Online Bingo Revives the Bingo Mentality, Hitting the Pubs, Halls and Computer Screens

Forget mobile Scrabble games and spelling bee pub nights, the latest competitive classic to see an adult revival is bingo.

Bingo nights have been invading pubs of late as well, but they’re not necessarily your granny’s standard game. Instead of simple numbers on a card, organisers are putting fun, and often quirky, images or answers that players must guess or identify with based on questions asked by the night’s host. Sometimes themes include music, television, politics or personal truth-or-dare type of revelations that players must dilvulge to fellow competitors to make a line and win.

These popular nights are not only retro in the game , but also in the concept of people connecting with a room full of strangers and friends in an age when most do a great deal of their computer socializing.

Magazines and websites have even started putting out bingo cards based on current high rated television shows, where viewers can play along with the plot to mark boxes, like whenever a detective “runs real fast” or “breaks police brutality laws” on the new “Hawaii Five-O.”

The “bingo hall” is still around as well, but the concept has seen a revamp. Some bingo halls act more as lounges, where cocktails and appetizers are served, and people can mingle in an easy going atmosphere than the average singles scene.

And of course, like all classic games, there are loads of versions that can be played online and downloaded to your mobile phones. Whereas live bingo games have pots that rarely go over £500, online games can earn players over tens of thousands of pounds. To capture that “real life” bingo feel, many sites are created with optimal graphics and chat capabilities, giving players a virtual sense of community.

With 3.2 million Britons new to online bingo last year, and millions more playing the game in some way, it doesn’t seem like the B-I-N-G-O trend will stop any time soon.