Recent studies in play behaviour have found that female bonobos are more playful than males, and this has been linked to various aspects of bonobo society, including their egalitarian and female bonded society. Here we investigate play behaviour in a large sample of zoo housed bonobos, housed at 6 different European zoos (Planckendael, Wuppertal, Apenheul, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Twycross), totalling 15 males and 27 females older than 6 years. We discriminate between 1) play including juveniles and 2) play including only mature individuals. Following Play behaviour was recorded by focal animal sampling (mean/animal =16.25 h) as well as 15 min group scan sampling. We studied play on an individual level and using both scoring methods. When considering only play with mature partners or individual play, we did not find a difference between time spent playing between male and female bonobos in those two play contexts, and results did not differ between focal sampling or scan sampling. Surprisingly we found that male bonobos spent significantly more time playing with infants, compared to female-infant play – but this was only true for focal animal sampling and not for scan sampling. Interestingly we found an effect of group on the amount of social play between adults, but no group effects on play including infants or on individual play. These results suggest that female bonobos do not play more than male bonobos, but that levels of playfulness can differ between groups and that care should be undertaken to generalise about the playful nature of bonobo society.