As one of the most popular games on the planet, bingo has long been a strong figure in the collective imagination of cultures across the globe.
In the UK in particular, the game attained a cult following in the 1960s and since then has been enshrined in the national psyche. As such, bingo has figured prominently on television and, in one way or another, it remains a common feature of shows to this day.
The continued popularity of bingo on tv can surely be put down to the rise of online bingo in recent years, which looks increasingly set to replace traditional bingo halls entirely. Top bingo sites are popping up across the web and providing players with thrilling games to play, with sites such as bingosites.co.uk offering a resource to find the best places to play online.
In this article, we will take a look at some of the greatest bingo tv shows of all time, from much-loved game shows to fictional accounts of this most popular, classic of games.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the first entry in our list of the greatest bingo tv shows of all time.
Bob’s Full House
Hosted by the legendary compere Bob Monkhouse, this bingo-inspired show was immensely popular during its run of six years from 1984 – 1990.
The beauty of Bob’s Full House lay in its simplicity, with classic quiz show format being blended with bingo to great effect. Essentially, players were given a card that they had to ‘fill’ by answering questions pertaining to the subject thereon.
With three rounds plus a bonus round, Bob’s Full House ran for six seasons and proved immensely popular to the point that it was copied in nations across the world, even appearing in the US as Trump Card hosted by Jimmy Cefalo.
Many online bingo sites today try to replicate the layout and style of Bob’s Full House, which is a testament to the show’s influence.
Lucky Numbers
Running for two years and fifty episodes, this ITV show may have been fairly short-lived but it proved immensely popular during its run from 1995 – 1997.
Hosted by cheeky-chappy Shane Richie, who would later go on to appear in numerous TV soaps and other game shows, Lucky Numbers was similar in style to Bob’s Full House.
Essentially, players had to answer a variety of questions in order to light up squares on their bingo card, once they had done so, they had a chance of winning any one of a number of prizes. The game had three rounds worth £500, £1,000 and £2,000 respectively.
The most exciting part of the show was the Cash Dash bonus round, in which the winning contestant was given the choice of gambling what they had earned so far to potentially make ten times that amount. In order to do so, they would need to complete a quickfire 45 second series of questions and get either a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line, just like with many online bingo sites!
Although it only ran for a couple of years, Lucky Number gained cult status and, with its sponsorship by The Sun newspaper, contributed to the revival of bingo across the UK.
