How much do you know about Bingo?

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It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been playing Bingo for days or years, there’s always more to learn about this classic game of matching numbers.

Whether they’re land-based or online, Bingo rooms are still just as popular as they’ve ever been so it can’t hurt to learn a bit more about the game.

If nothing else this might just turn out to be helpful general knowledge for any future quizzes you join!

US vs UK Bingo

What someone means when they talk about Bingo is probably different depending on which side of the Atlantic they’re from. While the game is immensely popular in both the US and the UK, it doesn’t look quite the same.

Brits are generally more familiar with a version known as 90-ball Bingo, which has a higher number of balls in play than the 75-ball format that’s popular in the US.

This generally means that a game of Bingo will last a bit longer in the UK, as players have to potentially wait even longer for one of their numbers to be called.

More than just the number of balls, there are a few other key differences between the common US and UK formats.

One of these is the look of the Bingo cards that players use, with the US format using a 5×5 grid and the UK instead opting for a 3×9 card.

These create a bit of a different play experience compared to each other.

Of course, these days, thanks to online Bingo rooms and mobile gaming, you aren’t restricted to only playing the local format no matter where you are.

The educational value of Bingo

While the game we now know as Bingo got its start in Italy, it didn’t take long for it to spread to other European countries. But when it found its way to Germany the game took on a slightly new form.

Rather than sticking to just numbers, the Germans made cards with words or pictures as the game became a teaching aid for children.

Whether it was maths, languages or science there was always a way to work a few rounds of educational Bingo into lessons.

Teaching aid aside, Bingo has also been shown to help with improving memory in general!

Bingo by any other name

The name Bingo isn’t nearly as old as the game itself, which has gone by a lot of different names over the centuries as it changed and evolved.

Its earliest version was known as Il Gioco del Lotto d’Italia, which became simply Le Lotto once it reached the aristocrats of France.

When Bingo first came to the US it was commonly referred to as Beano, partly because it was beans that were used to mark off numbers on the cards.

US businessman Edwin Lowe took this as the basis for a boxed game and rebranded it as Bingo, going on to sell very well throughout the country.

Still, in some spots you can find the game being called by an older name, such as Housey Housey.

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Thanks to Bingo’s long and storied history there’s plenty more that we haven’t covered here. So, if you want to continue brushing up on your quiz skills and learn more about Bingo then this is just the start.

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