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Bemused by Bingo

I challenge anyone to experience a Bingo Hall filled to the rafters and not experience a certain sense of bemusement. Bemusement is the perfect word to use in connection to Bingo (and not merely because there is a slightly nerdish side of me that enjoys the alliteration) you have the peculiar mix of groups of shrill women, groups of older people who cast their keen eyes over a number of cards that would give most people split personalities, as well as younger people, students and chavs, drawn by the idea of something different and cheap alcohol.

As if this isn't enough there is the number calling, apparently every single number that can be drawn in a bingo game has a call attached to it. These comes from psalms, from popular culture, and from just about anywhere else. Even better, there's no set rules, no set groups of calls apart from those that are traditional (I'm thinking two fat ladies here and other such things). So you can more or less make it up on the spot.

So how did this game become so huge? If you were a visitor from another planet and you found yourself in the middle of this, what would you possibly think? Half the time I don't know whether to view the whole thing with a sense of embarrassment or enjoyment.

If the experience of actually being at a bingo hall isn't strange enough for you, this game has now taken over the internet. UK Online Bingo is absolutely enormous and a sizeable component of an online gaming industry that is ridiculously lucrative. Aside from the giants of gaming, such as Mecca Bingo and the like, there are any number of smaller sites suddenly setting up, trying to cash in on the appetite for bingo.

Now the social aspect of the bingo hall is understandable, the peculiar growing sense of pressure and excitement as the numbers that you need slowly disappear and the opportunity to leap to your feet and shout something incomprehensible and then laugh about it with your friends. But Internet Bingo has none of that. There is a social element that the companies are keen to focus upon, pointing out that you can meet great friends and great new people by playing bingo over the Internet but it's not exactly the same as sitting opposite someone or laughing at the crazy person in the corner who always shouts out 'house' only to find out that they're on the wrong card or something.

The game is enjoyable but incomprehensible. There is an attraction there that shows no sign of abating any time soon. Whatever the reasons are, you may as well revel in the randomness of it all and embrace the madness of bingo...