The last number was called and Melanie screamed BINGO – I had the good fortunate of being invited to my friend Melanie’s house, to watch her in person,  play a relatively new online phenomenon called online multi-player bingo. She had mentioned to me that she spends quite a few hours a week, glued to her computer playing multi-player bingo and I was fascinated as to how the whole think works.

So there we were – Melanie and I logged on to her favourite online multi-player bingo site Genie Bingo. 2 glasse sof red wine were poured, the bingo cards had been bought and the game was about to be called. At that point, I turned to Melanie and said slightly puzzled “where are the other players – are we playing alone tonight”. At that point Melanie said to me – “John sit back and relax”.

Two minutes later, I was thrust into the world of multi-player bingo.62 players were playing in the same game we were at Geni Bingo. A beautifully designed window appeared where all the players who had bought cards for this multi player bingo game had the opportunity to talk directly with each other. Melanie started talking immediately. She picked up conversations with players she was talking to last night. The bingo game started and while Melanie was talking, her numbers were being covered automatically, allowing her to chat away while not stressing about missing a single number.

I looked over at Melanie and saw how much she was enjoying her time, sitting at home, relaxing, and playing her favourite game on Genie Bingo. On my way home that night I realised just how much multi player bingo meant to the online bingo industry. Melanie could not imagine an online bingo world without her friends, pouring a glass of red wine, playing, socialising and enjoying. I started to think about how technologies and the internet as a whole has changed and is changing on a daily basis the way we live our lives. Multi player bingo is a small example – a microcosm within a bigger macro scene. Web 2.0 has shifted the focus to the masses whom through the internet have been empowered to create content via blogging, you tubing or the like.Multi-player bingo is just another way for people to express themselves and its simply fascinating.

John Kirkland is a freelance writer who lives in Leeds, UK and has contributed his talent to hundreds of articles regarding new technologies and the like.