Playing Housie

Housie Players

Housie has had the reputation of a game played by old folks or at church fetes, however, housie players are actually quite a diverse bunch!

Here are the types of players who you could find when playing Housie in a Housie hall:

Many celebrities play Housie or Bingo, including Denise van Outen, Elle MacPherson, even Bianca and Jade Jagger
60% of Housie players are smokers, which led to a large outcry in the UK when the new ‘smoking in public’ laws were released.
The average range of players is from 25 to 50, with some older players.

There are many interesting things about the game of Housie. Take a look at these Housie facts:

8% of the population in Europe plays Housie.
10% women and 5% percent of men in the UK play Housie.
In the UK Housie industry admission proceeds come to £2 million a week, and almost £90 million a year!
There are over 20,000 people working in the Bingo industry. These employees range from Housie callers to marketing teams and accountants.
There are an estimated 700 licensed and operating Housie clubs in the UK.

When playing Housie, it is good to be aware that there are two main types of Housie (also called Bingo) played in the world.

Here is more information about the types of Housie played:

75-Ball Bingo: This game is played with 75 numbers, which players must mark off of 5×5 grid squares on their cards. Each card has the letters from the word ‘Bingo’ divided into columns. 25 possible numbers are randomly featured on each card. The game is won as soon as a player has marked off all their numbers in a set pattern and called out ‘Bingo!’ or ‘housie!’
90-Ball Housie: This game is played with 90 numbers, on tickets with three rows and nine columns. There are five random numbers in each ticket, and Housie is won by getting one, two or three lines across.