England’s wildest nights: Bongo’s Bingo mixes dance-offs, cheesy giveaways and ’90s nostalgia with the actual game

England’s wildest nights: Bongo’s Bingo mixes dance-offs, cheesy giveaways and ’90s nostalgia with the actual game

Article brief provided by The Wall Street Journal
  • James Hookway, The Wall Street Journal
September 3, 2022 4:25 PM
  • James Hookway, The Wall Street Journal
  • United Kingdom

Fluffy unicorns and other kitsch prizes? Check. Thumping dance anthems and male dancers in curly blond wigs flinging glow sticks into the crowd? Check.

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Bingo?

That’s right. Actual bingo. A staple of nursing homes and fundraisers in the U.S., the numbers game has been on a journey since Jonny Lacey and his friend Joshua Burke turned it into Bongo’s Bingo-a no-holds-barred night out in Liverpool where Mr. Lacey presides over a mashup of dance-offs, cheesy giveaways, ’90s nostalgia acts and, in between, a few rounds of bingo.

A recent pair of shows here drew 3,500 people each night, the biggest yet.