Bingo has very simple rules and is a game of luck and concentration.
How to Play Bingo
- Each player pays to play on one or more cards.
- Americans generally play 75 Ball Bingo and the traditional card contains a grid of five columns and five rows. There is a free/blank space in the centre of card; the other squares all having the numbers 1 to 75 printed on them. Each of the five column heads is labeled with a letter from the word ‘Bingo’.
- In the UK 90 Ball Bingo is popular, using a grid with nine columns and three rows. There are five numbers printed on each line, with free spaces/blanks in each row. The first column contains the numbers 1-10, the second 11-20 and so on until the ninth column, which has the numbers 81-90.
- The Aim of the Game
- The aim of 75 Ball Bingo is to complete a particular pattern on the card. The first player to mark off a specified pattern, for example, a horizontal, diagonal or vertical line, a square, ‘T’, ‘U’, ‘X’ or other shape, shouts out BINGO and is the winner. There is also a ‘cover all’ version of the game, where, as the name suggests, players are required to cover all of the numbers on their card. There are many variations of the theme, different rules and target shapes, but the central concept remains the same.
- The selected pattern for each game is clearly announced prior to the commencement of the game.
- The aim of 90 ball bingo is to complete a straight, horizontal line. Increasingly higher prizes are awarded for the completion of one line, two lines or a full house.
- When a full house is achieved, the winning call is often changed from ‘Bingo’ to ‘House’.
- The Game
- Random numbers are read out by the ‘caller’ – numbers may be selected using numbered balls in a spinning cage or a computerized random number generator.
- An American ‘caller’ will first give the relevant column letter (B, I, N, G or O) and then the number. The numbers 1-9 are printed in the first column, 10-19 in the second, 20-29 in the third and so on. This helps players identify whether they have this number on their card or not.
- A British ‘caller’ will often use ‘Bingo Lingo’, such as, ‘legs eleven’, ‘cup of tea, number three’.
- The numbers called out are displayed on an electronic board.
- Players listen carefully and when a number on their card is called out they cross it off.
- When someone has crossed off the winning shape (in 75 Ball Bingo) or a one or more completed lines (in 90 Ball Bingo), they shout, ‘Bingo’.
- Their numbers are then verified by an official and the prize money awarded. Where more than one person wins simultaneously, the prize money is shared.
