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December 1st, 2008
Everybody loves to play bingo games - who doesn’t? For some people, bingo is about raising money for charity. For others, it’s about taking a small chance on winning a very large prize. Others still see the game as a great opportunity to socialise. But where does it come from, this game we love so much? What are its roots, and how did it evolve to be the game we play today? And did you know that at one stage the game of Bingo was banned by the Catholic Church? The game of bingo is actually hundreds of years old. Its European country of origin is mildly disputed, but it most likely dates back to around 1530, to an Italian lottery game called “Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia.” However, before 200 years had passed, the game had matured and was being played in France and Germany. The addition to the game of the ritual of calling out numbers is thought to be a French contribution. Amusingly, it gained a certain notoriety in Europe when it was banned by the Catholic Church, which for a time drove the game underground. The birth of bingo as we know it today happened in America in 1929. A toy salesman from New York by the name of Edwin Lowe stumbled across a game called Beano being played in a carnival tent in Georgia, played with beans. Lowe was intrigued but didn’t get a chance to play bingo as the tent was so crowded, but he went home inspired. At home, he developed the game further and invited some friends round to test it. When one of his guests became so excited that, stuttering, she yelled “Bingo!” instead of “Beano,” Lowe realised he was on to a winning idea, and began to market bingo commercially as a board game for playing at home. Ironically, the Catholic Church who had banned the game more than a century before was the reason for the game’s current epic success. A priest who had been using the game of bingo to raise funds to repair his church’s roof approached Lowe. He said he found the standard bingo cards that came with the box set to be too limited, and requested that some more complex ones be developed. And so the popular form of bingo we know and love today was born, with 90 balls and thousands of permutations of bingo cards. So next time you’re having a quiet moment at a bingo hall, think about the fact that you’re part of a grand tradition, playing a game that was created almost half a millennium ago. Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – the number one resource in the UK for online bingo games with the best bingo site reviews and the latest bingo promotions. |
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November 28th, 2008
I love to play bingo online, and I’m sure you do too. Mostly I play over the weekends, but I’ve been known to log on for a couple of cards on the odd weeknight too. Last week some friends and I were having a natter over a jar down our local, and the subject of bingo came up, mostly because one of my mates bought us a round with money he’d won playing online bingo the previous week. Naturally we started ribbing him about it, in spite of the free drinks, because my luck’s been rotten lately. Mixed in with the good-natured banter were a couple of real gems, which I thought I’d share with you. And so without further ado, and with my tongue firmly in my cheek, I present the top signs that you play too much bingo online. 1. Your eyes are red because you’ve been up too late playing online bingo, staring at the computer screen and waiting for one more number, not because you’ve been out partying. 2. A mate tells you a joke and instead of laughing you say, “LOL!” 3. You see someone cute in a pub, but you feed a bit shy. You start wishing this was a bingo chat room. 4. Having worked up the nerve, you walk over and introduce yourself using your bingo screen name. 4. For that matter, the car that you drive has a vanity plate with your bingo screen name on it. 5. After waking up, you log into your favourite bingo website before you make coffee. 6. You’re incredibly bored because there’s nobody interesting to talk to in the bingo chat room. 7. You sign into a bingo game room, and you notice that there’s more than 20 people logged in, many of them friends. The first thing you do is query the Caller about the size of the bingo pot. 8. You nag your real-life friends to join up at your bingo website so that you can hang out with them more often. 9. Someone asks you to repeat what you said, and you respond, “BINGO!” 10. You recognise and laugh at too many items on this list. There you have it. All things in moderation, eh? See you in the bingo chatrooms … Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – the top resource in the UK for all your online bingo needs and bringing you the very best in bingo promotions. |
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November 27th, 2008
Traditional UK bingo is played with 90 balls. The last number in the online bingo progression is 90. It is a special number in many senses, and is revered in online bingo. In following the time tested online bingo tradition of giving call numbers different nicknames, it should be no surprise that this online bingo number has the most nicknames and some of the best. For those people who had so much fun making up nicknames for the numbers, this was the final chance to make their mark. So what are some of the online bingo nicknames for the number 90? The first can be said in two different ways, depending upon which bingo game you are at. You might hear some callers say “top of the shop” and you might hear others refer to the number 90 as “top of the house”. Either is equally correct and they are both steeped in online bingo tradition. It is easy to see where this nickname came from. If you were to list all of the possible numbers of a bingo game in order, 99 would be at the top of the heap. That is why online bingo gives 90 this special nickname for its calling. There are some other online bingo nicknames for 90, as well. While the others made it seem as if 90 was the head of some sort of vertical ordering system, these nicknames would apply to a linear numbering system. 90, in many online bingo games, is called out at “end of the line”. Any fool can tell why this is the nickname for this particular online bingo number. There is nothing past 90, so it is essentially the last remaining digit. There are often times when this is the last number that a player needs in order to have bingo, so these nicknames take on a special significance. All in all, you will find some very interesting online bingo calls for just about every number that there is. 90 is no exception and it is only special because of the fact that it is the last number going. If you are an online bingo player and you haven’t heard some of these cool call number nicknames, then you are really missing out. Call nicknames like this are a great online bingo tradition and they have helped to make the game what it is over the years. They are worth getting to know if only for entertainment purposes. Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – the number one resource for the best online bingo in the UK and bringing you the latest and greatest bingo promotions. |
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November 26th, 2008
Bingo is usually associated with older people, but this isn’t always the case with online bingo. As a general rule, online bingo is more associated with today’s youth, as they are known to take advantage of the internet in order to get their online gaming fix. Still, there is perception out there about online bingo that makes it somewhat tied to the older population of individuals. With this in mind, it is fun to take a look at one of the online bingo traditions that honours the notion of the elderly. One of the most common bingo traditions is with the calling of the numbers. Each number is given a different creative name and they are used as both identifiers and for entertainment purposes. One of the numbers that has been given a particularly fitting name for the purposes of online bingo is 65. As an online bingo player, when you think of the number 65, what do you associate it with most commonly? Most players would say that they associate the number 65 with being retired and drawing some sort of a pension. The bingo tradition reflects this, as well. In online bingo, 65 is known by the calling nickname “old age pension”. While some of the calling names that are mentioned in online bingo don’t have this type of truth to them, 65 is one that can be easily recognized. It does not matter if you are old or if you are young. Any person with a lick of sense is going to know that 65 is the age when a person becomes a real “senior citizen” and gets to take home their pension. This has applied throughout time with bingo and it continues to apply for the now younger players who like to play bingo online. All in all, calling numbers are a really interesting tradition that online bingo players have come to embrace. When you see things like “old age pension”, you can see how the people who originally put together the game of bingo were really trying to help people enjoy the game as much as they possibly can. It is a very cool idea and it is something that has stuck through the ages, even as some online bingo players become younger and younger. Though bingo online might not attract too many players under the age of 65, there is no questioning that the game rings true to even those without a pension. Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – the number one resource for online bingo UK and bringing you the very latest and greatest in bingo promotions. |
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November 25th, 2008
This is one of the interesting questions that the people who are making online bingo decisions are trying to figure out. The online gaming world is changing rapidly. More and more people are using their computers for entertainment and a part of that is that they are playing online bingo with much more regularity. Still, there is a lot of competition for online bingo in the world of online gaming. The interesting challenge for online bingo is that they have to compete not only against other forms of online bingo, but also against traditional bingo. The fight to stay ahead of traditional bingo is an easy one for the folks who power online bingo. As a general rule, people are much more apt to get on their computer and play a couple rounds of online bingo than they are to get in their car and spend the gas to drive to the local bingo hall. This has more to do with the fact that online bingo is incredibly convenient. Still, it is worth noting that there are some people who prefer traditional bingo to online bingo and that is an interesting challenge that online bingo has had to face. The role of online bingo in the world of online gaming could be described as “emerging”. Online bingo sites provide something that many other games lack. They give players an opportunity to play a game that does not require too much skill while also interacting with other people. Though poker provides this type of interaction, it requires much more skill than online bingo. Blackjack might not be a game of skill, but it does not provide the type of human interaction that online bingo can give. Simply put, online bingo has the best of both worlds for many players. If online bingo is really going to take off, it is going to have to market itself in the way that online poker did. It appears as if online bingo is starting to do that, and for players, it is really becoming a great source of entertainment. For the most part, the people who run online bingo halls really look out for and care for their players by providing those awesome bingo bonuses for players to take advantage of. This is incredibly important to the future of online bingo. Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com - the number one resource for UK online bingo and providing you with the latest and greatest online bingo promotions. |
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November 24th, 2008
Tombola are a booming bingo bundle of surprises, as I found out this weekend when I signed up to play bingo with them. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, there’s been a lot of hype floating around the bingo industry about Tombola, and I guess I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I was pleasantly surprised, the Tombola games are really fun and refreshing - it’s nice to see a good selection of online bingo games presented in new and different formats. What’s more, as Tombola do their own bingo software, their games are totally unique and you won’t find these bingo games anywhere else online! Their latest bingo style game just released is Roller-Coaster - wow what a thrilling ride this is! And I love the concept - 40 bingo balls each get a name, face and catch-phrase, and everytime the roller-coaster loops the loop one of them falls out - and you gotta hope it’s got one of your names on it. All you have to do to play is pick up to 4 carriages with 5 empty named seats, and wait for them bingo balls to fill up your empties. Tombola have really gone to town on this new online bingo game, there’s even a separate flash animation introducing the new game with all the bingo ball characters, click on each bingo ball to hear their catch-phrase - cool! Of course when you see the Roller-Coaster looping round your computer screen, one bingo ball after another falling out with a scream, and the mad chatroom buzz as everyone shouts out the names they need to call bingo - LOL much fun was had by little old me, and kudos to Tombola for a new take on the great game of bingo online. PS. Tombola are rumoured to be having a massively hot bingo promotion lined up for December – you will NOT want to miss their Wonderland promo - soon as we have more news on this fab bingo promotion we’ll bring it to you. Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com - the top UK resource for online bingo goodies and bringing you the latest and greatest bingo promotions. |
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November 21st, 2008
With so many online bingo sites out there today, players have a tough time choosing the right one. After all, they look the same and many of them use the same software. In many cases, online bingo sites are also offering the same promotions, as well. When this is the case, what is a player to do? How are they to tell one of the online bingo sites apart from all of the others? There are some very simple things that a player should look for in online bingo sites to find the right one. All in all, online bingo sites need to be trusted. If you can’t trust your site, then there is no reason why you should be playing there. You are going to be trying to win some big prizes and some major bingo jackpots. When you get lucky enough to do this, don’t you want to know that you will be able to claim your prize from the online bingo sites? This should be the first thing you look for. Do the research on various online bingo sites and find out which ones are the most trusted by experienced players who are familiar with the online bingo scene. Be sure to check out the bingo forums too. As a player, you should also be looking for a site that is willing to adapt to the changing technology out there. The online bingo world is constantly evolving. New bingo games, new software programs, and new incentive programs are popping up each and every week. This is why online bingo sites in this day and age have to keep up with the times. When you choose a site, you need to know that they are dedicated to providing you with only the best and latest in online bingo software. You need to know that they are keeping up with the competitors in this highly competitive field. Online bingo sites must be able to give you quality service, as well. If you are going to be investing in them, then they need to be available to answer your questions and calm your concerns. This is something that you should demand in your online bingo sites and if the site cannot provide that, then you need to take your play elsewhere. There are way too many online bingo sites out there for you to be settling for anything other than the absolute best. As a player, you should demand that out of your online bingo sites. Written by Charlene Grey for BIngoStreet.com - Take a look at the greatest online bingo promotions now! |
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November 21st, 2008
One of the problems with modern day bingo is that it isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be. For those people who were lucky enough to play bingo back when it was still fresh, there were some cool traditions that made the game a lot more attractive than it otherwise might have been. Back then, playing bingo was an event and it was a prime form of entertaniment. So what were these bingo traditions that were so prevalent during that time? One of them was the tradition of having different calling nicknames for the numbers on your card. These days, bingo is pretty boring because these nicknames have gone by the wayside. If you played bingo back then, you would know that Kelly’s Eye represented the number one. Tony’s Den was 10. There are lots of really cool and really interesting bingo calling names out there and when you have a look over the list, you can see why so many people were fascinated with this part of the game. It really kept things interesting and it kept the game new to many folks. These days, it is all about efficiency in the game of bingo, so the names have been eliminated for the most part. So why today would you hear a bingo caller say “seventeen” instead of “Dancing Queen”? It all comes down to the fact that the bingo games of today are trying to go as quickly as they possibly can. Players demand more games and they want things to run smoothly. With the old names, there was much more fun, but players did not get to play nearly as much as they do in today’s game. It is just one of the sacrifices that has had to come about as modern bingo has taken over for the traditional bingo that players are used to. All in all, bingo is changing for the better, though it is sad to see some of the traditions fall by the wayside. With more technology and more games taking over bingo, players are now able to win more prizes and have a lot more fun playing the game in the conveinence of their own home. Still, it is sad to know that soon, there will be no chance of hearing “Goodbye Teens” instead of hearing the caller simply say “nineteen”. Bingo is changing and some things just aren’t going to last. |
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November 20th, 2008
Have you seen the latest pink laptop bingostreet competition entry in the Bingo Forum? It’s an amazing story about two old friends meeting again by accident on Wink Bingo - 30 years later! How cool is that I’ve been checking out the competition entries for the Bingostreet Pink Laptop Giveaway and read this one last night, and I’m not kidding you, it brought a tear to my eye - and I’m normally a pretty cool guy - my only regular vice on my feminine side is my addiction to playing bingo online So these two girls became best mates when they were 9 years old, lost touch in their mid-twenties and met up again on the Wink Bingo site in one of the bingo chatrooms. I’ve lost count of how many old mates I’ve lost touch with over the years and I’m only in my mid 40’s - but it’d be dead cool to meet up with them again. It just got me what the lady said, they dropped 30 years in an instant - almost like Wink Bingo was a time machine taking them back to when they were kids, which is after all the best time of your life. I think that’s why I enjoy playing online bingo so much, cos you don’t have to pretend to be grown up, you can just relax, chill out and have a good barney about anything - it doesn’t have to be about bingo. It’s like you drop the adult mask you have to wear all the time, and can just be yourself. A lot of people lose that, and forget what being alive is all about - it’s about feeling good and having fun - and playing online bingo does that for me big time! Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – the number one resource in the UK for online bingo bringing you the very best in bingo promotions. |
But I can live with that if you can!|
November 19th, 2008
I don’t think there’s been a bigger paying out month in the history of bingo online than this November. We’ve had some absolutely huge bingo winners recently which is super cool, and very good for the bingo online industry too! There’s no better publicity for an online bingo website than a huge bingo win - although it will undoubtedly put a dent in the bingo website’s winnings for that month from all us other bingo players, it’s the best advertisment for an online bingo site in existence. The biggest recent winner was the £1.5 million jackpot paid out last week I think by William Hill Bingo - wow, that was a stonker! Will Hill Bingo said it was the biggest bingo win of the year, quite a record breaker in the online bingo book of bingo wins. There was also an extremely lucky bingo playing nurse who won a super cool £200,000 at Will Hill Bingo at the end of October - in her first week of playing bingo online - WTG! Just last week there was another newbie winner at Mecca Bingo - she scooped up more than £75,000 after only having played at Mecca Bingo for a week! LOL - bet that rumbled some grumbles for the other Mecca Bingo players. But all’s fair in love, war and online bingo - and I for one am always happy when someone scores a huge bingo win, and though I also wish it could be me (as I’m sure every other bingo online fan does too) I’m also happy for them. So November definitely seems to be the month of winning big at online bingo, and also in bingo halls across the UK too - with newbies taking a huge slice of the bingo jackpot winnings - remember the Gala Bingo player who won £47,000 on her first night ever playing bingo down in Torquay on Nov 6? Double WTG!! There’s still time to make bingo history as there’s just under 2 weeks to go until December, so focus your bingo winning powers on winning a huge online bingo jackpot by end of November and I’ll blog about you too in 2 weeks time! GL! Written by John Witherspoon for BingoStreet.com – the number one resource in the UK for the best online bingo games and top bingo promotions. |
