Bingo is also known by the name ‘housey housey’ in the United Kingdom. It is considered to be one of the most popular games among women of the age group 20 – 25, that is played at parties, game rooms, bingo clubs and casual public meetings. There is no limit to the number of players that can play the game at a time. All the players are provided with a card that has 3 x 9 matrix and 15 numbers from 1 – 90 are printed in few of the boxes, 5 in each row. Players mark the numbers that are randomly called and the one who gets the winning combination wins. There are a few winning combinations that are generally used when all the 5 numbers are marked in a single row, as there are three rows in a card this combination is won three times in a single game, and secondly when all the numbers in each row are marked.

There are 27 boxes on a card on which the numbers are marked according to the columns. For example, in the first column numbers from 1 – 9 are marked, numbers from 10 – 19 are marked in the second column and the last column has numbers from 80 – 90. Every card has been given different numbers randomly. With the increasing popularity of the game, many bingo clubs have been created in the UK. Three of the biggest bingo halls in the country are Gala Bingo, Mecca Bingo Ltd. and Riva Bingo. Traditionally all the money that is gathered from the participation is given away in prizes.

Bingo, or ‘housey housey’, originated from an American game ‘Beano’. The name ‘Beano’ was given to the game in 1920’s changing it from ‘Keno’. Since then the game has undergone a lot of changes in terms of the rules, as well as its name. It is believed that the history of Bingo begins in Italy, where it was played under the name ‘lotto’. At that time the game was very popular among the wealthy Frenchmen. In Germany, the game was introduced to children and the motive was to help them learn mathematics. The game became so popular all over the word that it was estimated that about 10,000 games were played in a week on average.

Today bingo has been introduced over the internet as well. According to survey, a whooping 90 million USD is spent on Bingo in the US alone. Playing Bingo online is offered today by many web sites such as MSN, Yahoo, and AOL. A person can register with the web site and start playing the game, competing with other players playing online. A random number from 1 – 90 is generated time to time and the players have to follow it and get the winning combination. Sun Bingo is considered to be one of the best online Bingo game websites. Today in the UK alone it has become a 600 million pound business.

By Rakesh Gaikwad
Virgin Games is a well known for providing quality casino game entertainment online and is an extremely popular site for playing Bingo.