Bingo

How To Play Bingo

Bingo is a very simple lottery but with a strong community built around it which makes it one of the most fun and exciting pass-times and now a renowned online casino game for people of all ages and in the comfort of your own home. Online Bingo is the latest form of bingo in which people play community bingo games online for free.

To play bingo, you are required to purchased bingo cards- the one with the square cards with the word B-I-N-G-O spelled out at the top. Beneath each letter are randomly generated single- and double-digit numbers, each one contained in its own little square.

Bingo players also enjoy online casino play because the computer can be used to automatically mark the bingo cards and announce bingos. This makes it possible for bingo players to play as many bingo cards as they want and still keep up in games that feature multiple bingo patterns.

The players sit at rows of tables with their cards laid out in front of them, while the “caller,” who stands at the front of the room, picks out alphanumerically numbered balls from some sort of device that pops them up much like on televised lottery drawings announces the number to the players. Players having that alphanumeric sequence on their cards mark it with an indelible marker.

You have to pay attention to the numbers called. A display shows the numbers already called out. The online casino bingo site checks your pattern and compares it with the numbers called. If the pattern is correct, you win! If more than one person gets the winning pattern, they share the prize.

Some online bingo sites distribute cards to players in such a way that everybody has a fair chance of winning. Other online bingo sites place a restriction on the number of cards that a player can have. No two cards are the same since the creation process for each card is random. Every bingo card is a grid of five rows and five columns. The central space is blank and every row or column may have some number printed on it.

Variations of Bingo

75 Ball Bingo

The fast paced 75 Ball Bingo is the American version of the traditional 90 Ball Bingo game. While the rules for playing the 2 forms of bingo essentially remain the same, it is the number of numbers on each bingo card or ticket that sets them apart.

The Bingo cards are squared - 5 numbered spaces across and 5 down - totaling 25 spaces. B is used for numbers 1-15, I for 16-30, N for 31-45, G for 46-60 and O for 61-75. The center space is marked "FREE", automatically being 'daubed' by all players. Each remaining space on the card is randomly filled with numbers, according to the B-I-N-G-O layout.

The Coverall or “blackout” pattern requires all 24 numbers on the grid to be daubed. Players have a higher jackpot to look forward to in this game, subject to the pre-conditions set by bingo operators.

80 Ball Bingo

80 ball bingo cards or shutter boards consist of 4 rows x 4 columns with no blank spaces and each column in a different colour. Bingo balls are called between the numbers 1-80. Similar to the 75 ball bingo game, 80 ball bingo game offers a variety of patterns to make the game more interesting.

It is a pattern game, and this makes it a little more interesting, so your numbers are spread over a specific patter. The classic “X” is used, as are horizontal, vertical, four corners, other letter patterns. The nice thing about using a grid, is that patterns may be used to adapt to specific promotions or themed games.

90 Ball Bingo

90-ball bingo is generally played with 6 tickets at a time, also called strips. A strip contains almost all numbers from 1 to 90, which means for every ball called, a number will be daubed.

90 ball bingo is different from 75 ball bingo. The cards used in 90 ball bingo are called tickets instead of cards. Each ticket has 15 random numbers within the range of 1 to 90 contained within 3 horizontal rows and nine vertical columns.

A regular bingo ticket has numbers arranged in such a way so that every row has 5 numbered squares, while 4 squares remain free all the time. The first column has numbers from 1 to 9, second from 10 to19, third from 20 to 29 and so on till the last column which has numbers from 80 to 90.

Learn more about the game of bingo in general at wikipedia.org.