The Most Important Facts To Know About Bingo

You may not know it, but the game of Bingo has been a popular gaming staple for centuries. It didn’t always go by the same name, but the core gameplay of matching drawn numbers got its start well before the rise of the internet.

If you’re looking to find out a bit more about the game, from its origins to some fun facts about its modern forms, then read on. We’ll dive into some of the key facts about Bingo and why Bingo rooms are still as popular with players as ever.

Bingo’s Name

First things first, just why is Bingo called Bingo? Well, to be honest, nobody is entirely sure where the name comes from.

What we do know is that it was called Beano when it first began to catch on in the US. This was thanks to the fact that players would mark numbers off their cards using beans at fairs around the country.

When the time came to produce a commercial version of the game, it was New York toy producer Edwin S Lowe who settled on the name Bingo. There are theories that he named it this because he heard a player mistakenly call out the word when they won a game.

Whatever the reason, Bingo is definitely a catchier title than Beano!

Bingo Cards

Believe it or not, the earliest forms of the game we know as Bingo didn’t use cards. In fact, the Italian original – known as Il Gioco del Lotto d’Italia – only saw one number being drawn that players were hoping to match in order to win.

The card part of the gameplay was added when the lottery game made its way to France. From there it became an essential staple of the game, with players aiming to be the first to match a set of numbers.

But the humble Bingo card looks quite different depending on where you’re playing a game. While the UK format uses a 9×3 card in the US every card is a 5×5 grid.

These different card formats lead to the game having a faster or slower pace, with UK players needing to fill out a longer row than they would in America.

Bingo Variants

If you’re looking for a game of Bingo online there’s a wealth of options to choose from, many of which feature different twists on their gameplay and rules.

The two main variants are 90-ball and 75-ball Bingo, the formats that have been played for decades in the UK and US. You can also find speed Bingo, which only uses 30 numbers to deliver an even quicker pace of play.

Another distinguishing feature is the win conditions, whether you need to fill out a horizontal row, can also mark off lines that are vertical or diagonal or have a completely different pattern to aim for.

In the digital age developers have also fused the core gameplay, with elements of other games to create fusion games. Slingo is probably the most well-known of these, combining Bingo with the spinning reel element of Slots.

Even though it’s been around for so long it still offers a fresh game experience that players around the world enjoy. Whether you prefer a speedy 30-ball game or a longer round of 90-ball Bingo, there are a wealth of options for players to enjoy online.