The Evolution of Bingo
Bingo has kept its form in one way or another for the past few hundred years. Today’s modern game may be quite different to what was played in Italy in the Middle Ages, but the principles are the same. Bingo is a game of sociability, and none so more than in the thousands of bingo halls scattered throughout the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.

However, with all games, bingo has evolved even further. In this case it has evolved into the online version. There are currently hundreds of sites where people can play online bingo for free or for money at any time of day or night. Those who spend a lot of time online will know that things change at a very rapid rate, and this is why online bingo sites must continually offer their clients something new. This is to avoid customers moving to competitor sites.

The Shift to Online Patterns
Standard land based bingo is played with cards. Online bingo started out this way, but after time customers expected something new. Digital technology allows for these changes to happen faster, and the first change to bingo was to the cards themselves.

Static PatternsMost online bingo sites offer the standard card patterns, which are called static patterns. These are direct adaptations of the cards found in land based bingo halls. It is important to keep the static patterns as options so that there is not a huge dichotomy between land based and online bingo. Many bingo purists had previously shunned online bingo and keeping online bingo as true to land based bingo therefore makes sense.
Online players can choose between many standard static patterns. These include Coverall (Blackout), Letter T, Letter X, Letter H, Four Corners, Solid Diamond, Right Arrow, Lucky 7, Pound Symbol, Small Box, Kite, Letter N, Up Arrow, Solid Heart, Cactus and many other favourites.
The biggest payouts for static cards are with the Coverall (Blackout) cards. This is because the games take longer and players are required to strike it lucky with many more numbers than some of the smaller shapes within the cards. Static patterns, however, can not be shifted, animated or rotated.

Crazy Patterns
Crazy patterns allow for a lot more interaction and are especially popular with newer bingo players. These patterns can be rotated 90 degrees at a time and many static patterns are also available in the crazy version. The crowd favourites are the Crazy Letter T, Crazy Kite and Crazy Chevron. These bingo games appear to move much quicker. The games also attract a younger crowd and the love chat tends to be more chatty and informal.

Transposable PatternsTransposable patterns are an even newer introduction to the online bingo arena. A player can call “bingo!” once a pre-determined shape is made anywhere on the card.

The Future
In order to keep online bingo players interested, software and game developers will continue to invent new ways to entertain their customers. At the rate that the internet is developing, bingo has an exciting future online.