Forget mobile Scrabble

Forget mobile Scrabble games and spelling bee pub nights, the latest competitive classic to see an adult revival is bingo.

Bingo nights have been taking over pubs as of late, but they’re not necessarily your granny’s standard game. Instead of basic numbers on a bingo card, organisers are putting in quirky images or answers that players must guess or identify with based on questions asked by the night’s host. Sometimes themes include music, television, politics or personal truth-or-dare type of revelations that players must confess to fellow competitors in order to make a line and win.

These popular nights

These popular nights are not only retro in the game , but also in the concept of people connecting with a room full of strangers and friends in an age when most do a great deal of their computer socializing.

Magazines and websites have even started putting out bingo cards based on current (and often predictable) television shows, where viewers can play along with the plot to mark boxes, like whenever a detective “runs real fast” or “breaks police brutality laws” on the new “Hawaii Five-O.”

The “bingo hall” is still around as well, but the concept has seen a revamp. Some bingo halls act more as lounges, where cocktails and appetizers are served, and people can mingle in a less-intimidating atmosphere than the average clubby singles scene.

And of course, like all classic games, there are loads of versions that can be played online and downloaded to your mobile phones. Whereas live bingo games have earnings that rarely exceed £500, online games can make players tens of thousands of pounds. To capture that “real life” bingo feel, many sites are created with optimal graphics and chat features, giving players a sense of community.

With 3.2 million Britons new to online bingo last year, and millions more playing the game in some sort of fashion, it doesn’t look like the B-I-N-G-O trend will be ending any time soon.

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