Bingo is one of the fastest growing games, especially online, but the number of bingo hall scenes in films is surprisingly limited.
Even so, these three movies dish out some of the best bingo scenes in cinema. These directors’ takes on bingo are vastly different, from political to humorous.
Whether the actors are poking fun at the stereotype that bingo is only for older generations or at the hyper-focused intensity of its players, bingo fans can find familiar territory in these clips.
Rampage
This film’s bingo scene is funny, but for all of the wrong reasons. The film follows a disturbed young man who feels alienated from the world.
He decides that overpopulation is the reason for all of the world’s problems and invests in a full body armor suit and guns, determined to take revenge against everyone who rejected him.
While the film is filled with serious, heavy scenes, the only truly humorous scene involves a group of bingo players.
The young man walks into the bingo hall in his armor and weaves through the crowd of elderly bingo players, who do not look up from their cards for even a moment.
He’s dumbfounded by their obliviousness to his existence.
He finally decides to order a sandwich, and after eating a few bites he walks up to the bingo announcer and takes a ball from her.
It is only after he does this that a few players glance up from their cards, but they resume playing almost immediately after he returns it.
Dedicated bingo players know that almost nothing gets in the way of a good game, and this clip is the perfect example.
Hotel Transylvania
This children’s film is purely humorous from start to finish and also includes one of the best short bingo scenes to grace the big screen.
The movie centers on a hotel and resort run by Dracula, whose guests include other monsters such as Frankenstein and mummies. The place is for monsters, but what resort would be complete without a bingo hall?
As you might expect, this no ordinary bingo hall. The balls are made in the shape of small skulls and read by an elderly woman with enormous ears.
Frankenstein’s wife, Eunice, excitedly stamps her card and yells, “Bingo!” Her excitement is short-lived when a goblin-like old woman with a bun of grey hair eats it off the table.
While bingo players in real life aren’t monsters, this scene is an example of how ruthless and competitive some players are, especially when playing for big cash.
The Wog Boy
After he finds the girl of his dreams, but ruins his chances and his reputation by getting in a car accident with her boss, Steve has to prove that he is a hard working man worthy of Celia’s love.
One of the ways he proves he’s an upstanding citizen is when he hosts a bingo day for players at a Greek Orthodox church.
He calls out the numbers in multiple languages, getting groans and cheers from different sections of the room as he translates the number 22.
When he gets to the Vietnamese translation, an elderly man jumps out of his seat to collect his prize. Steve hands him an enormous white lion statue, which the man looks at in confusion.
He tells Steve that the Vietnamese have elephant statues, not lions. Steve responds that in Australia, it doesn’t matter because everything is the same.
At the end of the scene, Steve is handed a box of strange miniature statues by a woman wanting to thank him for the bingo. This scene is especially relevant for bingo players who have been disappointed before by lackluster prizes.