There is probably no other game that has the historical and cultural significance bingo has around the world, but the UK in particular. It has been around for over 500 years, and with its popularity at an all-time peak in today’s online world, it’s bound to be around for a few hundred more years.
Over the years, bingo has been featured in many scenes in movies, hit TV shows and other forms of content, making it an essential part of the entertainment and gaming sectors.
With the game’s popularity in mind, we’ve teamed up with Wink Bingo to look at the top top bingo scenes in movies and your favorite TV shows. So let’s get started with the first one – and possibly the most iconic TV show ever…
The Simpsons
Undoubtedly, the Simpsons is one of the most successful animated TV series and one of the longest-running. But what seems like a few lifetimes in TV time pales in comparison when you consider how long bingo has been around. However, that has not kept the Simpsons showrunners from making cheeky references and even featuring bingo in some of their episodes.
For instance, in the episode “Bart Gets an F,” Bart and his classmates attend a school fundraiser at the local bingo hall. The scene is filled with comedic moments as Bart tries to cheat to win a prize.
In another episode, Lisa, Bart’s sister, visits Springfield Retirement Castle and meets Jasper, who becomes her love interest for the episode. They start hanging out, and Jasper invites her to a bingo game with the old folks. Lisa acquiesces, and we get one of the most charming and rib-cracking bingo scenes from the Simpsons.
Furthermore, as with most bingo players, Lisa gets a bit carried away with winning the jackpot after she gets four numbers in a row. It’s an excellent episode you should rewatch or watch if you have never gotten the chance to.
Big Mamma’s House 2
Who doesn’t love a man in a dress and fake oversized boobs? Well, it turns out not that many people because this Martin Lawrence film had its audiences laughing for days and its producers to the bank. The film is about a male FBI agent, played by Martin Lawrence, who goes undercover dressed as an obnoxious elderly woman to track an escaped convict and his booty.
As with Martin’s films, there is no shortage of innocuous and comical scenes that will leave you lying flat on the ground. Furthermore, if you’re a bingo fan, you will especially love its take on the game and how the movie creators managed to find humour. In a nutshell, big mamma goes undercover in a retirement home to secretly investigate what happened to one of the residents.
She joins the other residents in their daily bingo games and suspiciously wins all the games because she cheats. She then tries to teach one of her friends to cheat by using a card with multiple bingo matches, which she uses to great effect and proceeds to scream bingo hilariously. The scene is honestly a rib cracker, and you will love every moment of it.
Hotel Transylvania
When we say bingo is a cultural phenomenon, we mean it. Nothing proves this more than the sheer number of animated content that features the game. One of the more prominent titles on that and this list is Hotel Transylvania, an animated film about a young human man who falls in love with a monster’s hotel-owning Dracula’s daughter.
The young man and female Dracula set out to prove that humans, or at least this one, can live in harmony with the monsters. The bingo scene in this film involves the hotel’s guests who participate in a bingo game run by Frankenstein’s monster. The scene is beautifully shot, and the editing is fantastic and filled with playful animation and jokes, making it a fun watch for kids and adults.
It also does a great job of keeping with the monster’s theme with the set design and props. For instance, instead of your ordinary bingo balls, the movie replaces them with small skulls that whisper the number to the caller. The monsters or characters, in this instance, do an excellent job of sabotaging each other during the bingo game, which adds a layer of humour and empathy to the movie.
Inglorious Basterds
The next film on this list to feature bingo says all about the game’s cultural significance and rich history on the European continent. Of course, we are talking about the cult hit, Inglorious Bastards by the talented Quintin Tarantino. Inglorious Bastards is a film set in the 1940s during the height of World War II.
The movie follows the story of an American infantry group as they quest to rid France of invading Nazis and kill Hitler. And in true Tarantino style, it is filled with gruelling scenes you’d expect in a war, but also infuses humour and snappy dialogue in a way only he can. Before we even get to the bingo scene in the movie, we already know that world war ii soldiers used bingo to pass the time and keep themselves motivated. There was no way bingo was not making a cameo in this movie.
However, even though there is a scene of soldiers playing bingo, which is spectacular in its own right. We’ll go with the scene where Hans tries to convince Aldo to introduce him to his superiors so he can make a deal to help the allies win the war that night. After Hans explains why Aldo needs to help him, he yells bingo to show him he made the last move and mock the allied forces, which is exceptional writing by Tarantino.
Conclusion
Besides being a fun and easy-to-play game, bingo is culturally relevant in many ways that other casino games are not. It has also managed to transcend into the film industry and has produced some of the most memorable moments in film history. So, what bingo scenes will you be watching next? Let us know in the comments section below.
