The Campus Activities Board (CAB) hosted another bingo night this past Thursday, though this event was different from the rest as its theme was “Meme Bingo,” and revolved around popular internet jokes.
CAB hosts a bingo night every third Thursday of the month at 9 p.m. in the Granite State Room, each of which has a signature theme. CAB’s most prominent bingo-themed events are Halloween Bingo in the fall and Sex-Ed Bingo in the spring. This particular bingo night was filled with the most popular memes of internet culture ranging from Arthur-clenching-fist memes to emotional Drake memes.
The line to get a “good” table this past time stretched past Union Court, often reaching the Strafford Room. Within the line, students could be seen camping out hours before the event doing homework.
If you are picturing numbers being called out in a dull, steady monotone to a quiet crowd, think again. The most recent bingo night was filled with endless energy and enthusiasm, which fostered a zero-judgement, carefree, party-like atmosphere.
Each round of bingo was complete with singing, dancing, dank memes, games and novelties like a John Cena cutout, horse head and a swan pool float. The stage featured students battling out tie breakers through lip syncs and dance-offs to hits like Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” and the 2012 viral dance sensation, “Harlem Shake.”
Meme bingo brought out student veterans of bingo night as well as some newcomers.
“There is a lot more energy than old people bingo,” freshman psychology major Hannah Dukat said, a newcomer to bingo nights.
Bingo night also saw what is arguably its biggest fans, the “Bingo Boyz,” a group of five freshmen college of engineering and physical sciences (CEPS)majors, Chris Schwartz, Kenneth Severance-Camp, Joshua Rush, Connor Melican and Graeme Lambert, who are always in attendance. They wore their own custom made sky blue shirts, each labeled with one letter spelling “BINGO.”
“Yeah, bingo night is kind of our thing. It’s just silly and fun,” Schwartz said. They even have their own Instagram page, @thosebingoboyz69.
The night ended with blackout bingo with the top prize up for grabs, a 32-inch plasma screen TV. The prize was awarded to sophomore economics and political science dual major Rowan Ferrier. It was his first time attending bingo night.
“I never really played bingo, maybe a little in high school,” Ferrier said. “You don’t realize how much fun you are having until you have one square left.”
The brains behind this operation were bingo night co-chairs and sophomore communication majors, Christine Speranza and Julia London. Their responsibilities include choosing the prizes, organizing the event, and most importantly, selecting the various themes of bingo night.
When asked about their inspiration for the meme theme, Speranza said, “We are both obsessed with the internet. We love making people laugh, and memes do just that. Everyone loves memes.”
