be placed in the rest of
the box. When the balls are called the players have to take a drink, making
the winner to have removed all of his shot glasses from the table. To even
out the playing field for the caller, he also takes a drink with every ball
called, meaning that as the game goes on he will be less and less likely to
be able to read out the numbers!
Strip Bingo
A variation on the theme of Drinking Bingo, strip bingo is for the more
risqué of players. Smaller cards are again created, this time to reflect the
number of items of clothing worn by each player – an agreed amount. The
bingo caller draws out items of clothing, it being merely the luck of the
draw which player is left with only an arm covered in jewellery to protect
her modesty! Unsurprisingly, there have been many reported instances of
Strip Bingo being played after and alongside Drinking Bingo.
Animal Bingo
After the two post-watershed versions described above, this last amongst
the forms of the game most popular with students sees animals used instead
of numbers. One eager caller (usually the host of the party) prints “balls”,
comprising of pictures of animals scrunched up into a ball. They select at
random the balls from a hat and the players dab off the animals on their
pre-made cards. As a slight playful twist, the players must make the sound
of each animal called, and instead of bingo must make the noise of their
favourite animal.
Although some or all of these games would not appeal to the average bingo
hall clientele, it is a reflection on the malleability and universality of
the game’s appeal. While you or I may not wish to get naked while playing,
this cheeky
fun is exactly what has made
bingo so enduringly popular.