| UK Bingo has a long and proud history, with the | | | | when the caller would shoo them off, often at |
| game hardly changing in hundreds of years. The 3 | | | | such late times as 3am. 'Beano' was such a big |
| by 9 bingo card is recognisable to anybody in the | | | | draw that unless the caller put his foot down and |
| UK and the Commonwealth. Australia and New | | | | forced people to leave, the games would never |
| Zealand have adapted our game exactly, and the | | | | have stopped. |
| rest of the Commonwealth is rapidly catching up | | | | The game he spotted was played on cards |
| with our level of play. | | | | where the numbers would be covered by beans, |
| Winning is just as well known, with prizes for lines, | | | | hence 'Beano'. The Americans by then had made |
| double lines and the Full House and has moved | | | | the card a little different, it was now 5 squares |
| beyond bingo, with even poker hands being | | | | by 5, but this allowed them to make up lots of |
| named after the big bingo win. | | | | new ways to win. From patterns such as arrows, |
| But bingo has a much more interesting history | | | | or small squares made up by 4 by 4 grids on the |
| than you might think, bingo doesn't only have its | | | | new cards, the potential was endless. |
| British history, or even it's European one. Bingo is | | | | These new patterns made bingo even more |
| worldwide, with millions of people playing it in such | | | | exciting, and with the advent of online bingo, now |
| far flung places as Japan and the United States of | | | | UK bingo players can try their hand at the new |
| America. Indeed bingo's popularity has taken off in | | | | variations of the game. Many online bingo sites |
| every corner of the world. | | | | offer both the classic 3 by 9 square UK bingo and |
| Bingo's big boost in the US came when a New | | | | the new 5 by 5 square bingo, so that players can |
| York toy salesman, Edwin S. Lowe, spotted the | | | | pick and choose what to play themselves. |
| popularity of a game called 'Beano' being played | | | | The patterns add real spice to the game, with |
| by visitors to a carnival sideshow. When he talked | | | | even more chances to win small prizes, on the |
| to the caller, he discovered that on most nights | | | | way up the big prizes for lines and the Full House. |
| games would last deep into the night, only finishing | | | | |