Many of us will remember Billy Corgan as the frontman of The Smashing Pumpkins, but Chicago natives know him as something else entirely: the proprietor of Madame ZuZu’s Teahouse.
More than just a teahouse, Madame ZuZu’s is also an art gallery. Corgan founded the teahouse in an effort to bring a more communal feel to the people of Chicago, and to this effect, last year, he implemented Monday BINGO NIGHT. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the experienced musician said, “I think stuff like this forces communality and I like that… I have so much experience… you realize the difference between real communal spirit and this kind of spirit.”
In the UK, where bingo has become so large that even Iceland Foods, a British supermarket chain, has entered the market with Iceland Bingo, the BBC has reported that it’s this communality that makes the game so appealing to its online patrons. “I get excitement and friendship,” says Nevison, who has been playing since she was 18. “You go into a bingo site and it’s like a little family, it’s so chatty,” she says, remarking that she’d love to meet the people she plays with, if only they weren’t from all over the country.
Madame ZuZu’s BINGO NIGHTS were hosted by various local celebrities, as well as Mr. Corgan himself, who even performed for the participants sometimes. And while the venture was short-lived, these BINGO NIGHTS led to a phenomenon that saw different cafes hosting their own bingo games. In Oakland, CA, actual cafe has gone so far as to create a bingo hopper out of a bicycle, with which they host bingo fundraiser nights. In Seattle, Coffee Shop Bingo, a game that has you entering a coffee shop and crossing out all the elements you encounter, has become quite popular too.
Bingo seems to be just another game that has become quite popular, especially in the crowd that enjoys visiting these coffee and tea shops. A game that’s simple enough to be played by newbies yet entertaining enough to last for hours, it’s certainly become a formidable addition to the menus of coffee shops across the world.
Recently I met up with Marcus Lovitt and Christopher Pellegrini of 
Despite the menu presenting entire cakes, your order thankfully contains just a slice of your selection and while it doesn’t exactly mention it in the menu, most of the drinks in the sets entitle you to as many free refills as you would like, you simply need to ask one of the waitresses when you feel like another cup.
Station: Minami Machida
This isn’t to say Denmark The Royal cafe is necessarily bad. It just has a different focus than one might expect at first glance.
Station: Ginza & Higashi Ginza.
) and priced between 100 and 200 yen each which may sound quite expensive at first but believe me when I say these scones are worth every yen and are something you won’t regret at all. Something that may rub you the wrong way however is the cream and jam that you have to fork over 
an extra 100 yen each in addition to the cost of the scones. Cream and jam are are something that I firmly believe should be included in the cost of a main order and it’s very disappointing that they expect customers to pay extra for something that should be a general service by default and not a luxury item. 
Station: Roppongi
Station: Kichijoji
Station: Shibuya
for the majority of my reading, I am still a huge fan of physical book stores especially those that offer something more such as an original design and a nice cafe such as this one.
Station: Higashi Nakano