The game of bingo has its roots firmly planted in seventeenth and eighteenth century Italian history, as a weekly lottery played even nowadays every Saturday called Lo Giuoco del Lotto D`Italia. Just like bingo online the principles were essentially the same in this first incarnation. Numbered squares on a card and a bag full of wooden chips that had been numbered were drawn out one at a time and marked off by the player as they were called out. The only real difference between this form of the game and bingo online is that now it is possible to play the game without needing to leave your own home.

The great appeal of bingo is its social nature so it would be reasonable to question how bingo online can be effective in recreating this important aspect to the game when you are sitting in front of a private computer. The social aspect of bingo is what attracts the millions of women players that enjoy the game because it creates a great atmosphere of fun and companionship. So how does playing bingo online compare to the experience of the game that you would find in a bingo hall or at your local church.

The software designers and websites that offer bingo online have certainly taken this fact into consideration when designing a version of the game for the Internet. Realising the importance of the social networking aspect of bingo online most sites offer chat rooms that you can enter while you are playing. So that you can chat to fellow bingo online players in the same way that you would if you were sitting at a table beside someone. There is even a whole abbreviated shorthand language developing amongst bingo online players, “WTG” or “way to go” is a common term that you will find when a player is congratulating someone on a bingo win.

But considering that most bingo players, approximately 70%, are over the age of 35 is this world of chat rooms and bingo online really going to beat the feeling of playing in a roomful of people. Possibly not, but perhaps it provides a way to introduce younger players to the game, which does carry a stigma being a game for oldies. Bingo online is a much faster game, which is going to appeal to a younger, faster more demanding generation who have been drip-fed high-tech, quick paced video games. But bingo online also provides a way for people who are not so mobile or in good health to still play their favourite game.

Unlike a lot of other games, the major focus for bingo players seems to be on having fun. It is not a game where the focus is on the money as much as say poker. For this reason there are a huge number of sites where you can play bingo online for free. You don’t have to deposit any money and you are simply there to have fun. So even though bingo online may seem like it is missing some of the elements of its land-based counterpart, upon closer interrogation there are still many of the elements that make bingo the popular game it is.