South West of England Getting Swept Up in High-Tech Bingo

As it was decades ago, bingo is once again the talk of the town. The classic British pastime spent some time out, adjusting to the new age of gaming, but now it’s back and more high-tech than ever. This isn't to say that the injection of modern technology into bingo means that it’s not as fun and simple as it once was: if anything, it’s even easier to play, which is why so many people across the South West of England are getting swept up in the craze of enjoying high-tech bingo.

From a robot teaching the great game in Cornwall all the way across to our very own digitally-driven bingo habits in Plymouth, bingo is back and buzzing, but not in its traditional dotter-to-paper form. Tonight’s bingo host is… a Robot?

At the end of November, the Reflections day centre in Cornwall were paid a visit by a celebrity to host their bingo night and teach the residents how to play the game. The celebrity wasn’t a movie star or singer and was, instead, the world’s most advanced social robot, Stevie.

Designed by a team at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, Stevie’s creators sent Stevie down to the day centre for two weeks to hold bingo lessons, to encourage sing-along sessions, and tell stories to the residents. Reflections specialises in caring for people with memory issues, and so Stevie’s multiple expressions functions allow the people at the care home to connect with the robot.

Stevie has received global acclaim as a cutting-edge social robot, with it using its abilities to call bingo and have a dance with people at Reflections just being one of Stevie’s most recent accomplishments. Designed to help keep people company, Time Magazine even featured Stevie on its front cover, being billed as one of the best inventions of 2019.

Playing bingo the modern way in Plymouth

While bingo went out of fashion through the 00s, many bingo clubs in Plymouth closed down. The UK as a whole has lost hundreds of bingo clubs over the last couple decades, forcing bingo lovers to look elsewhere if they weren’t conveniently close to a club that survived the epidemic of bingo hall closures.

There’s still one official bingo club franchise still standing in Plymouth, but the majority of players who were forced to adapt turned their attention to the growing scene of online bingo. It took some time to become a substantial offering, but now people find that when they play Bingo online with Paddy Power, there are more than enough games, rooms, and varying ticket prices for all bingo fans to enjoy a few games.

While a bingo hall will traditionally have scheduled sessions that take place one after another, possibly with a theme night thrown in, online bingo isn’t held back by such restraints. While the Gold Room, Diamond Room, and Speed Trap online bingo rooms remain popular, themed bingo rooms like Deal or No Deal and Grease also hold a large audience. With the games taking place online, the room schedules can overlap so that fans of certain rooms can enjoy more playing and less waiting.

From a robot teaching how to play to going online to find a grand range of varied bingo rooms, people from Cornwall to Plymouth are embracing this new age of high-tech bingo.