DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Bill Robbins, who goes by DJ Wheil when he’s working, starts another round of music bingo at The Crippled Bear. Robbins had classic rock music filling the dining rooms of the restaurant and people smiled and sang along with the songs.

Bingo is a time honored game of chance that fills countless fire halls and churches every week, but a local DJ has begun making waves as he puts a new spin on the familiar favorite.

Bill Robbins, who goes by the name DJ Wheil, has been in the business since around 1994.

Robbins began with weddings, karaoke and other events, including trivia nights, until friend Mark Shultz, returning from a trip to Georgia, informed him of a new niche catching on in the state, music bingo.

“He said, ‘you’ve got to start this,’ so, because there was nobody doing it around here at that time, because nobody’d heard of it, I started doing it in March of 2023,” Robbins said.

His first gig debuting the new platform was at the former Democratic Club, and after that, he quickly began booking dates.

“People were surprised by how much fun they had and it made them want to bring their friends,” he said.

Since that time, Robbins has expanded music bingo to eight locations across the area, many of them at least twice a month.

Robbin’s take on music bingo includes three regular rounds and a final, full-card round, during which he plays a minute to a minute and a half clip of a song and participants mark them on a bingo card as they go along.

Each of the first three rounds are played until at least three players win, though Robbins has seen upwards of seven winners during those rounds on occasion. The final round is a one winner round, though if more than one person wins on the same song, they each receive a prize.

A few of the prizes during the first three rounds include $5 gift cards, bill discounts, lottery tickets, candy and free food items.

Full card winners receive a gift card or certificate for the location.

For Robbins, one of the draws of music bingo is his ability to be creative with the themes of the games.

“I get to pick my own songs and I have 33 different bingo categories,” he said.

Some of the categories Robbins utilizes are song titles with girls’ names in them, one hit wonders, body parts, numbers, food and drinks.

“I usually pick pop hits from the ’50s to today, and even some TV theme songs and things like that, which makes it more fun and more people can reminisce about these songs that they haven’t heard in a long time,” he said.

“I play themes from The Addams Family, Green Acres, The Brady Bunch, The Love Boat. TV shows that have been around forever. There’s another category, movie soundtrack songs, and a lot of those are from the ’80s,” Robbins said.

As he says during his presentation at each gig, Robbins encourages clapping, singing and dancing in the aisles.

For those worried they might not recognize one of his tunes, Robbins said not to worry as players are welcomed to use Soundhound, Shazam and other music identifying programs.

Most of Robbin’s music bingo sessions begin at 6 or 6:30 p.m. and run roughly about two hours, and are free to play across all locations.

One of the biggest benefits for Robbins personally, is seeing the enjoyment of his players.

“It’s fun because I enjoy watching other people have fun,” he said.

“I can have fun myself, but I don’t have as much fun myself as when I enjoy watching other people enjoy themselves. And if I can be the cause of that, that’s even better,” Robbins said.

“If you like music and you’re hungry, give it a try,” he encouraged.

“It’s free to play. Come out, have some food, enjoy with your friends, and listen to some good music you probably haven’t heard in a while,” Robbins said.