Students gathered in the student center ballroom Jan. 29 to try their luck at music bingo, an event hosted by the UCA Student Activities Board. By competing, students had the chance to win gift cards and cash prizes.

“Last semester, we were brainstorming ways to coordinate more events and maybe do a themed week to get people more involved,” said Presley Galloway, the public relations chair of SAB. “We came up with the idea of a music-themed week; this is our second event of the week, and this is just a more hands-on approach to the music side. We just get to play bingo, listen to some music with a DJ and have fun.”

The music bingo company Boom Boom Bingo was hired for the event. Boom Boom Bingo events consist of a DJ, party games and prizes, all while playing the classic game of bingo.

“[Boom Boom Bingo] performs at a conference called NACA, the National Association for Campus Activities, a yearly conference we attend to get ideas of what we’d like to bring to campus,” said Trey Massingill, the coordinator of student activities for SAB. “[Boom Boom Bingo] was showcasing and the students from other schools seemed to really like them, and we said hey, let’s try that at UCA.” 

Many students attending music bingo were new to the combination of music and bingo, and wanted to see for themselves what it was all about. 

“I have not played [music bingo] before,” senior Julia Wrinkle said. “I love bingo, and I love music.” 

“I really enjoy music,” freshman Jase Gladden said. “I thought this would be a trivia game, so I wanted to test what I know about music.”

DJ John and DJ Willie took the stage during the entirety of the event, playing familiar artists and songs that all of the students were able to recognize. Students were encouraged to get up and dance, clap their hands and sing along to the music. DJ John threw out random trivia questions for the audience to answer simultaneously.

“This is a fun way to interact with DJing, games and activities,” said DJ John. “It’s taking a traditional game like bingo and making it brand new and fun with some fun music remixes and music videos, so it’s kind of a hybrid sport for us.”

Three bingo sheets were played, and different patterns of bingo were played along with traditional straight-line bingo, where five numbers in a row must be marked on one’s bingo sheet. 

After straight-line bingo had a winner, two-line bingo was played, where two lines of numbers must be marked. 

Following two-line bingo was blackout bingo, where every number on one’s bingo sheet had to be marked. 

The winner of each of these bingo patterns received a gift card from the DJs, from companies such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Starbucks. 

As the night continued, games other than bingo were played during Music Bingo.

After the first two sheets of bingo were completed and had their winners, the DJs introduced a mystery game. 

Each corner of the room was labeled A, B, C or D. DJ John read out a trivia question, with each answer being associated with one of the letters. Students ran to whichever corner of the room was labeled with the letter of the answer they thought was correct and if they ran to the incorrect answer, they were out and would have to return to their seat in the audience. 

The game continued until there was one last student still not out, whom would receive a cash prize. 

In the bingo games, the winner would be on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the winner being whoever made it to the stage with their completed pattern first. However, in the mystery game, students often teamed up to help each other win. 

“[These events] are really effective for bringing the students together and just having a good time overall,” Gladden said. “College can make us really stressed, so having opportunities to just get out, have fun and talk to people is really good.”