WE SALUTE YOU >>>

As we recently proved The Mix hosts Bar Bingo every Monday beginning at 9 p.m. It's very popular, which might be due to the coinciding Micro Monday promotion where all microbrews are $3 a pop.

Tonight might be extra special as it's Military Appreciate Day at The Mix. The downtown Tacoma bar will knock 25 percent off all tabs for those with valid military I.D.

The Mix

635 St Helens Ave., Tacoma
253.383.4327

WE SCENE IT >>>

Editor's note: Harmon Tap Room no longer hosts the goldfish races.

Don't look now, but goldfish racing has hit the Harmon Tap Room every Tuesday night.

The rules are very simple: 1) pick your fish 2) name it something vulgar 3) grab a water spayer 4) dump your fish in the trough 5) spray your fish across the finish line and 6) win $50 cash.

Last Tuesday a mixed-age crowd of flounder fans raced, cheered and pounded Harmon brews.

Losers don't always have to be eaten. I learned that a bit too late. Sorry Sushi, you were a noble racer and a tasty treat to go along with the Vanilla Porter on tap.

Goldfish Races

8 p.m., every Tuesday
Harmon Tap Room
204 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma
253. 212.2725

LINK: More photos from the event

WE SCENE IT >>>

You told yourself you were going to participate in 2011, and yet you've already gone into hiding.  Oh sure, you bought that home-version bingo game two years ago and had a fascinating conversation with that guy who is sort of already doing the thing you would love to participate in, but that was last year, and you were a bit drunk and so was he.  So here you are just looking at your shoes going, "Hmm, another year and I still don't know squat about Monday Bar Stool Bingo at the gay-friendly Mix in downtown Tacoma." Now 2011 is looking you right square in the Old Navy T-shirt and saying, "All right then, so what have we here? Are you ready to make the best of me and take me out and ply me with wine and shout outs of B-9, G-24 and the glorious BINGO!, or shall the Weekly Volcano just shrug and sigh and watch you wither and whimper and say hey maybe next year for sure?" 

Dude, really?

We sent photographer Steve Dunkelberger to The Mix last night to check out their Monday Bar Stool Bingo night. He discovered the standard bingo game matched with witty banter between host Charles Jaffries and the crowd felt like Thanksgiving dinner at his house. The sea of mostly gay chaps joked around like they were in their own living rooms, the sort of fun a great bar offers.

Bar Stool Bingo

Mondays, 9 p.m., no cover
The Mix, 635 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma
253.383.4327

LINK: More photos in our Photo Hot Spot

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT? >>>

Paddy Coyne's is a traditional Irish Pub with a Northwest spin. Its Tuesday night fair includes dark ales flowing from the tap on a regular basis and emceed trivia courtesy of Joe Korbuszewski. For the last two years Korbuszewski has tossed questions to the Coyne's crowd that range between home improvement tips and politics to geography, pop culture and automotive repair. No subject is out of reach, which makes sense since the average score on his 25-question rosters hovers at about 60 percent.

Last Tuesday, Alexander Scotland Wilson brought his bagpipes and belted out a few tunes during the lulls in trivia. He has been playing pipes for 12 years after blowing the sacks under the pipe major of the Black Watch and pipe major of the senior Scottish Regiment of the British Army, Alexander "Sandy" Hain. Anyone who knows pipes knows that such training is a big deal.

Tuesday Night Pub Quiz

7 p.m. Tuesday, no cover
Minimum of two people and a maximum of 6 people per team
$2 per person entry fee and the winning team takes all
Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub
815 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.272.6963

A NEW WAY TO GET CARDED >>>

If your image of bingo is a sort of purgatory, a cafeteria filled with grannies clutching cigarettes with three-inch ashes as they listen to the numbers being called, you need to check out Rock & Roll Bingo Night at The New Frontier Lounge in Tacoma. Every Wednesday night sprightly bartender Brook Pawlicki emcees the games that offer the beer-chugging patrons chances to win campy prizes with every "Bingo" yell.

Last Wednesday brought a light crowd of regulars that ranged from members of Tacoma's music scene to 30-somethings out on the town tossing down $3 wells and $2 Session lagers with pizza and fries.

Prizes I saw dolled out included a Pillsbury Dough Boy doll, a Best of Country Music of 1968 record and low-budget porn from 1996.

The campy vibe allows patrons to mix and mingle while still concentrating on their Bingo cards. The music is low and steady but the pace of bingo can be fast and furious as the numbers drop toward the end of the card.

Rock & Roll Bingo

Wednesdays, 9:30-11:30 p.m., no cover
The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma
253.572.4020

LINK: More bingo photos in our Photo Hot Spot