Last week my friend Sue and I went bonkers at Mecca bingo in Sheffield City Centre. Yep you heard correctly … Bonkers Bingo it’s a ‘thing’ apparently !

We had been forewarned that although it was Bingo … it would be Bingo with a difference. There would be swearing, dancing, singing, things may get a little raucous with twerking and lap dancing. We might get balls thrown at our heads.

Ohhhhh Kay …

I’m that girl who panics and dreads things like this but is usually the one found dancing along on her chair, loving it. The only exception tonight was that I wouldn’t be drinking as I was the designated driver! I really think that on nights like this it’s a good idea to be fuelled by lots of alcohol.

I advised Sue that if I won she would have to go up and get my prize while I actively encouraged her to go and get some Dutch courage in the form of another vodka and tonic !

We arrived at just before 8pm and as VIP’s for the evening were shown to our seats by the lovely Martin who really was the perfect host.

Along with our game cards, a fluorescent glow stick and dabber [ looked just like a marker pen to me … but no … Sue informs me its official name is a dabber ], we received a generous few drinks vouchers and a meal voucher each which was all very lovely.

Martin ran through the proceedings and even went and got our first drinks for us. We both choose a cheeky cocktail. My only alcoholic beverage of the evening.

We sat and people watched as the place started to steadily fill up.

I noted a few groups of ladies our age; some serious ‘bingo-ers’ , a few birthday parties and a couple of couples . I’d say the majority of the crowd were made up of students , a lot of them in fancy dress. Unicorns proved popular for the ladies while the gents opted for dodgy beach attire. I felt decidedly over-dressed.

At 8.30ish the proceedings began. There was a DJ and our host [otherwise known as the bingo caller] who came out with corkers such as “2 bent willies 77“, “Netflix and chill 69” and “Little Mix 66“

As expected there was lots of swearing and harmless frivolity. Sing-a-longs, twerk-offs and lap-dances with a cardboard cutout of Tom Hardy! Mmmm mmmm.

The prizes were absolute rubbish but brilliant at the same time, something Mecca Bingo where again very upfront about.

You won a prize on 1 line, 2 lines and a full house. Prizes included space hoppers, random books [ my cat tried to kill me anyone? ] and bottles of alcohol. £35 for a full house was the best prize by far [ who doesn’t love cold hard cash?] and it was a great incentive to win.

The overall main prize of the evening was a massive inflatable unicorn [below] … I loved her but also prayed we didn’t win as she would  have been a buggar to fit in my car and I can imagine it  would have been be a nightmare to deflate!

They were 3 game cards each lasting approx 20/30 minutes. Like I said earlier we were playing for 1 line, 2 lines and a full house.

As it goes it was an enjoyable, entertaining evening … but [ it’s only a little but] I’m going to sound like a proper ‘straight-laced-Nelly‘ here and say that I personally don’t think that all the swearing was necessary. Sue felt the same. It would have been just as funny without so much. At times it had a very Blackpool meets Roy Chubby Brown meets Phoenix Nights vibe.

So to summarize… while I wouldn’t want to go every week [ you couldn’t anyway it’s only held once every 3 months] , I think it’s superb fun as a one-off. It would be ideal for a hen night or something along similar lines.

We had a good old belly laugh … mainly at other people’s expenses as they danced, bounced around on space hoppers or grinded up and down a life-size cardboard cutout of Tom Hardy to earn their prizes. [I tried to get a photo of Tom for you but the lady that won him was very-overprotective and went out of her way to make sure I couldn’t – nowt as strange as folk eh?! … He’s bloody cardboard love –  I’ve got a real man at home! ]

All in all it was grand to see so many people having a good old-time… even if some of them were slightly strange.

We didn’t win anything between us, but we left smiling and ached all over from laughing. Come to think of it I’d say that’s a winner in itself.

Bonkers ? … Too right!

Until next time,

Tracey x

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* Entry on the evening was £5.00 which included your game card, dabber and florescent glow stick. Drinks and food are additional *

* Our entry, drinks & food were kindly gifted to us by Mecca Bingo in exchange for an honest review. As always all words and opinions are strictly my own … with some input from my main dabber Sue *

* For further info head across to the website – meccabingo.com*