Well, that's not an entirely incorrect synopsis of the game, but there are a few more elements to bingo than you might have imagined. For one thing, since the advent of online bingo the game is much less about old ladies and more about anyone with a computer, time on their hands and the urge to gamble. And let's face it, isn't that most people?

Whatever the crowd looks like, online bingo is one of the fastest growing hobbies of our time because of its simplicity and the ability of its players to bring home the jackpot.

Time to Try

So if you've been hiding under a rock for a few years now, and didn't have the pleasure of learning bingo in elementary school when it was somehow linked to the theory of evolution or the process of photosynthesis, it's about time you learned how to play the game!

There are a few very simple reasons for learning online bingo: it's easy, it's fun and you can win money! How can you go wrong? It won't even take you very long to get the hang of how to play. Not long AT ALL!

Old versus New

Traditional bingo is played in a bingo parlour or hall - you pay for a card (or several cards, depending on how determined you are for a win), pick up a big handful of chips or a daubing marker and sit down for the game.

The caller is a person who selects numbers randomly from a spinning cage filled with little plastic balls and literally calls them out to the crowd - if your card has the called number on it, you cover it up with a chip or black it out with the daubing marker.

That's the gist of the game. Tough? Didn't think so.

Online bingo is set up exactly the same way, only in most cases you don't even have to mark off your own numbers because the program will do it automatically for you.

The internet age just makes everything easier, doesn't it? So the way online bingo works is that you pay for your cards, just like the traditional game, and play them looking for a winning pattern. Winning patterns will change with different websites and rules, but the basic pattern you're looking for is a straight line, diagonal line, square, diamond or blackout.

This means that the numbers on your bingo card will be covered in these specific patterns. When that happens, you win!

Be adventurous and progressive. Try some online bingo. You'll meet some colourful characters, learn a new game and probably enjoy yourself more than you ever did in an old bingo hall with your grandmother and her friends.