Bingo World Records
World records come in all forms, from the amazing to the downright bizarre. There’s the world’s biggest shoe in Turkey, whilst the record for the largest human rainbow was set in the Philippines in 2004. But did you know that there are some pretty cool bingo world records? From the largest bingo game ever played, to the biggest bingo balls—we’ve got it all covered. While some of them are interesting enough to make it on the official Guinness World Records, others are (astonishingly) a bit too niche, and can be found on RecordSetter instead.
1. The Largest Game of Bingo
What?: Record for the largest game of bingo.
Who?: Organized by Almacenes Exito S.A.
Where?: Bogotá, Colombia.
When?: 2 December 2006.
Nowadays, thanks to the popularity of online bingo, bingo halls are lucky to get 50 people playing bingo once a week. But Almacenes Exito, the largest retailer in South America, decided to reverse that decline, and attempt to break the world record for the largest game of bingo in one place. How many showed up? Well, it was only a staggering 70,080 people! To try and get your head around how huge that is, imagine the entire population of Stafford playing bingo at the same time—it was that big. This record-breaking crowd turned out to win over £250,000 worth of cash prizes—although it must have been really difficult to be heard shouting ‘HOUSE!’ over that crowd! We bet that would certainly be a fun record to break!
2. The Largest Amount of Money Won at a Bingo Hall
What?: Record for the largest amount of money won at a bingo hall
Who?: Soraya Lowell
Where?: The Club 3000, in Coatbridge, Scotland.
When?: 25 March 2008.
The biggest jackpot most people have ever won in a bingo hall is probably 3 digits—which is pretty impressive, especially considering how most huge jackpots are found online nowadays instead of in bingo halls. But this certainly wasn’t the case for Soraya Lowell. This lucky gal won a whopping £1,167,795 winning the National Bingo Game Platinum Jackpot! If that’s not luck, we don’t know what is. It certainly makes us green with envy! Bet you wish the bingo hall near you offered that much—you’d be playing every week!
3. World’s Highest Game of Bingo
What?: Record for the highest game of bingo.
Who?: 24 Gala Coral employees.
Where?: Mount Everest.
When?: 3 November 2009.
A lot of you out there will have played in bingo halls, and online—you might have even played a few games at home or at a party. But how many of you can claim to have played bingo almost 17,500 ft above sea level? Our guess is none. 24 Gala Coral employees, meanwhile, can indeed say that they really felt on top of the world playing bingo! These dedicated people trekked all the way up to Mount Everest’s base camp to play a few games of bingo. In doing so, they helped to raise £100,000 for Sue Ryder Care. Now that certainly livens up the ordinary game of bingo! We think it’s safe to say that this record won’t be broken for a long time...
4. Quickest Bingo Jackpot
What?: Record for quickest online bingo jackpot.
Who?: Darryl Howe.
Where?: Online at William Hill.
When?: 22 January 2010.
Most people consider beginner’s luck to be a myth. After all, how many bingo players out there have bagged a jackpot on their first go? Darryl Howe, however, really did have Lady Luck on his side from the very beginning! Just 40 minutes after setting up a first-time account on William Hill, Howe scooped up £18,000! His 15 number full house came in just 23 calls—the odds of this happening are more than 93 billion to one! Now that’s what you call beginner’s luck! We certainly wish we had his incredibly good fortune. We’d be millionaires in no time!
5. The Largest Online Game of Bingo
What?: Record for the largest online game of bingo.
Who?: Organized by Coca-Cola (Japan).
Where?: Tokyo, Japan.
When?: 3 September 2010.
So, as bingo veterans, you’re probably used to playing bingo with a lot of people. After all, online bingo is a very popular game. The chatrooms are busy, and the bingo rooms are often heaving with hundreds of people. But this is nothing compared to the largest online game of bingo—a record broken in Tokyo. This world record had a turnout of 493,824 people! These people were all members of Coca-Cola Park, Coca-Cola’s social media community in Japan. Can you imagine how hectic and chaotic that game must have been? It’s difficult enough to bag a jackpot on a Saturday night! It would definitely be an impressive record to beat!
6. Longest Time to Balance Basket of Bingo Balls
What?: Record for balancing a basket of bingo balls.
Who?: Doug McManaman, bingo enthusiast.
Where?: Canada.
When?: 6 July 2011.
Most people who want to show off their love for bingo do it by chatting to their friends and family about it, or by trekking to their nearest bingo hall. However, bingo enthusiast Doug McManaman, who wanted to show his love for bingo in a completely different and unique way, really went the extra mile. Paying homage to his favourite game, he balanced a basket of bingo balls on a pole, which he then balanced on his chin. He held it there for a record-breaking 1 minute and 19.4 seconds! While it’s definitely not something we’d think of doing, we certainly have to admire his tenacity! Now there’s enthusiasm for bingo!
7. Largest Game of Bingo in an Office
What?: Record for largest number of people playing bingo in an office.
Who?: Task Us employees.
Where?: The Philippines.
When?: 28 April 2012.
Some offices take part in competitions, bake-offs or just go to the local pub for a bit of fun and unwinding. But that’s too boring for some people—especially a certain Task Us office in the Philippines. They decided to do something crazy, and try to hold the largest game of bingo ever played in an office.They did this with 97 Task Us employees! All in one office! You can just imagine the noise and the exciting atmosphere. It makes us slightly jealous—it would certainly change the office atmosphere. Why not work hard and play hard, with a spot of bingo at the office?!
8. Bingo Marker Tower
What?: Record for building the tallest bingo marker tower.
Who?: Doug McManaman (again), bingo enthusiast.
Where?: Canada.
When?: 18 February 2013.
Once again, we find ourselves in awe of Doug McManaman’s extreme bingo enthusiasm. It seems that this man can’t sit still for long. This world-record setter decided to show off his love for bingo once more, in an even more unique way. He made the tallest tower out of bingo markers—bear in mind, we mean the small discs, not bingo dabbers! This tower was made out of 82 bingo markers, stacked on top of each other. It had to remain balanced for at least 10 seconds. One thing’s for sure, we don’t think we’d have had the patience and skill to pull that off!
9. World’s Biggest Balls
What?: Record for playing with the largest bingo balls.
Who?: Gala Bingo.
Where?: The Coronation Street set in Manchester, UK.
When?: 18 July 2014.
You may know Gala Bingo as one of the best bingo sites out there—they offer huge jackpots, and they’re a really popular bingo site. But did you know that they’re also world-record holders? To raise money for Male Cancer Awareness, Gala Bingo decided to break a record, and play bingo with the world’s largest balls. The game of bingo was located on the Coronation Street set, where the 60.1cm bingo balls were thrown from the windows. Not only did Gala Bingo break a world record, they also raised a huge £10,000! Now they certainly like to do things in style—we don’t know of any other bingo sites out there that have broken world records!
10. Largest Bingo Card
What?: Record for the largest bingo card.
Who?: Gala Bingo.
Where?: London, UK.
When?: 6 December, 2014.
Clearly, Gala Bingo aren’t content to break just one bingo world record—they decided to mix things up a little, and break one more. For their annual VIP festive ball, Gala Bingo and a host of reality TV stars, broke the record for the largest bingo card. This card measured 4.98m in length, and 1.99m in width. This event helped to raise £6,041 for the Royal Voluntary Service—once more showing that Gala Bingo can play bingo in style, and donate money to a good cause. One thing’s for sure, we’d love to play bingo with a card as big as that!
So, there’s definitely a lot of crazy and impressive bingo world records out there. But here at BingoPort, we definitely think there’s room for more. If you think we’ve missed any, let us know in the comments. Alternatively, if there’s a few records you’re thinking of breaking, we’d love to hear about it. After all, it’s been a couple of years since anyone has made any bingo world records!
