One's the old cinema in the middle of town. The other's the newer place out by the shops. They sit about a mile up the road from each other, both north of the centre, and between them they've got most kinds of bingo night covered.
Buzz Bingo on King Street — the old hall
Buzz Bingo Aberdeen is the heritage option — the 1939 Art Deco cinema that's been calling numbers since the sixties. It's right in the city centre on King Street, so it's the one for coming in on foot or by bus, or making the bingo part of a bigger night in town. No car needed, which your wine budget will thank you for.
It draws a steady, friendly sort of crowd, the kind of hall with decades of regulars and a bit of old-building character the newer places can't fake. If you like the idea of playing under a real old cinema ceiling with some history to it, this is your club.
Mecca Bingo at Berryden — the new-build shed
Mecca Bingo Aberdeen is the opposite in near enough all of them — a purpose-built hall out at Berryden retail park, opened in 1995, bright and modern and built for the job. It seats over a thousand, with two bars, a diner, a slots room and a car park the size of a small county.
This is the drive-up option. If you'd rather park right outside than hunt for a city-centre space, or you fancy a shop and a bite either side of the bingo, Berryden's the one. It leans more to the big-night-out end of things too — more leisure complex than old-school hall.
So which one?
Depends what you're after, really. Want character, history and a central spot you can walk to? King Street. Want space, parking, food and a big modern room you can make a day of? Berryden.
Or do what plenty of Aberdeen folk do and go to both, depending on the mood and who's driving. They're only a mile apart, and there's no law says you have to pick a side.
The halls that didn't make it
Two clubs is a thin showing for a city that was once bingo-mad. Aberdeen had a whole run of halls in the boom years, and most have gone the way of the dodo.
The Tivoli on Guild Street is the pick of them. A variety theatre going back to 1872, it turned to bingo in 1966 and ran that way for thirty-odd years before closing in the late nineties. It sat derelict a while, then got done up lovely and reopened as a working theatre in 2013 — full circle, back to what it started as.
And it's got the best story of the lot. A young Charlie Chaplin once played that stage, touring with Fred Karno's troupe before Hollywood ever knew his name.
Decades later, in 1970, an old and famous Chaplin was holidaying in Scotland and fancied another look. He turned up by taxi and couldn't get in — the theatre he'd trod the boards in was a bingo hall by then, and closed for the day. The council's own heritage trail records the moment: a photo of him on the pavement outside, talking over the old days with a journalist, locked out of his own past. Word spread, a crowd gathered, and they had to bustle the frail old man back to his car.
The others went quieter. The Casino on Wales Street had a brief go at bingo in the early sixties, but it was too small — the trade soon shifted to the roomier Kingsway, and the Casino was pulled down in 1971. The Astoria out at Kittybrewster tried bingo when its cinema days ended and couldn't make it pay, gone within months. Cinema House on Skene Terrace lasted longer, running bingo through the eighties before it turned into a music venue. A whole trail of lost halls, if you know where to look.
The luck of the Granite City
One thing ought to seal it, whichever way you're leaning. Both clubs have paid out fifty thousand pounds in recent years. A Buzz regular of thirty-three years landed it on King Street in 2024, and — as Aberdeen Live reported — a Mecca player took the same sum at Berryden one Saturday afternoon in December 2023. Same figure, same city, barely a bus ride between them. Either there's something in the Granite City water, or the place is trying to tell you something.
Ready to play?
Have a good look at each before you go — we've written up both Aberdeen clubs straight, history, what to expect and all. Start with the King Street hall or the Berryden club, and pick your Aberdeen bingo night from there.
Can you guess today's word?
