Buzz Bingo Aberdeen: King Street Club Guide

What I can give you is the history, up above, and a straight word on what these clubs are like, below. The exact session times and prices you came for? They're on Buzz's own website, kept up to date. I'll give you the rough shape of it, but for the numbers that matter on the night, start there.

The Bingo

There's bingo right through the day — morning, afternoon and an evening main, with a late game tacked on some nights for anyone still going. Mornings are the cheapest way in, evenings where the room fills up and the bigger books come out. Roughly a fiver to fifteen for a session once you're in, though the exact price is Buzz's to set, not mine, so check before you go.

Paper books or the electronic touchscreens, your pick. First time? Tell the desk. Nobody's born knowing how it works, and there's always someone in that room who's been at it longer than you've been alive.

The Extras

There's a slots room for anyone who can't sit still through the interval. And the usual members' offers the big clubs run.

What's on changes week to week, so have a look before you go. Turning up on last month's deal is how you end up disappointed.

Food and Getting There

There's a bar and a bit to eat, so you're not nipping out halfway through a game.

It's on King Street, which is worth a word of its own — it's reckoned to be the longest street in Britain, a whisker longer than Glasgow's Duke Street, which held the title for years. Glasgow can argue it out.

The club's about halfway down, city-centre end, in among the grey granite the place is built from — the stuff that sparkles in the sun, when there is any. Buses stop close by, and it's open late, so it's a night out on its own rather than the warm-up to one.

If you're driving, there's no Buzz car park as such, but there's a pay-and-display round the corner on Frederick Street, near enough at the side of the building. Out the car and into the hall in under a minute.

It's set up for wheelchair users too — the guides list step-free access and assisted hearing — so it's not a case of wrestling up a flight of stairs to get to your seat. If you've particular access needs, the club's the one to ask, so give them a ring before you go.

Who It's For

Buzz clubs pull a value crowd more than a rowdy one. The sort of room where the regulars know each other and a newcomer gets looked after, not looked at.

Worth a go for a first-timer easing in, a group after a cheaper night than the clubs charge, or anyone who fancies their bingo in an old picture house that's been calling numbers since the sixties. Sixty years in, it's still doing the job it was handed.

And to sign this off. in my terrible Derbyshire attempt at the local Doric Aberdeen tongue: haste ye back - for us English ears — come again soon.