Bingo Around the World

It seems the different variations on bingo are almost endless, and when you look at the game around the world, you’ll see that it’s very different from country to country, even if it seems similar at first. Here are some of the ways bingo at https://www.umbingo.com is played across the world so you can see just what differences there are. 

Italy

Did you know that it was in Italy that the earliest form of bingo was invented? This happened around 500 years ago, and it was initially meant to be a lottery that the Italian government created.

The game has changed a lot since then, but the standard 90 ball variation is still the most popular in Italy. It’s such a popular game that, even in this modern age when bingo can so easily be played online, there are some 300 bingo halls still in operation and the game doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. 

USA

There are few countries that have taken bingo so closely to heart as American (except, perhaps, the UK). However, in the USA they don’t play the familiar 90 ball version; they play the 75 ball version of bingo. This was the form that came to prominence in the 1920s in the states, and has never really fallen out of favour. 

There are many strict gambling rules that affect the different states in America, so bingo halls aren’t as rife as many would like them to be. Instead, most of the bingo games that Americans play are run by church groups or played as a family at home rather than as an organised game. Of course, casinos sometimes offer bingo too, so look out for that if you’re visiting one and want to play a familiar game. 

Something else to be aware of is that there are no online bingo sites allows in the USA, again due to these rules. 

Sweden

Sweden does love a game of bingo, and the bingo you’ll play there is rather different again. It is called five line bingo, or high 5 bingo. It’s a spin off of the American’s 75 ball bingo, but there are two major differences. The first is that the cards used have no free space on them at all (normally you’ll find some free space in the middle of a bingo card). The second change is that there are – as the name suggests – five different ways to win. So you can get a prize for getting from one to four lines, plus the more usual full house.

Japan

Japan had plenty of strict gambling laws in the past, and in fact today many different forms of gambling are still not allowed. This includes sports betting and lotteries. It also includes land based bingo halls. However, online bingo is a different matter and is extremely popular in Japan.

The favourite form of bingo in Japan is the 75 ball version. In fact, they love it so much they set a world record for the largest game of online bingo ever played. Almost 500,000 people joined in with just one game in order to set this record!