Amps up to eleven? Check. Corpse paint applied? Check. Mosh pit assembled? Check. Bingo dabbers handed out? Ch.. wait, what? Believe it or not, Metal Bingo is a thing, and it’s fun, hilarious, and, as any metalhead will tell you, on the money at capturing the essence of (to quote This Is Spinal Tap) “the sights, the sounds, and the smells" of any heavy metal concert or festival. You can guess the kind of content you’ll find on the card, from the 70+ year-rocker wearing a well-loved t-shirt, to the weirdest piercings or worst tattoos. But if you’re in need of some inspiration, here are some stereotypical rock and metal gig characters and other things you can use to fill your bingo cards.

Recognizable faces

All manner of people love metal, and a concert crowd is a far cry from the denim biker crowd of the '70s and '80s. In tandem, bingo has drawn in a much wider variety of people than its traditional (or stereotypical) crowd, with many younger people enjoying this time-honoured game. Part of this new-found popularity has been driven by the fact that it's now possible to play bingo online, with many new players accessing sites via their mobiles. Metal Bingo hasn't yet made it into the digital realm (as far as we know), but anything's possible. 

So, who are you on the lookout for? We mentioned the old fella with his t-shirt, he should be easy enough to find, but there are others to look out for too. How about the man who valiantly offered to put his girlfriend on his shoulders, but has started to regret his decision? Or a non-metalhead partner who’s been dragged along by their significant other and is aghast at the scene before them. An over-exuberant stage diver who realizes mid-flight that the crowd beneath him is parting like the Red Sea? And, it goes without saying, the biggest man in the world who has decided to stand directly in front of you, obscuring your view of the entire gig and treating you to a face-full of back-sweaty t-shirt for two hours?  

Within the crowd

Shoes. ‘It’s all fun and games until somebody loses a shoe’ goes the old adage, more or less (at a metal gig anyway). Even if you’re not into crowd surfing, which is dangerous territory for sneakers, it’s easy for someone to stand on the heel of your shoe and wrench it off, leaving you at the mercy of the jumping feet around you. So, put shoes, or shoeless feet on your cards, and see how many you can spot. Bonus points for pairs.

Moshing. Although camaraderie is rife, the topsy-turvy world of a mosh-pit can be a dangerous place to be. But there is etiquette, and the idea is that people look out for each other in the middle of it. And quite often a band member will give a gentle (or not-so-gentle) reminder to 'look after each other in there', so this can go on the card too. Bonus points if they stop mid-song to do so, if things are getting too crazy. If, by some miracle, you’ve all managed to fill in and retain your cards you’ll find out who won at the end. Perhaps you can all chip in for some merch, stand in the queue for an hour, and then find out they’ve sold out just before you get to the front. Enjoy!