Music bingo draws crowds to Long Island bars and restaurants

For the past five years, Christa Lucarelli has been playing music bingo at 317 Main Street in Farmingdale.

The bingo nights have become a family tradition. Lucarelli now attends with her son, who shares the joy of the classic game with a musical twist.

"He’s 25 and he’s autistic. He absolutely loves them. The gentleman that runs them is so good with my son, Jimmy. We go to almost every one," says Lucarelli, 56, who lives and works in Farmingdale, where she’s director of the public library.

Jimmy typically dresses for the event in a music-themed shirt, and Lucarelli brings a matching shirt for Ben-E (aka Ben Minelli), the DJ, to wear.

For the game, which takes place every other Wednesday night and typically draws more than 100 people, Ben-E will play 30-second clips from songs while their music videos also run on a big screen.

The titles of the songs then appear on the screen and everyone checks their bingo cards, which, instead of numbers or letters, are filled with song titles. The first person to fill out five squares in a row is the winner. The first game winner receives a $30 gift card to 317 Main; the second, a $40 gift card.

"It’s a really fun night out," Lucarelli says. "People are drinking, having a few cocktails, everybody starts singing. People can be up dancing, depending on the night and the group."

For '80s Bingo, people will often dress in neon outfits.

"A lot of times people go as a group to celebrate a birthday, a work night out. It’s great," says Lucarelli, noting that the nights she’s attended are typically sold out, including the Elton John and Billy Joel nights.

For Lucarelli, Wednesday nights are reserved for family, but on Sundays, she might play music bingo with one or more of her girlfriends.

"I’ve gone to the ones on Sunday: the boozy brunches. Those are wonderful, too," she says.

It’s challenging to find age-appropriate activities for her son, Lucarelli says.

"He can go there and be with adults, instead of taking him somewhere where the activity is geared toward his developmental age," Lucarelli says.

Grab your boots and your bingo cards

On Wednesday night at Daisy’s Nashville Lounge in Patchogue, JoeTheBingoGuy takes over the entertainment with country music-themed bingo.

"It’s fun," says Brian Adams, an owner of Daisy’s. "It fills the restaurant up, not so much the bar. People come in. We give little prizes out for people that get bingo. It’s a nice distraction. it’s a different thing to do on a slower night of the week."

Players can win an assortment of prizes, like beer coolers, cowboy boot candles and artwork. People who make a reservation for bingo for four or more receive complimentary skillet nachos.

"We’re going to keep doing it here and then there’s even been talk about maybe adding a night at the Miller Place Daisy’s as well," says Adams, referring to the second Daisy’s outpost, which opened last year.

Sing your way to victory 

Joe Milio, aka JoeTheBingoGuy, also hosts music bingo at other restaurants with bars.

"This is just my side hobby," says Milio, 26, who lives in Farmingdale and works in education. "I work from 9 to 5 during the day. This is a fun little thing for me."

Milio got the gig through his mom, who met the man running music bingo at a Bay Shore bar.

"He said, ‘Have him give me a call.’ It ended up that I was doing it with the guy for a while, but he had some reasons that he had to step away from it, and I took it over," Milio says, noting in the two years he’s been running the events, he’s had to add an associate to help cover them.

Lots of people come back to play, week after week.

"It’s usually about half regulars and half new people who brush in and out," says Milio. The DJ keeps the music at a moderate volume so people can still talk to one another while they’re playing.

For those looking for music bingo turned up a notch, Bingo Loco, which is more like a game show, notes Ruby Staplehurst, who does marketing for the venue, is coming to Mulcahy's in Wantagh on Dec. 28.

It's traditional bingo, where people play two games with cards filled with numbers for various prizes, from a grand prize of a vacation to gag gifts.

"There’s a DJ and they’ll have things like a rave round where when a certain number comes up, a song comes on and there’s a ton of confetti and CO2 cannons," Staplehurst says. "It’s pretty unique. It’s not your mother’s bingo."