I have often wondered, when wandering the aisles of casinos late at night, why fruits are used so frequently on slot machines. Usually there are lemons, cherries, and sometimes bananas and pineapples as well – it is very peculiar. The same cannot be said of other gambling sports, or something more fun like Bingo. In fact, bingo being one of the more innocuous gambling type games is actually somewhere you would expect to find more fruit references, but alas. In Bingo you merely find reference to fat ladies (presumably not big ones to rely on fruit to fulfil their daily nutritional requirements).

I would like to advocate the inclusion of references to healthy food stuffs in the context of Bingo. It is certainly experiencing a resurgence in popularity amongst younger players, and as such it is our responsibility to take care to ensure we are promoting healthy body images as much as possible. If casinos do it with sllt machines, then why not Bingo call out phrases to?

We could have such wonderful phrases as ‘two bananas’ instead of ‘legs eleven’, and ‘couple of butternuts’ instead of ‘two fat ladies’. I would even go so far as including ‘three peas’ for three, and ‘PINEapple NINE’ for example. Slowly but surely this emphasis on fruit and other healthy food stuffs should filter through to bingo players young and old, promoting a healthy awareness of correct eating habits, and an enjoyment of them too. Who knows – it could even make the bingo more fun as well!