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With an estimated 35% of the population of Wales living in rural areas it’s one of the more sparsely populated parts of the UK. While this is great news for anyone who likes the wide-open spaces and having no fear of annoying the neighbours, it can have its drawbacks. Not only can it make popping out for a pint of milk quite an undertaking – unless you’ve got your own herd of cows, that is – it means that entertainment can be a little thin on the ground too.
So a trip to the cinema or a visit to a restaurant for a nice meal might be something that involves quite a long drive down some pretty narrow and slow B-roads. Yes, there’s the alternative of plenty of entertainment online, whether it’s watching a movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime, or even playing the increasingly-popular game of online bingo. If you’re new to this then you’ll find out all you need to know about bingo at a site that reviews all of the best operators. This will also outline the bonuses and other incentives there are to encourage new players to sign up as well as providing direct links to do this.
But, even for die-hard fans of the online game, sometimes there’s a craving for the live experience too. However, when the nearest hall is an hour or more’s drive away then it might not be feasible. The good news is that there’s an idea that originated in another country in the Northern Hemisphere with a large rural population that could well catch on in Wales.
Throughout the summer months thousand of people in Sweden get in their cars and head for the phenomenon that is drive-in bingo. The events are held in the country’s beautiful surroundings – and the long summer nights mean that sessions can last for three hours or more.
There’s an entry fee per car which covers up to four people and the bigger events have prize funds that run into the equivalent of four-figure sums. How game itself is run is pretty similar to the standard way, with some key differences. The main one of these is that when a line or a whole card is filled there’s no calling out “house”. Instead, the winning car sounds its horn and flashes its lights and game officials come to check the card really is a winner.
As well as offering the chance to win prizes, drive-in bingo is also a very social event with plenty of time between games to grab a coffee and a bite to eat from one of the stalls that also attend the events. It’s also proving to be a great way to raise money for good causes and is already popular in the Republic of Ireland.
So look out for news about whether drive-in bingo could be on its way to Wales soon. And, before you know it, you may be hitting the road to enjoy a very different way of playing this very popular game for yourself.
Feature image: Rural Wales by jimbowen0306 (CC BY 2.0)