Bingo has undergone many changes over the years, and what started out as simply “Il Gioco” (The Game) in Renaissance Italy, is now an online phenomenon.
It has also accumulated many variant forms over the years as people have added their touches and twists to it. What is, in essence, a very simple game to play, has spawned countless different ways of playing. A musician might say something like “variations on a theme”, but here are some different forms of bingo you should try at least once – check out this game.
30-ball bingo
As the name suggests, 30-ball bingo is played with 30 balls using a 3×3 bingo card. As you’d expect with far fewer numbers than the normal version, this variation of bingo is both fast-paced and frantic.
Players can play multiple times in an hour’s session, making it perfect for those who have limited time to play.
75-ball bingo
This type of bingo game is much more familiar to people in the United States and Canada. The bingo cards have 25 squares set up in five rows of five numbers. Crucially however, there are only 24 numbers when you count the free space in the middle of the card.
52-ball bingo
Increasingly, more online bingo sites are offering this variant of bingo, and its popularity continues to grow.
This game is known as 52-ball bingo, as there 52 cards in a deck of playing cards. The basic premise of the game is to cover the cards that you are dealt in your ‘hand’, and each ‘hand’ consists of 5 playing cards.
Slingo
Slingo marries together online slots and traditional bingo in a match made in heaven. It’s also becoming increasingly available at most online casinos and is very easy to pick up. You use a 5×5 grid and a reel that you’d see in regular slots.
It doesn’t take long to grasp. Every time you spin the reel, the numbers that appear on the reel are the numbers you can tick off your Slingo card. Like bingo, the goal in Slingo is to match five in a row, as many times as you can. This includes horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines.
As there are 20 numbers on your Slingo card, you must try and mark off as many as possible within your number of allocated spins. Should you run out of spins without having achieved this, there’s always the opportunity to buy extra spins.
Bongo bingo
Last, but certainly not least comes Bongo Bingo. If you’ve never heard of Bongo Bingo, prepare yourself. It’s a regular bingo game, but punctuated by impromptu raves, dance-offs and spontaneous catwalks down tables.
There’s beer, cocktails, shots, and a lot of good-natured fun. The soundtrack to the entertainment tends towards trance, dance and 90s pop and there’s even the odd celebrity who drops in.
To name a few, David Hasselhoff, and the groups Five, S Club and the Vengaboys have all got involved.
This may, or may not be your cup of tea, but it is a lot of people’s idea of a good time. It’s now extremely popular with millennials all over the world.
