In a soothing mist of nostalgia and gambling, Denny’s — that 24-7 haven of comfort food and swaddling Naugahyde booths — and the quaint game of bingo have joined hands.

Better, it’s a Denny’s at 10433 N. Central Expwy. in Dallas that is delivering this mix, introducing a new weekly adult bingo event in which players can stop in and, over some Moon over My Hammy, mark their cards and vie for prizes.

Winners get vouchers for appetizers or desserts. For the former, we’d take the mozzarella cheese sticks, the latter, the lava cookie skillet, of course.

It’s a play focused on pulling in new diners. The idea was originally to do bingo for kids, and that'll be happening at other Denny's in town.

But this will be the only Denny’s in America offering adult bingo, every Wednesday night, beginning June 26, from 5-7pm.

“The idea came from our district manager,” says Christina Lopez, director of operations for EYM Group, a restaurant franchisee that operates 60 Denny’s in Texas and Florida, including nine in the Metroplex. “She goes to bingo weekly. She will be the caller for the games.”

This particular Denny's opened in 1974 off Meadow Road just south of Interstate 635 and was one of two — along with the location five miles south at 4400 N. Central Expy. next to the LaQuinta — whose 24-hour status and proximity to Greenville Avenue, the Park Cities, Richardson, and Plano — made it a convenient late-night stop after rounds of drinks and carousing for celebrants young and old.

Today, there is competition galore in a fragmented eatery market. So, bingo.

“What we’re appealing to are people who are 30 years old and up, people after work, something to get them out,” Lopez says. “It’s free, and you can win food.”

If it turns out to be a draw, she says, there will be more Denny’s adult bingo around the region.

UPDATE 7-2-2024: The first adult bingo night was such a success that Denny's is now hosting adult bingo night at all nine DFW locations every Wednesday from 5-7 pm through the end of August.
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Bingo, the evolution
While bingo came to the U.S. from Europe in the late 1920s, like ubiquitous booze, it took a bit longer for the “vice” of bingo to get to Texas. Gambling in Texas was outlawed in 1903, but the game was being played across the state with a wink and nod.

The underground bingo economy occasionally drew vice squad visits even as kids' baseball fields and women’s social clubs were raising money for their endeavors rather than hitting up government for some cash. Voters in 1989 finally signed off on an amendment to the state Constitution permitting regulated bingo games, mostly reliant on the community aspect of the game.

Churches, religious groups, fraternal organizations and nonprofit organizations were now free to raise money via their bingo contests. The magic was in the name; “Charitable bingo” makes it sound so acceptable. No one-armed bandits or shady dealers – bingo was on the up-and-up and even had its own regulatory website, (and still does) at txbingo.org.

Today, around 10 million Texans play bingo at least occasionally. The social element alone is enough to bring people to the halls. The idea of your losses going to a good cause helps. In Dallas County, registered bingo operators benefit animal shelters, libraries, veterans and addicts. There is gay bingo, hip hop bingo, and team bingo.

Denny’s and other fun-lovers not offering financial rewards to the victors get a pass – when the payoff is a beer or “five premium golden-fried chicken tenderloins with choice of dipping sauce,” there is no regulation. It’s just a game and no one is risking their wealth. It’s like trivia, only you don’t have to use your intellect.

Denny’s rings memory bells for a lot of Boomers, but the target for the bingo contest is that fun-loving batch of 26–42 year olds, a pastiche of Zoomers and Millennials. This effort, supported by social media, email lists and point-of-sale promo, seeks the same hipster appeal that has made trivia a social occasion. While Denny’s historically aligns more with Buick than Instagram, Dallas is as good a place as any to make a change.

“We skipped a generation,” Lopez said. “We had the Baby Boomers, then skipped Gen X and now we are looking to the others.”