How Has the Winning Mechanism in Bingo Changed Recently?
Bingo is a game that’s been played all over the planet for many years. While the modern version was created in the US about a century ago, its roots go back a lot further, with similar games played in Europe as far back as the 16th century. Now, we can also play sleek, shiny online versions of the game, but what – if anything – has changed in the winning mechanism?
The Basics of Playing Bingo
It’s easy to picture a group of bingo players sitting in a crowded hall, eagerly waiting to find out if their numbers are drawn. We’ve seen this image loads of times in movies and TV shows, and you might have experienced it in real life too. Land-based bingo halls still exist, although the switch to playing online has given us a new way of playing that makes it easy to try the game even if you haven’t got a location nearby.
What’s the good news for anyone who has ever jumped up from their seat to excitedly scream ‘full house’? Well, you can win in exactly the same way from the comfort of your own home. So only your pets and any family members hanging around get to see your excitement as you leap into the air.
The game’s top prize is still a full house, with this moment of crowning glory achieved when you mark off every single number from your card. Smaller prizes may be claimed with other patterns, such as a single line. However, the big difference is that auto-daubing means that your cards are marked automatically, so you can just sit back and watch the action unfold.
Move Variants Are Now Available
If we take a step back in time, we can see that people used to play bingo in a certain way based on where they lived. A 75-ball version was played in North America, with each card having a 5×5 grid of numbers, giving a total of 25 numbers to mark off.
In the UK and other regions, the 90-ball version became the most popular. This game is played on cards that have 27 numbers, set in three rows and nine columns. Basically, anyone who has played one of these versions should have no problem picking up the other right away.
Since going online, both these variants can easily be found by players no matter where they live, giving a classic bingo experience. Yet, these are no longer the only ways of playing. You can now try speed bingo versions with fewer numbers, as well as unique versions created for the online audience.
The Addition of Themed Games with New Rules
So, where does that leave us? Well, if we dig a bit deeper into bingo online in Canada, we see that many themed games are available. Amazonia Bingo and Bingo Cataratas take us on globe-trotting adventures, while Bingo Goal adds a sporty element. Go-Go Bingo and Pesca Bingo offer other interesting themes and more variety. The general gameplay doesn’t vary much, but there are some new features added to bingo online games.
If we look at the example of Amazonia Bingo from Woohoo Games, which is set in the world’s biggest rainforest in South America, there are four possible winning patterns. The game also works slightly differently, with all 33 balls drawn at once. You then have the option of asking for more balls if you feel that you’re close to getting a winning pattern. A progressive jackpot can also be won if you meet the criteria, such as playing with the maximum of four cards and getting a full house in no more than 30 balls.
Bingo Cataratas has also been developed by Woohoo, and the theme involves a waterfall gushing over the background, bringing to mind the natural beauty of Victoria Falls and Iguazu Falls, which are among the largest waterfalls in the world. The floodgates open when you choose your bet level and press the start button, at which point 31 balls are drawn. There are ten winning patterns in this game, ranging from a single line to the sought-after full house. A bonus game has been added in the shape of a lucky wheel that you get to spin if you complete the bonus pattern on your card.
Keno has also become popular online, with this lottery-type game perhaps best described as a distant cousin of bingo that we kind of lost touch with over the years, but are happy to meet again. Expect to see more games like this appear on the scene, as developers take games like bingo as their starting point and build new features onto them.
Still the Same Game in New Types of Presentation
By looking at how bingo was played in the past and how it’s played now, we can see that the presentation has changed, but it still has the same basic gameplay under that. To answer the original question, we can win in bingo in new ways – such as bonus rounds and progressive jackpots – but marking off a full house remains the ultimate goal of this much-loved game. That’s unlikely to change any time soon.