Harry Styles merchandise, a Danny Devito cutout and a PlayStation One were just three of 16 prizes Oklahoma State University students competed for at the Student Union Activities Board’s bingo event.
Wednesday, SUAB’s Talent Committee held its first event of the year, Pop Culture Bingo. All 16 rounds featured an item found in popular culture. Senior Emma Kincaid only had eyes for one prize.
“I heard there were Harry Styles posters, and I’m a big fan of Harry Styles.” Kincaid said. “I come to every SUAB bingo because I want to win.”
While Kincaid and several others were treated to a fun-filled experience, the Talent Committee was hard at work putting together the event. Junior Mason Lough, the director of the talent committee, discussed some of the many steps behind pulling off a SUAB event.
“First, we’ll start with getting input from my committee on what kind of prizes we want to do, and then it will go to working with my graduate assistant to get our graphic together," Lough said. “Then it just comes down to logistics things like working with the committee to decide who is going to work the check-in table, who's going to announce the bingo numbers, who’s going to check to make sure, things like that.”
There are several committees within SUAB, but the talent committee is devoted to discovering the talent of the students that OSU has to offer.
“All of our events relate back to that,” Lough said.
As to why the committee landed on pop culture as the theme of their bingo, Lough related it back to the talent aspect.
“We thought pop culture was like our whole shtick because usually bringing out the talent of OSU is going to come with the culture side of things," Lough said.
The committee’s pop culture-centered event certainly brought out some talented or just lucky bingo players. After a fun night filled with music, laughs, lots of bingos and a tiebreaker, junior Magdalyn Harry walked away with the biggest prize of the night, a record player paired with multiple records.
“We all suck at bingo, and we never win, and I’ve changed it this week,” Harry said. “This is a great win in my life. I’m going to FaceTime my mother.”
Sophomore Regan Congdon, a member of the talent committee, was happy with how the event turned out for the SUAB members and students.
“I feel like we had fun as a committee,” Congdon said. “It also seemed like the audience was having fun. They definitely got into it at the end, which was really nice.”
Pop Culture Bingo is just the first of many events SUAB and the Talent Committee have planned for the semester. The committee is already working on setting an audition date for their feature talent show in March. All of SUAB’s events can be found on its social media @suabokstate. SUAB is also accepting applications for the spring semester until January 29th.
While not everyone walked away a winner from Pop Culture Bingo, they all left a little more cultured and will be back for more.