By Eviana Vergara
Associated Students, Inc. BEAT collaborated with the Pride Center to co-host their annual Drag Bingo event on Thursday night in the Bronco Student Center.
Students were able to enjoy a fun night relieving stress with friends while playing an enthusiastic game of bingo ledy by a drag queen. The overall goal? To win prizes from gift cards to movie tickets and the ultimate prize of a GoPro.
Approximately 200 to 300 students were in attendance, according to this year’s ASI BEAT co-chair Jasmine Vu, making it one of the campus’s most-attended events.
This wasn’t your average bingo night. Round tables surrounded the room where everyone gathered with their markers, ready to holler out “It’s On!” to indicate that they were one mark away from winning bingo.
Each player was handed a packet of bingo cards with three squares per sheet, a colorful marker of their choice and a sheet listing various types of games that can be played and the different responses to whenever drag queen,Roxy Wood yelled out a command.
She started off the night with a bang in her heels, makeup and perfectly curled wig.
She called out, “What are we playing?” to which the crowd responded, “Bingo!”
“How do we play?” hollered Roxy, and everyone exclaimed, “Loudly!”
The rush and excitement continued to grow as people anxiously waited to hear the next letter and its accompanying number being called, thrilled to hopefully be the next person to win.
Set up alongside the various snacks and bingo materials was a table where some representatives from the Pride Center had a signup sheet for those who were interested in learning more. The coordinator, Brianna Serrano, made an announcement before the event started to introduce the center so that people knew who and what the night was about.
The center had originally hosted this event years ago, but this year the coordinators decided to collaborate with ASI.
“[Tonight is] just to be able to reach students that maybe would go to Drag Bingo that wouldn’t typically go to the Pride Center that don’t know about us,” said Serrano. “And I think that it’s important for us to try to [be] visible to as many students as we can. I know that Drag Bingo is a big event.”
Contestant Valerie Mancia, a fourth-year graphic design student, shared her experience at Drag Bingo for the first time.
“It was such a fun experience,” said Mancia. “I wish I had known and gone in past years. I am huge fan of a bunch a different drag queens and drag culture in general, and being able to be a part of it really made my night.”
It was a friendly competition until someone finally yelled out bingo and went up to earn his or her reward.
Wood then sent the winner to run through the room for a victory lap, but the rest of the room had balled up their frustration into their losing bingo cards and threw them at the winner.
“Pelt her! Pelt her!” everyone yelled as they aimed for their target.
Anyone who falsely claimed to have won bingo received the punishment of being spanked in front of the whole crowd.
Wood has been a part of the drag culture for more than 10 years.
She got her start performing with the Rocky Horror Picture Show in Orange County.
“It’s fun, you know, just to interact with the people and get to spend time with people and see them happy and winning [prizes] and doing things that they don’t normally get to do,” said Wood.
Cal Poly Pomona has been hosting Drag Bingo for just over half a decade, and each time Wood is invited to emcee and bring all her dedicated fans along with new participants.
“We love coming to Pomona,” said Wood. “Cal Poly Pomona is so much fun, we have a great time here. They have great energy and they’re excited and there’s no judgment. Everybody just wants to come out and have a good time.”
Zoran Liu-Moy / The Poly Post
Drag Bingo was made more festive with a colorful theme
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