Drag Queen Bingo
Five15
Royal Oak, Mich.
March 16, 2025
For years, every time I have driven through downtown Royal Oak’s South Washington Avenue, I have been enticed by the colorful, pastel-striped façade of Five15, home of Drag Queen Bingo. I am a fan of both drag shows and bingo, so it had long been on my bucket list of local activities to hit. I was finally able to check it out last weekend during a friend’s bachelorette party.
Five15 offers several Drag Queen Bingo events throughout the week – plus Drag Queen Trivia. We opted for the Sunday morning event, which also included brunch.
The two-hour event – which adds an extra hour for brunch beforehand – is a little bit bingo, but largely a comedy show, which was to be expected. What I didn’t realize was that the comedy was basically a full-on roast of the bingo winners and select conspicuous audience participants.
Decked in two different sparkling green leotard ensembles with impeccable dramatic eye makeup, our queen Sabin was sassy and sharp as a tack. And also a little bit mean. As the winners came to the stage to claim their prizes – a selection of bright, snarky T-shirts and mugs – they were asked their names, residences and sexual orientations, plus a few fun bonus questions, like where was the craziest place he or she had had sex.
Age, physical appearance, hometowns, occupations – nothing was off-limits in terms of roast material. But all the roastees took the attention in good fun. Our table, too, like the rest of those in the room, was in stitches most of the time, although I found my – usually competitive – self questioning whether I actually wanted to win a bingo. (Alas, I did not have the option to choose.)
The crowd in the room was older than I expected, with a significant amount of people middle-aged and up. We were the only bachelorette party (perhaps other, younger bachelorette crowds opted for the Saturday evening show?). But there were a number of birthdays that were being celebrated ranging from 19 to 68, including Sabin's. I appreciated that Sabin took the time to talk with each one of them and give them their chance to shine while having the rest of the room congratulate them or wish them a happy birthday.
Halfway through the event, Sabin asked if we wanted a short performance. We enthusiastically said yes and waited eagerly for the show as she went to change.
When she reappeared, we were met with a high-energy Kelly Clarkson song, which Sabin proceeded to lip synch to as she weaved between tables. The crowds loved it and eagerly waved cash around to entice her to visit and flirt with them personally.
My table was particularly generous. While I enjoyed the fun of the show, I was disappointed that it was more of a money-grab and not a proper drag performance. The whole thing was about two songs long, surely at least one of them could have been a true performance, especially since we were already paying $30 a head for the experience, not including drinks.
On that note, the venue’s café offers a variety of coffee, teas, smoothies and more during the day, and a selection of specialty cocktails and other alcoholic drinks, plus appetizers, sandwiches and desserts during events.
While I can’t speak to the café’s other menu items, the brunch offering was pretty terrible. Our spread included a bland egg bake concoction, a pan of greasy sausage links, a plate of croissants with lunch meat, a bowl of grapes and a couple potato and pasta dishes, which were also nothing to write home about. My vegetarian friend said there were also virtually no meatless options either. While I get the “brunch” part of Drag Queen Bingo Brunch is, of course, not the main attraction, Five15 could at the very least make the food mediocre, if not actually good. The bachelorette’s Italian soda served in a giant high-heeled, fish-net clad plastic leg was pretty cool though.
Overall, our table of 12 – especially our bachelorette – had a great time. The energy was high. The humor was non-stop. We were too busy having fun to focus on our disappointed tastebuds. For those with a healthy sense of humor (and self-confidence) looking for some NSFW entertainment, Drag Queen Bingo is a lot of fun. And if you’re on the shy side – dress blandly, move the pieces around, and maybe keep your bingos to yourself.
