Bingo is a common social game played in various places in the world. There are a few variations of the game, in different geographical regions, although the basic purpose remains the same: Contestens mark out numbers on a card, as they are being randomly announced with the purpose to create the desired combination. The variations in the game would refer to card structure and desired combination of marked numbers upon them. “Housey-Housey” is a common name for bingo in the UK, “Housie” in New Zealand, Australia and India. In some parts of North America “bingo” refers to the game known as “Scrable”
Bingo is played in rather large groups of dozens or hundreds of people and considered to be a recreational activity. While in The UK and US bingo has a prosperous business aspect in Australia and New Zealand it’s role in fund raising activity held in community halls and churches. In UK and US bingo considered to be a major socializing activity for many people while in Australia and New Zealand the bingo player is characterized by a higher age.
Variations of the game were played in the 18th. and 19th. centuries in Europe: an educational game to memorize details in Germany and different luck games from Italy in the east towards England in the west. In America the game gained popularity in the early 20th. century and only in the 1920′s it matured into the form known to ys today: a paper number cards and a draw of numbers. Name of origin is still in dispute: Some claim it is an old British name referring to Lotto while others believe it is based on a “Beano” game played in America.
Announcements of the numbers, in bingo games, has a significant role both in atmosphere and in the technical aspect of keeping track of called numbers. As many bingo games played with more then one card it is crucial for him to track called numbers on his card. As for theses reasons a usage of nicknames evolved in many places. The caller calls the nick name first which rhymes with the followed called number (all the fives, fifty five). As random number generator machines became more popular the nicknames announcements became only a nostalgic touch that is added in some games.
Although Church-run and community bingo halls facilitate many of the bingo games both in the US and in the UK the internet became the leading arena for players. Internet bingo, aka Online bingo is played threw casino sites using random numbers generator (RNG) which gives out called numbers. Internet sites may offer downloadable software of an Online bingo match. Later is more common and has a rising popularity and has added value of prizes and promotions, to encourage registration, such as no deposit requirements but rather a free bonus to begin playing. Sites offering this kind of bonuses are called no deposit bingo sites.
Online games usually uses two different cards: 90 cards are 9X3 (9 columns & 3 rows) and usually preferred in Europe and in the UK. 90 Cards bingo would offer prizes for a completion of one row, two rows and the Full House which means the whole card. Naturally the full house is the highest prizes from the 3 options. Canadian and American players would prefer 75 cards which are 5X5 (5 columns & 5 rows). 75 Cards bingo, in many games, will offer a middle free number. There are many desired patterns of called numbers that could be achieved and could change from one game to another. There are many more variations of the game, other then the 2 mentioned. Online bingo offers a wide variety of methods in order to increase suspense, speed of the game and ways to enjoy the game: buying cards while numbers are pre-drawned (“quick shot”), “Bonanza” is like “quick-shot” with 43 numbers card and a continuance of numbers being called. Over 20 more variations could be find in internet sites.