Veggie Bingo at The Hideout

Veggie bingo is the best!
I’ve been going for a few summers now and always have a good time. There’s no better way to spend a summer evening than sitting on a patio enjoying some quality beers at a reasonable price, eating free hot dogs provided by Hot Doug (vegan dogs as well, if that’s your thing), and playing bingo for the chance to win prizes (anything from a box of spices to coffee to a big sack of veggies).
Bingo cards are cash only, all proceeds go to local farms.

Veggie Bingo is F U N G O. I’m so glad my buddy Ericka A. organized an event here last week. I’m sad we went the last week of summer bingo but there’s always next year! Veggie Bingo runs in the summers each and every Wednesday night. They get a huge crowd with the inside packed to the brim and the outside patio area full, too. Best part is all money they collect from the night goes to some local green organization. Woohoo.
On the night we went, Ratso and Chica-​GoGo were hosting. Loved them! Candice fell in love with a rat that night and I’m sure they are now set to wed, but if they ever break up, I’m going to be waiting in the wings. He was full of corny vegetable jokes galore! They had some fun cool prizes a bit better than when I used to play with my Grandma and her friends for boxes of kleenex & candles.
The coolest part? These two adorable kids walking around handing out hot dogs provided by Hot Doug’s. I wasn’t sure what to expect but they were pretty standard dogs (like the others mention, full of meat) but one of those bad boys in my mouth satiated my hunger.
Truly had a real fun time with buds, beers, beef & BINGO!

I’ve got dabbin’ fever!
She’s got dabbin’ fever!
We’ve got dabbin’ fever!
We’re in Love
I’ve gone BINGO crazy
She’s gone Tall Boy hazy
Ain’t no thinkin’ maybe
We’re in Love
Another lovely summer of Veggie Bingo at the Hideout ends. Veggie Bingo– where you buy Bingo cards and try to keep up with the fast and furious calling of Ratso and the Chic-​a-​go-​go crew (or other cool local Chi-​lebrities), grab a not-​so-​veggie hot dog donated by Hot Doug’s (and sometimes brought to your table inside with two kinds of mustard from some helpful kiddos), drink 16 oz. Tall Boys of beer or Mike’s Hard Apple Cider, and win some cool prizes!
Thanks to Ericka A. for gathering the Unilocal tribes here again. She don’t play around, with that 12-​card Bingo fever! I played my six cards for $ 10, and won a nice assorment of prizes and the attached Veggie Bingo screen print. The grand prize winner won a huge bounty of locally harvested vegetables, and the mood is fun, and even kid friendly.
I had some friends playing on the patio, and that seemed like the place to be– nice weather, quick access to the dawgs, and nice weather! I hope to make it here again in 2014 (Veggie Bingo is every Wednesday after work in summer, y’all), cuz I’ve got dabbin’ fever!

Veggie Bingo Loser in the Hizzouse!
But wait– I’m not just any olé veggie bingo loser… I’m a really f*cking sore veggie bingo loser. The kind of loser who boos when everyone else is cheering, the kind of loser that yells «CHEATER!» when prizes are awarded to anyone but myself, the kind of loser that imagines the «winners» tripping off stage while I run away with their prizes, the kind of loser who refuses to call the «winners» «winners» without putting the word in quotations to suggest a certain level of sarcasm and doubt when using the term.
Yep. That’s right. Everyone’s a loser when playing this age-​old game of skill and strategy (or chance or whatever) with me.
And even though I lost every game on all my cards and it took the entirety of the Bingo playing for me to figure out why it’s called veggie bingo and I pretty much wanted to flip the tables on every bizzle in here who did win something (especially ‘Eric’ — if that’s even his real name– who freakin’ won twice and had the nerve to heckle the Bingo callers) even if it was something I didn’t even want, I had a good time –Nay. I had a great time.
I came in late but got lucky that my crew was able to save one seat for me in the otherwise packed house, bar, and patio. Cards are $ 3 each or 4 for $ 10. I splurged and got the 4 cards because I was feeling (an incredibly false sense of) lucky.
I was nothing short of elated to see that veggie bingo is actually hosted by a super hilarious giant rat puppet that tells family friendly veggie jokes (minus the pervert hummus one that totally had me in stitches) for the length of the games and calls the numbers, backed by a really animated couple who also hosts Chic-​A-​Go-​Go, for all you public access fans out there.
Hot Doug’s donates hot dogs that go around for the event. It should be noted that while the hot dogs are FREE, they are not veggie, leaving me to wonder what the sh*t is this veggie bingo business? But apparently it’s called veggie bingo because they give out veggie prizes like vegan books, cookbooks, pasta sauce, wine, carved pieces of wood, local coffee, posters, and the grand prize is a big olé clear garbage bag full of fresh, locally farmed, organic veggies that I definitely wanted to win just to have won, but secretly wanted the grand prize the least because it would’ve involved my having to cook ish and that just isn’t ever going to happen it, but for bragging rights I def wanted it.
I guess they only run veggie bingo in summer, so we’ll all just have to make a mental note to remember to show up next up year and to practice my technique so I don’t go home a lame-​rod veggie loser next year.

I swear I’m 27 and not 72. You probably wouldn’t be able to guess that if I spoke in-​depth about my love of Bingo. My friends and I are usually the youngest people at Potawatomi Bingo Casino up in Milwaukee, WI. I don’t let that deter me.
We might not have as much experience with the game as the chain-​smoking senior citizen patrons whom you often find at Bingo halls across the US who play with multiple cards and a plethora of dabbers; however, the most attractive feature is that everyone has an equal opportunity to be a winner. It’s a game of chance and quite honestly the only way you can improve your odd is by purchasing more cards. That’s it!
Veggie Bingo at The Hideout is really no different. Currently (2013) cards are $ 3 a piece or 4 for $ 10. I believe the Bingo is cash only since it’s for a benefit, but I believe the bar accepts credit cards.
They don’t use the dabbin’ method, so it’s not as messy. They have cards with red plastic film that you slide to cover the numbers as they are called. Different people host and different community gardens are featured on each evening (Wednesday nights in the summer). The rest of it is business as usual.
Some of the games are regular Bingo where you need 5 in a row in any direction to win. Throughout the night they switch it up and do some of the popular shapes such as the H, a plane, a T, strictly straight, strictly diagonal, 4 corners and blackout. That keeps things from being too mundane.
Bingo starts at 5:30 and runs until about 8pm. They welcome you with free Hot Doug’s hotdogs and swiftly kick you out when their featured musicians show up to set up for concerts.
It’s all worth it to get a shot at a basket full of green goodies or other food related prizes. I hosted a Veggie Bingo UYE with Kyle H. last year and I think almost everyone who showed up for it won a prize. I walked away with a great trio of cooking spices.
I’m planning another UYE for September 11^th, 2013. I suggest you show up or the terrorists win.