There’s no doubt that bingo is one of the most popular and best loved pastimes, especially with regards to the older generation. Even nowadays the appeal has widened across all ages, specifically with the increasing popularity of online real money and social bingo games.
Unlike other popular growing trends, you don’t really see this growing phenomenon showcased in any movies. However there are a few directors who have chosen to showcase bingo in all its glory. Sometimes this is done through humour, sometimes to make a political point, but either way they are giving screen time to this deserved game.
We’ve compiled a list of these great bingo scenes below. We can’t guarantee that all of these are movies that make you want to play bingo, but they are the greatest bingo scenes you’ll see in a movie.
Rampage
Perhaps now becoming something of a cult film, Rampage contains an unintentionally hilarious bingo scene. The film itself is about a boy so disillusioned and angered at the world that he decides to take measures into his own hands, by ordering a Kevlar suit, loads of weapons and ammo and heading out on a shooting spree. In the scene, the young hitman wanders around a bingo hall, oblivious to players, noticed at first only by the food hall employee who gets so spooked he offers the food for free. Then the boy wanders back into the hall, resting his semi-automatic weapons on the table. Still he remains unnoticed until he grabs a ball from the bingo caller and shouts out. Even then, people only look up but are not startled, and certainly do not stop playing. The hilarious nod to the stereotype of old, oblivious bingo player is funny, but also worrying in the wider political context. This bingo scene is incredibly powerful.
Hotel Transylvania
Kids can learn to love bingo too, as shown in this animated children’s adventure. Hotel Transylvania is a holiday retreat owned by Dracula, designed for other monsters and ghouls to escape to on vacation. And like all good vacation resorts, there are great games to play during the day, including bingo. As we’re in Monsterland, everything is played the monster way. The bingo balls themselves are actually tiny skulls which hiss their number to the bingo caller who reads it out. In this scene, an excited bingo player who looks a bit like Frankenstein’s bride, cries bingo after her number is called out. Unfortunately, the player beside her is a hungry little old lady monster, who then eats her card. It’s a funny moment but also shows how competitive bingo players can get when the balls aren’t going their way.
Wog Boy
This scene starts off in a highly stereotypical fashion, with a sign revealing that bingo is taking place in the local church hall. Inside the hall of the Greek Orthodox establishment, plenty of old men and women are gathered in anticipation as the caller manually spins the wheel full of balls. However there’s no cry of ‘two little ducks!’ for the number or any enthusiasm really from this humorously disastrous bingo caller. The prize itself is also lacklustre, adding to the stereotypical bingo idea.
These are of course just a sample of the best bingo scenes out there, as we’re sure you’ll find plenty more on offer within different genres that are more suited to your film tastes.
