The History Of Bingo Calls

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Online bingo has lost a bit of its charm because the direct interactions between players are now reduced to the chat room. However, this is a place where punters are more inclined to share their thoughts and talk to each other, not to mention the opportunities of meeting new people. Bingo calls have always encouraged communication between players, due to their fun nature. This is a quick glance at the history of bingo calls, so you better understand their origin when playing online.

Two centuries of tongue-in-cheek humour

Bingo is not a new game by any standards, so it comes as no surprise that some of the earliest bingo calls go back to the early 19th century. The influence of the Army names is clear when you look at bingo numbers such as 51, 52, and 53. They were named after certain Army divisions, something that bingo players will instinctively understand even if they don’t know exactly what they referred to. This trend gained a lot of traction back in the day and more numbers were named in this manner.

Bingo was played in many quarters by people from all walks of life, but the guys in the military had plenty of time and enjoyed the game. Apparently, some of the bingo calls associated with army names have endured, even though many were replaced. The game is particularly popular in England, so many of the bingo calls refer to places in London and other cities. For the international player, these will only sound remotely familiar, hence their fading popularity in online bingo rooms.

Hollywood changed bingo calls

As the game became more popular worldwide, the influence of Hollywood blockbusters and TV series was also felt. Many of the bingo calls that we use today were created at the turn of the century or throughout the 20th century. Hollywood had a strong and undeniable influence in naming some of these calls, as they drew inspiration from actors and their best-known productions. Looking back at those movies, they don’t ring familiar to modern players but it’s important to know their origin.

Bingo has remained a popular game since moving to the online environment and this also led to a change in the audience. Back in the day, mostly women and the elderly would play bingo, but this has changed greatly since the advent of Internet bingo. The young demographics have little interest in using and learning the old bingo calls and many found alternative names. Garden Gate turned to Tinder Date and Dancing Queen is now known as Selfie Queen by the younger audience.

If you play enough new bingo sites online, you will inevitably stumble upon some highly debatable bingo calls. Nowadays when people are more sensitive, some of them might come across as offensive, but most radiate harmless fun. You can find the entire list of bingo calls online, with current and old-fashioned versions, so when you play the next bingo session you will sound like a pro.