Test your knowledge at trivia night, live out your rock star dreams and win prizes by listening to your favorite tunes.
New Hampshire’s nightlife scene has plenty to offer, with games and events happening at local bars, restaurants and pubs nearly every night of the week. Check out where you can go to test your knowledge with trivia nights, live out your rock star dreams with karaoke nights, or even win prizes by simply listening to your favorite tunes with musical bingo.
Name that tune
Listen to music, win prizes during musical bingo
By Matt Ingersoll
mingersoll@hippopress.com
Musical bingo is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of letters and numbers like in a traditional game of bingo, you’re given a card filled with squares of song titles and recording artist names. The DJ or event host plays a clip of a song, and it’s your job to identify a match shown on your bingo card. In a normal game, the clips continue until the first player is able to match five squares in a row on their card, whether it be vertically, horizontally or diagonally.
It’s a weekly activity at area bars and restaurants that finds a happy medium between trivia and karaoke nights for its interactivity, said Gregory Nickerson, owner and founder of Musical Bingo Nation. Since launching in 2018, the entertainment company has grown to now host several public musical bingo events at venues across southern New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts and Florida. Musical bingo is played every Wednesday night at Shopper’s Pub + Eatery in Manchester and at The Barnyard Venue in Candia, for instance, and on Thursday nights you can play at Backyard Brewery & Kitchen in the Queen City or at Main Street Grill and Bar in Pittsfield. All public musical bingo events are free to play, with the chance to win prizes. The company also offers private musical bingo events and even virtual events via Zoom.
Nickerson, a professional DJ for more than a decade playing in venues across New England, said he got the idea of launching Musical Bingo Nation after coming across the game online.
“I was really intrigued by the concept, because it created an engagement that I had never found at an event, other than playing the right music for a specific crowd that’s there for it,” he said.
Each game consists of different rounds, featuring songs that encompass a specific genre, decade or theme of music. You could be playing in a classic rock or reggae round, for instance, or a “one-hit wonders” theme — more than 50 different music rounds are featured across each event.
“We play enough of the song for the player to essentially try and figure it out, so songs like ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ or ‘Crazy,’ by Gnarls Barkley, for instance … you can hear [the name] multiple times in the chorus,” Nickerson said. “There are a couple of cool things we do like that, to be able to help engage players that might not know the song off the top of their head. … It’s also a cool way to make new friends, because we encourage players at our events to ask the table next to them if they might not know the song, and one table could share a song with another.”
Musical Bingo Nation has a whole team of DJs and event hosts, and you’ll never know which themes will be featured at each public musical bingo event until you actually sit down and play.
“We like to make it a surprise, and that allows our hosts to be flexible too,” Nickerson said. “If we were planning on doing ‘top hits of the 2000s’ but it’s a classic rock crowd, then they can swap that. It allows us to … cater to whatever age, demographic or crowd is in front of us.”
Jennifer Mitchell of Good Vibes Music Bingo, which holds free public events at Salona Bar & Grill in Manchester on Monday nights and at Backyard Grill Burgers & Wings in Seabrook on Tuesday nights, said she got into hosting the game after trying it out as a player. Her games also randomly shuffle the theme of the songs played each night and, prior to the start of every game, players are given a free space that they can pick anywhere on their card.
“I give them anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds of the song, and typically in that amount of time will be the song title,” Mitchell said, adding that, depending on the venue, players sometimes may be allowed to use song recognition apps like Shazam or SoundHound to help them out.
Prizes normally include gift cards or certificates to whichever restaurant, bar or venue you’re playing in. Mitchell said she has also seen some venues give out scratch tickets, or various swag such as T-shirts, keychains and beer koozies. Salona Bar & Grill even has a cash coverall, or a jackpot cash prize that rolls over each week, for anyone who can mark every single square on their bingo card within a certain amount of songs played.
But while everyone loves winning prizes, Nickerson added that the game has also proven to be a fun way for players to broaden their musical knowledge and horizons.
“In my eyes, one of the reasons I started this company was because I felt like I was keeping music history alive … [and] all those songs that are essentially disappearing off the radio,” he said. “We’re keeping them in play on a regular basis to hundreds and sometimes thousands of people each week, so that was the beauty of it. … I feel like it’s the best music game out there.”
Where to play musical bingo
Here’s a list of local restaurants, bars and pubs where you can go every weeknight to try your luck at a game of musical bingo. Know of a spot not listed here? Let us know at music@hippopress.com to include in our weekly Music This Week listings.
Backyard Brewery & Kitchen
1211 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-3545, backyardbrewerynh.com
When: Thursdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
Backyard Grill Burgers & Wings
5 Provident Way, Seabrook, 760-2581, backyardgrillnh.com
When: Tuesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.
Featuring: Good Vibes Music Bingo, jennifermitchellmusic.com
The Barnyard Venue
285 Old Candia Road, Candia, 483-4888, barnyardvenue.com
When: Wednesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
Fody’s Tavern
9 Clinton St., Nashua, 577-9015; 187 Rockingham Road, Derry, 404-6946; fodystavern.com
When: Tuesdays, 8 to 10 p.m. (Nashua); Thursdays, 8 to 10 p.m. (Derry)
Featuring: JB Entertainment, find them on Facebook
The Goat Bar and Grill
142 Congress St., Portsmouth, 590-4628, goatnh.com
When: Mondays, 7 to 9 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
JB’s on the Boardwalk
187 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach, 926-1420, jbsnh.com
When: Tuesdays, 8 to 11 p.m.
Featuring: Music Bingo by Ironic, ironic.it/musicbingo
Logan’s Run Restaurant & Sports Bar
816 Lafayette Road, Hampton, 926-4343, logansrunrestaurant.com
When: Tuesdays, 6 to 8 p.m.
Featuring: Game of Tunes, gametimetrivia.com
Main Street Grill and Bar
32 Main St., Pittsfield, 435-0005, mainstreetgrillandbar.com
When: Thursdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
McGarvey’s Saloon
1097 Elm St., Manchester, 627-2721, mcgarveysnh.com
When: Wednesdays, 9 to 11 p.m.
Featuring: Perfect Entertainment, perfectne.com
Saddle Up Saloon
92 Route 125, Kingston, 347-1313, saddleupsaloonnh.com
When: Wednesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
Salona Bar & Grill
128 Maple St., Manchester, 624-4020, find them on Facebook @salona
When: Mondays, 6 to 8 p.m. (no bingo on Sept. 5)
Featuring: Good Vibes Music Bingo, jennifermitchellmusic.com
Shane’s Texas Pit
61 High St., Hampton, 601-7091, shanes-texas-pit.com
When: Tuesdays, 6 to 9 p.m.
Shopper’s Pub + Eatery
18 Lake Ave., Manchester, 232-5252, shoppersmht.com
When: Wednesdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
Smuttlabs Brewery & Kitchen
47 Washington St., Dover, 343-1782, smuttynose.com
When: Fridays, 6 to 8 p.m.
Wally’s
144 Ashworth Ave., Hampton, 926-6954, wallysnh.com
When: Tuesdays, 9 to 11 p.m.
Featuring: Musical Bingo Nation, musicalbingonation.com
Whym Craft Pub & Brewery
853 Lafayette Road, Hampton, 601-2801, whym.beer
When: Thursdays, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Featuring: Music Bingo by Ironic, ironic.it/musicbingo
Sing your heart out
A look at southern New Hampshire’s thriving karaoke scene
By Katelyn Sahagian
ksahagian@hippopress.com
Karaoke is more than just singing along to some song on an old stereo system into a half-dead microphone and reading lyrics from a tiny monitor. Many DJs and venues in New Hampshire take it to the next level, featuring specialty equipment and live bands.
George Cox of Cox Karaoke, based in Manchester, said that karaoke should feel like you’re a rock star playing your own concert.
“I love the fact that people can get up and perform in front of an audience,” Cox said. “It brings a lot of people together.”
While almost all karaoke nights will have singers choose a song from a list, sign up for a designated time and sing away, Cox said he tries to make the experience much more special. From a hard drive with more than 100,000 songs to sound systems that add layered vocal effects to the singers, Cox said he is focused on giving the best experience possible to performers.
“When you come to one of my shows, it sounds like a professional show,” Cox said. “It’s like singing at your own concert.”
Cox was the DJ for Manchester Idol, a local singing competition held at The Goat Bar and Grill in Manchester earlier this summer. It was so popular, he said, that people came from as far as Boston, Connecticut and Rhode Island for their shot at winning a $3,000 grand prize.
“I couldn’t believe the amazing talent [of] the people who came,” he said. “There was a line out the door.”
Erica Fleury, one of the co-owners of The Goat, said that she had known the competition would be popular since she had competed in one years ago with a much smaller prize.
“We just wanted to give … a huge prize away to get some real talent to come out,” Fleury said, adding that Cox’s fans coming to the competition made it even more popular than she had hoped for it to be. “I was surprised it did even better than I thought.”
While there’s no set date yet, Fleury said she is planning to host another Manchester Idol competition sometime later this winter. Right now, karaoke will continue at The Goat through the summer. Fleury said that she wants to see how it does with college students to see if it’ll continue being a weekly event — or if it will slow down to every other week or stop altogether until the next competition.
Cox, who has been working as a karaoke DJ for a decade in southern New Hampshire, said that he’s seen nothing but a boom in popularity for the activity over the years. Even with the pandemic causing most events to close, Cox said that he worked with South Side Tavern, across the Queen City on South Willow Street, to set up an outdoor karaoke night.
“It was the biggest gig of my karaoke career,” Cox said. “I didn’t think people would show but it was packed. There were about 50 singers and a lot of newcomers.”
Fleury said that karaoke will be around for a very long time. She and her husband also own Wally’s in Hampton, where they have a live band performing the karaoke set. The goal, she said, is for you to feel less like you’re just singing for a crowd of people and more like you’re the headliner at your own concert.
“You’re able to be your alter ego when you get up there on stage,” Fleury said. “People like to do things when they go out other than just sit at a bar. It just gets the energy going in the room and livens up the night.”
Where to sing karaoke
Check out this list of venues in southern New Hampshire that offer karaoke. In most cases, singers can choose a song from a pre-selected list and sign up to sing at a designated time. Know of a spot not listed here? Let us know at music@hippopress.com to include in our weekly Music This Week listings.
American Legion Post 31
11 Charles St., Penacook, 753-9372, nhalpost31.org
When: Fridays, 7 p.m.
Featuring: JMitch Karaoke
Angel City Music Hall
179 Elm St., Unit B, Manchester, 931-3654, angelcitymusichall.com
When: Sundays and Tuesdays, 8 p.m.
Featuring: DJ Clashious Clay
The Bar
2B Burnham Road, Hudson, 943-5250
When: Mondays, 7 p.m.
Boonedoxz Pub
95 Park St., Northfield, 455-3755, find them on Facebook
When: Fridays, 7 p.m.
Featuring: DJ Oz
Crow’s Nest Pub & Grill
181 Plaistow Road, Plaistow
974-1686, crowsnestnh.com
When: Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.
Fody’s Tavern
9 Clinton St., Nashua, 577-9015; 187 Rockingham Road, Derry, 404-6946; fodystavern.com
When: Mondays and Thursdays, 9:30 p.m. (Nashua); Wednesdays, 7 p.m. (Derry)
Featuring: DJ Rick (Nashua); DJ Jay (Derry)
The Goat Bar and Grill
50 Old Granite St., Manchester, 844-603-4628, goatnh.com
When: Thursdays, 8 p.m.
Featuring: Cox Karaoke
L Street Tavern
17 L St., Hampton, 967-4777, lstreettavern.com
When: Wednesdays, 9 p.m.
Featuring: DJ Jeff
Lynn’s 102 Tavern
76 Derry Road, Hudson, 943-7832, lynns102.com
When: Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m.
Featuring: DJ George Bisson
Millyard Brewery
25 E. Otterson St., Nashua, 722-0104, millyardbrewery.com
When: Every other Thursday, 6 p.m.
Featuring: Bobby Lane
Raga Contemporary Kitchen
138 Main St., Nashua, 459-8566, find them on Facebook @raganashua
When: Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m.
Saddle Up Saloon
92 Route 125, Kingston, 347-1313, saddleupsaloonnh.com
When: Thursdays, 7 p.m.
Featuring: DJ Jason
South Side Tavern
1279 S. Willow St., Manchester, 935-9947, southsidetavernnh.com
When: Thursdays, 9 p.m.
Featuring: Cox Karaoke
Stark Brewing Co.
500 N. Commercial St., Manchester, 625-4444, starkbrewingcompany.com
When: Mondays, 8 p.m.
Featuring: Cox Karaoke
Stonecutters Pub
63 Union Square, Milford, 213-5979, find them on Facebook @stonecutterspubmilfordnh
When: Fridays, 9 p.m.
Featuring: KJ-Dave O.
Tower Hill Tavern
264 Lakeside Ave., Laconia, 366-9100, towerhilltavern.com
When: Thursdays and Sundays, 8 p.m.; and Saturdays, 9 p.m.
Featuring: DJ Tim and guest hosts
Knowledge is power
Flex your mental muscles during trivia night
By Hannah Turtle
hturtle@hippopress.com
Bill Seney, local host of the trivia event named “Best Weekly Bar Event” in Hippo’s readers’ poll this year, believes a good trivia contest comes down to two things.
“One: It’s interactive, there’s some competition, and people like that. Two: It’s kind of like dinner theater. It’s entertaining,” Seney said.
Trivia is easy to jump into. Everyone can participate because everyone knows something, but nobody knows everything. Typically, bar trivia is free to attend, the only price being that of the drinks and food offered by the bar. A typical bar trivia event lasts about two hours.
For Marc Chamberland of Game Time Trivia, the special ingredient to a successful trivia night comes down to the host. Game Time Trivia is a regular at several local spots, including The Thirsty Moose Taphouse in Merrimack (on Mondays) and in Manchester (on Wednesdays).
“They’ve got to be personable. They can’t be a robot reading questions, [and] they have to make it entertaining for everyone,” Chamberland said.
Chamberland’s trivia events, like many, consist of themed rounds. Teams answer a set of questions, turn in their answers, see how their scores rank in the group, and move to the next round, with scores accumulating. It’s a system that allows players with different skill sets all to show their stuff.
Seney, who hosts weekly trivia nights at The Hop Knot, Shopper’s Pub + Eatery and Backyard Brewery & Kitchen in Manchester, points to the art of writing the questions as the most important facet of a successful trivia night.
“What I’ve learned from hosting is that nobody is really there to get stumped,” he said. “You have to have good questions. Not too hard, [but] not too easy either. My criteria is this: People should have at least heard of the answer.”
He gave an example of how he goes about writing a question.
“If I ask, ‘College Dropout and Late Registration are two albums by what famous rapper?’ And the answer is Kanye West, you might not have known that, but at least you know who Kanye West is,” Seney said. “If I ask the question in the reverse order, ‘What are the names of Kanye West’s first two albums?’ You might think, ‘Well, I never would have gotten that.’”
Seney uses an online scoring system, allowing guests to submit answers through their phones.
With the formula perfected, it’s up to trivia-goers to create their teams and try their hand at bar glory. Seney’s Instagram page, @trivianightwithbillseney,shows the names of some teams celebrating their hard-fought wins. Champions include “Quiz Free or Die,” “The Boothday Truthers,” “Have Kids They Said – It’ll Be Fun They Said,” “Boys’n Berries,” and “Only Here for the Beer.”
Where to check out local trivia nights
Here are some of the local trivia offerings. Some trivia nights happen many but not all weeks; contact the venue before gathering your team for the evening. Know of a regular game night not mentioned here? Let us know at music@hippopress.com.
Area 23
254 N. State St., Concord, 760-7944, thearea23.com
When: Tuesdays, 7 p.m.
Backyard Brewery & Kitchen
1211 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-3545. backyardbrewerynh.com
When: Wednesdays, 6 p.m.
The Bar
2B Burnham Road, Hudson, 943-5250
When: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.
Battle of the Breweries Trivia
When: Third Thursday of every month, 7 p.m.
Where: Join from Great North Aleworks (1050 Holt Ave., Manchester), To Share Brewing Co. (720 Union St., Manchester), Rockingham Brewing Co. (1 Corporate Park Drive, No. 1, Derry), From The Barrel Brewing Co. (1 Corporate Park Drive, No. 16, Derry), or Daydreaming Brewing Co. (1½ E. Broadway, Derry).
Chunky’s Cinema Pub
707 Huse Road, Manchester, 206-3888, chunkys.com
When: Thursdays, 8 p.m.
Crow’s Nest
181 Plaistow Road, Plaistow, 817-6670, crowsnestnh.com
When: Mondays, 8 p.m.
Downtown Cheers Grille and Bar
17 Depot St., Concord, 228-0180, cheersnh.com
When: Fridays, 8:30 p.m.
The Farm Bar and Grille
1181 Elm St., Manchester, 641-3276, farmbargrille.com
When: Wednesdays, 8 p.m.
Fody’s Tavern
9 Clinton St., Nashua; fodystavern.com
When: Wednesdays, 8 p.m.
Great North Aleworks
1050 Holt Ave., Manchester, 858-5789, greatnorthaleworks.com
When: Thursdays, 7 p.m.
The Hop Knot
1000 Elm St., Manchester, 232-3731, thehopknot.com
When: Thursdays, 8 p.m.
KC’s Rib Shack
837 Second St., Manchester, 627-7427, ribshack.net
When: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.
Lakehouse Tavern
157 Main St., Hopkinton, 746-1800, lakehousetavern.com
When: Saturdays, 8 p.m.
Main Street Grill and Bar
32 Main St., Pittsfield, 435-0005, mainstreetgrillandbar.com
When: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.
Millyard Brewery
125 E. Otterson St., Nashua; 722-0104, millyardbrewery.com
When: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.
Peddler’s Daughter “Geeks Who Drink” trivia
48 Main St., Nashua, 821-7535, thepeddlersdaughter.com
When: Tuesdays, 8:30 p.m.
Popovers on the Square
11 Brickyard Square, Epping, 734-4724, popoversonthesquare.com
When: Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.
The Shaskeen Pub & Restaurant
909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246, shaskeenpub.com
When: Mondays, 7:30 p.m.
Shopper’s Pub + Eatery
18 Lake Ave., Manchester, 232-5252, shoppersmht.com
When: Tuesdays, 6 p.m.
Station 101
193 Union Square, Milford, 249-5416, station101nh.com
When: Thursdays, 6:30 p.m.
The Thirsty Moose Taphouse
360 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 670-0270; 795 Elm St., Manchester, 792-2337; 21 Congress St., Portsmouth, 427-8645; thirstymoosetaphouse.com
When: Mondays, 7 p.m. (Merrimack); Wednesdays, 7 p.m. (Manchester and Portsmouth)
Featured photo: Courtesy photo.
