Bingo is a fun game of chance where, if you’re lucky, you have the chance to pick up a cash prize. At least, that’s the image most people conjure up when they think of the game. But there have been a few strange prizes for getting a full house over the years that might just surprise you.

Some of them might even encourage you to stick to the modern way of playing bingo – curled up on the sofa with your favourite tea and your iPad.

Edam good night out!

One of the UK-based Bingo providers offers players the unique opportunity of winning their own body weight in cheese. It’s all part of a pretty wild night out aimed at the new generation of bingo players and, no doubt, good fun. But how would you fit it in the cab? But for those of us who prefer sitting in our PJs and playing for cash prizes, there are plenty of online bingo games at Paddy Power.

How dairy?

And it turns out cheese is not the only dairy product you can win at a bingo hall. A New Yorker reportedly won a milking cow at a charity bingo night. Yep, you read that right. An actual living, breathing, milkable cow. In a city not exactly known for its gardens. Ok, so some people say this is an urban myth. But if you’ve been there, you’ll know there are plenty of weird things in New York that make this story totally believable.

A milking cow is an odd prize – but a practical one. A pink concrete goat seems somehow less helpful. But at least it will stay in one place, right?

Wrong!

During a charity bingo game at a church in Iowa, one winner received a pink goat garden ornament as a prize. Naturally, they gave it pride of place on their front lawn. However, the following week, somebody else won the bingo – and decided they should be the rightful owner of the goat. And so it continued, with each week’s winner claiming custody of the ornament – until a flood carried the poor fella off in 2008.

A winter warmer

This probably doesn’t sound very exciting. And, even then, I’d guess whatever you’re thinking is better than what it actually turned out to be. One bingo winner must have been mightily disappointed to find that, not only were they not due for a cash prize, but they had won arguably the most boring prize ever.

The prize (if you can even call it that) included such luxuries as cough sweets, cold and flu medication, tissues, ginger and chicken soup. It must be a bit of a letdown when you win it. But no doubt you’d appreciate it when you get a cold and realise you don’t have to go down to the pharmacy.

So, banish those thoughts of boring activities in community halls. Modern bingo is weird, wonderful, and just perfect.