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Better Call Saul Bingo Night

Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman - Better Call Saul _ Season 1, Episode 1 - Photo Credit: Ursula Coyote/AMC

Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman

To celebrate the release of Breaking Bad spin-off/prequel, Better Call Saul, on Blu Ray and DVD, I attended a press event for it, but this was no ordinary press event. Along with Georgia (a fellow writer from I’m With Geek), we embarked onto the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club to take part in the Better Call Saul Bingo Night. The venue was complete with a photo booth filled with props based off the show, free food and of course, free booze, which we both took full advantage of. But the eyes are immediately drawn the stage, where the night’s activities would take place. Hosting the event was Empire Magazine’s Chris Hewitt, who was on fine form for the whole night, as well as stand up comedy from Adam Hess, who talked about his niece, who for such a young age already knows the “I am the one who knocks” reference from Breaking Bad. We were also shown a very special message from Saul/Jimmy himself Bob Odenkirk wishing us all the best of luck for the night.

While we were all taking advantage of the free food and drinks, we were all there to play games to win prizes. There were smaller games with prizes going to the people with the best photo booth picture, the best selfie with the Jell-O and the best team quiz name. We didn’t win any of those but our luck did start to change later on in the night. But first, we took part in the quiz based off both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and from the first question, we instantly s**t ourselves. The questions were so freaking hard, to the point where you needed to the watch both shows religiously to get them all right. There were many points where we were scratching our brains for the answers and banging our heads against the table trying to remember the most obscure knowledge we have about the shows, and we weren’t the only ones. I could look around and see people getting frustrated because they couldn’t remember the answers. While we all felt stupid in the quiz, everyone had a chance for redemption as we all took part in the most vicious game of bingo ever played.

Whereas in the quiz you had to rely on your knowledge for Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, in the bingo, it came down to chance and luck, and my plus one, Georgia, was one lucky bastard. The rules were simple, you were given three lines of numbers, every time you fill out a line you win a prize and if you fill all three lines, you shouted Heisenberg, instead of house, and you won a bigger prize. We started playing the game hosted by Chris Hewitt and the world’s most temperamental bingo machine and the first person to get a line was Georgia. Everyone applauded her as she walked up to the stage to collect her prize, which was a Breaking Bad robe, and we carried on with the game. Then, like three minutes or so later, Georgia filled out her second line and the others playing started to boo her. This time she picked up a Breaking Bad onesie and then we all waited for Georgia to get full house. But thankfully, for her sake, she didn’t get full house, someone else did, saving her from being run out of the club with torches and pitchforks. Because we were dealing with the most temperamental bingo machine ever made, that first game took forever to play. So for the second game, the balls were thrown into a bag, we were all given a full strip of numbers and you win a prize for every line you get until the stage run out of prizes. This was pure chaos, because after five minutes, after each ball was drawn, there was someone with a line and there was a mad rush up to the stage to grab the good prizes before they were gone. It seemed like everyone had won a prize as we approached the end of the game, everyone except for me. But the game ended in true Hollywood fashion, as the last number was called, myself and four other people completed a line and won a prize. Granted by the time I got up there, there wasn’t a hell of a lot left, but I do now own a very nice Breaking Bad t-shirt. And with that, the most chaotic game of bingo came to end.

With bingo done, the results of the quiz were announced. Despite the fact we spent the majority of the actual quiz getting annoyed that we didn’t know the answers, incredibly we came third out of 16 teams, but there were no prizes for third place. But in the end, who cares. This was an awesome night, a lot of fun, great atmosphere and the free alcohol definitely improved bingo forever. Chris Hewitt was fantastic host; helping to improve the game of bingo even further and Adam Hess is a very funny stand up worth checking out. While one team did win a big bundle for winning the quiz, we all won something. We all have mementos to take away to remind us all of a fun night and we all have a copy of Better Call Saul to watch, which is going to be really helpful for the team that have never seen Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul.

Sean is a Film Production graduate from the University of West London who freelances in the media industry. He has a passion for all things film and loves everything from big summer blockbusters like The Dark Knight to indie films like (500) Days of Summer. Sean has also been writing for fellow film website I'm With Geek. He also continues to make short films alongside I’m With Geek’s production team, IWG Media. Sean is also on Twitter, you can follow him @imwithsean, where you see him talk about films and his other loves including The Last Of Us, Community and Muse!

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