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How the world of Bingo's rebranded itself

If you thought that bingo was a game that died out in the 70s and that there was barely a bingo hall still open for business, we’ve quite a surprise for you. Bingo is booming and it’s not the ladies with purple rinses, handbags and dibbers at the ready who are behind its unexpected renaissance. Increasingly, it’s the millennials who are being drawn into the world of bingo, and there are a couple of reasons for this.

The first has been the inexorable rise of the online game. Ever since the very first sites appeared online a good few years ago now, they started to appeal to a younger generation than had ever been interested in the game before.

They were suddenly given the chance to discover bingo online to play at home. Unlike the old hall-based version of the game, this offers an almost endless variety of ways to play with games that can cost just pennies but which also offer generous prizes. There are even tie-ins with TV programmes like Deal or No Deal and popular slots games like Rainbow Riches. Another very strong feature is the way in which the sites have captured the social element of the game. That’s why you’ll find chat rooms with whole communities building up around the sites.

A night at the bingo – with a difference

The second factor that has led to the resurgence of the game has been its adoption by clubs up and down the country that frequently throw bingo nights. An equal mix of party, bingo, karaoke and on-stage dance-offs, these are pretty crazy events all round. As well as offering novelty prizes like boxes of breakfast cereal and life-size cut-outs of celebrities – try getting one of those home in the Uber or on the night bus – they also offer pretty good cash prizes too. There’s also been a major resurgence in drag bingo, a phenomenon that first emerged in America in the early 1990s as a novel method of raising much-needed funds for AIDS charities.

Mind your language

But, across all forms of bingo, there has been one aspect that is having to change for the new generation and this is the traditional language used by the bingo caller. This isn’t an issue online, but in live bingo modern sensibilities are very different from how they were in bingo’s 60s and 70s heyday.

So any caller who today dared to pronounce “two fat ladies, 88” or “Never been kissed, sweet sixteen” would probably find themselves in very hot water. However, to keep this fun element alive, some distinctly contemporary alternatives are already in circulation. Examples include “Wills and Kate, number eight” and “Gluten-free, 23” with, no doubt, many more to come.

It’s undoubtedly great news that bingo’s not just seen a resurgence, but that it’s also shown that it can move with the times to remain a fun and relevant source of entertainment. And long may the magic of the balls continue to provide this diversion from everyday life.

  • How the world of Bingo's rebranded itself