Many people associate bingo with grandparents and elementary school gatherings, but DPC brought new life to the game with their flagship event: Epic Bingo.
The Duquesne Program Council (DPC) is a student-run organization dedicated to improving student involvement around campus. DPC hosts events most Friday nights, but their Epic Bingo is on another level.
Approximately 400 students attended Friday’s event with the hopes of winning, but only a handful came out on top. The first round’s theme was “Trip to Paradise.”
Players were asked to make the shape of a plane on their cards. Within minutes, a record-breaking six contestants stood up at once to declare bingo.
They were all asked to pick a number between one and 100. The two closest numbers moved on to a high stakes round of rock-paper-scissors.
After multiple tied games, a winner was finally declared. The champion walked away with a travel pack consisting of a Southwest gift card, a hotel gift card, an Uber gift card, a portable charger, packing cubes, a travel pillow and a luggage set.
These massive activities don’t plan themselves; members of DPC meticulously planned every element.
Recreation directors Tessa Markham, Renee Mercer and Kiley Roman had been organizing the event since the summer.
“They began work for this in the summer, around June [and] July. A lot of the event was already plotted out — everything from the table prizes and even the
This slideshow could not be started. Try refreshing the page or viewing it in another browser.
slides themselves,” said Ethan Delp, executive director of DPC.
“We did a few things in the weeks before, like adding music to everything. I joke around and call it the ‘Superbowl of DPC’ because we go all out.”
“Superbowl” is the perfect way to describe the energy in the room. Every round of bingo had a unique theme and a corresponding prize. The hours of organization manifested into smooth rounds and eager participants.
The recreation directors credit the ongoing success of the event to collaboration with DPC members past and present.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have the help of past and current DPC board members to make this event run smoothly, and we are extremely grateful for that,” Mercer said.
The bingo consisted of 10 rounds with various themes. Returning bingo players may have noticed parallels to previous years, as DPC strives to keep their prizes and themes consistent with student interests and values.
“We did rely on past Epic Bingo prizes and themes since they were always popular but tried to make them our own. We are currently planning Spring 2024 Epic Bingo and we’re open to new prize ideas that everyone would enjoy. We want to make this the best it can be, and any prize input would help us keep the event lively,” the recreation directors said.
Participants are encouraged to send suggestions and feedback about what items they might want to see in the future to DPC’s general email, dpc@duq.edu.
Between every round, a table was randomly selected to win a giveaway prize.
Winnings included Squishmallows, coloring sets, salt lamps and more.
Individual students were also called by ticket number for door prizes. DPC members quickly ran to tables and oversaw every component of the evening.
“As with any large event, it can be challenging to coordinate all of the different moving pieces,” Mercer said. “One of the challenges we faced was making sure that we found good quality prizes that everyone would appreciate while staying within our budget. Since it was our first year planning Epic Bingo, we wanted to make sure that all of the logistics of the event were in place and that everyone had a fun night.”
Every aspect of the logistics were already planned out. From tiebreakers to multiple winners, DPC prepared for it all. Very few rounds only had one winner, but students Giavanna Altmeyer and John Chekal won a highly coveted sports and activity package without having to enter a final round.
Duquesne has many activities to do on a Friday night. Why do so many people attend Epic Bingo?
“I think it’s so popular because the giveaways are really big,” said freshman Gabriella Rios “It’s called Epic Bingo because it’s crazier than you can imagine and there’s no fee. You just enter and play and so many people win. There were table prizes, tickets and bingo itself, so everyone had a chance of winning.”
The next Epic Bingo event will be in February and DPC is already working hard to make the next event even more impressive.
“We hope that everyone had a good time and is excited to see what we have in store for the spring…In the meantime, we can get hyped for Spooky Bingo [on Oct. 6]!” Mercer said.
