Question: What do you do to celebrate your mum’s 80th Birthday?

Answer: A surprise Bingo Birthday party!

But then the mum in question did run a seaside bingo arcade for many years.

But it can’t be any old bingo event; it has to match the style and feel of the old bingo arcade.

Traditionally, seaside bingo uses either 75-number or 80-number bingo games, not the more usual 90 games you get in bingo halls.

Could Bingo Rental help?

Absolutely.

Here is what we did:

Aladdin’s Prize Bingo in Brighton used 75-number bingo, so first we designed bingo tickets to match the old style they had in the arcade. We created a four-game sheet with two games on either side, printed them, and then overlaid the numbers on top. We also had 12 old arcade bingo shutterboards, so we supplied these for the event too (you can see how we restore these here on YouTube).

Next, we needed a set of 75 bingo balls – these have to be a specific colour to match those of the numbers in the game:

  • 1 to 15 Red
  • 16 to 30 Yellow
  • 31 to 45 Blue
  • 46 to 60 White and
  • 61 to 75 Green.

The issue is that most bingo blowers use 38mm diameter table tennis balls. However, in 2000, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) switched from 38mm to 40mm table tennis balls to slow the game down, increase rally length, and improve spectator visibility by making the larger ball harder to spin and slower-moving. The idea was to make the sport more appealing to television audiences by allowing for longer, more engaging rallies that are easier to follow. But this causes a problem for those with bingo blowers: 38mm balls are increasingly difficult to come by.

Luckily, we have a small stock of new vintage table tennis balls (these were from Edward Thompson Ltd in Sunderland, who were the world’s biggest bingo ticket printer and who used to supply numbered balls for bingo blower machines).

So we created a new set of 75 numbered balls. We didn’t have red balls, so we used pink instead.

Finally, we used our Monet bingo machine and set off on the long trip to the Goodwood Hotel in Chichester.

All our bingo hires come with full instructions (the Monet is very easy to operate), tips on hosting your event (for your caller), a full list of bingo lingo (should you choose to use it), a list of bingo party music, and, for any bingo novices, a guide on how to play bingo.

If you have any event and would like to incorporate bingo, we can help. We can even design bespoke bingo tickets for your event too.

Call or email today.