Pumpkins pair bring bingo to Chicago hipsters

For proof that bingo is attracting a cool young crowd in the 21st century, you need look no further than a recent Wall Street Journal report.

The publication – which you might expect to report on the latest stock prices from New York’s financial district – turned its attention to the Chicago suburb of Highland Park in Illinois, and the tea shop Madame ZuZu’s, which is owned by Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan.

Since February, Corgan has presented a monthly bingo night at the venue, with a different local celebrity calling the balls each time.

And in the most recent session, the first prize went to someone close to Corgan’s heart – his Smashing Pumpkins bandmate, 33-year-old bassist Nicole Fiorentino.

She told the WSJ that bingo “feels old-timey”, which seems to be the defining characteristic of hipster-chic hobbies like bingo, knitting, and similar pastimes that are being embraced by young people.

Corgan, at 46, is perhaps looking towards a slightly slower pace of life, and told the WSJ: “It’s so nice just to sit with people and go back to the way things used to be, where it really is about being together for an hour and talking smack about stupid stuff.”

Long-time bingo stalwarts might not like the sound of the approach taken at Madame ZuZu’s, where the WSJ reports “a combination of groans and yelps” from the contestants – a far cry from the near-silence heard in professional bingo halls in the UK.

At one point, the publication reports a player yelling: “I only have one number left on my whole card!”, while Corgan himself queried whether the ‘Z’ pattern players had been asked to fill in on their 75-ball bingo cards should be straight or with serifs.

WSJ reporter Julie Jargon was able to bring her article back to the Journal’s more usual topic of stockbroking, courtesy of one of the session’s winners, 57-year-old options trader Larry Riesberg.

Again breaking the bingo code of near-silence, Mr Riesberg at one point interrupted to ask: “Did you call G-59?”

When guest caller, Chicago news anchor Bill Kurtis, replied that he had, Mr Riesberg politely added: “Then, ‘Bingo’.”

The prizes on offer also came courtesy of Kurtis, with one winner receiving a personal greeting from him to their voicemail, and another taking home a jar of honey from his farm.

And while such prizes might not match the linked jackpots of UK bingo halls, they’re perfectly suited to the hipster crowd – who we suspect will introduce the call of ‘two smashed pumpkins, 88!’ as Corgan’s bingo nights go from strength to strength.