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Bingo Rules (in general)
The caller randomly pulls
numbered bingo balls, #1 through #75, places the number up on the bingo
board, and calls out the number. You are normally given a few seconds to
locate the number on your bingo cards and mark them off. Online bingo
games commonly use auto-daubers, which automatically mark your card for
you.
Typical bingo cards have five rows and columns with a random
selection of numbers. The "B" column contains random numbers between #1
and #15, "I" has #16 to #30, "N" has #31 to #45 (containing a free space
in the center), "G" has #46 to #59, and "O" has #60 to #75. If you are
the first to complete the numbers in a pattern according to the rules of
the particular game, you yell "Bingo!" and win the prize for the game.
There are many common Bingo patterns that may be used, so pay close
attention to the pattern in effect for your game.
When playing online bingo, your bingo cards are randomly
selected for you by the computer. Most bingo sites allow you to choose
the number of cards you would like to play for each game of bingo. The
game pattern is also displayed on your screen, so you know which bingo
pattern you must complete to win the game. Some patterns are easy to
complete, which will make for a very short game. Others are more
difficult and will take many calls to complete. The most common bingo
patterns are straight lines in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal
direction.
Play continues until one or more players are the first to
complete the bingo pattern. The game then stops until the numbers are
verified. If there is more than one simultaneous winner, the winners
split the prize or jackpot.
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Bingo Tips
Paper cards with
lower card numbers (free space #) tend to have the numbers closer
together card #1 (B: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, I: 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20). Longer
games like Coveralls tend to draw numbers in sperts close together. 16
17 then 19 and 20 come out. To win more coveralls, try to come in early
and get the first set of paper cards issued. On big nights managers
stock the counter with plenty cards usually the ones on top are the
lowest free space number cards. Check the next coverall for yourself.
Notice the flashboard. Lighted up numbers usually in sets by the 30'th
number called.
Be curtious to those around you. Do not yell out loud the number you
need.
Burning the number (on paper cards) does not mean that it will come out
the next time.
Buy a card for a neighbor once a night. You never know when you will
want one more game when your wallet says it's time to go.
Share the wealth when you win. Toss out a lucky dollar to those around
you when you win. If they win a larger jackpot, they could return the
lucky dollar (ten fold), especially if they win with your lucky dollar.
If you want to win at Bingo, play bingo on nights that are generally
slower for the operators (Monday - Thursday usually less players than
weekends). Being a game of chance if there are fewer players then there
are fewer cards in play. If you have as many cards as you can
comfortably play and there are fewer cards in play, due to lower crowds,
then you have a larger percent of cards in play. Odds in your favor? I
think so, especially if the hall you play at offers electronic bingo
(computer bingo) and you have 2 or 3 cards per game.
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Bingo Cards
Each player has a
number of BINGO cards (players can usually play any number of cards).
Each BINGO card has 5 rows and 5 columns thus providing 25 spaces. The
columns are labeled from left to right with the letters: 'B', 'I', 'N',
'G', 'O'. With one exception (the center space is "free") the spaces in
the card are assigned values as follows: Each space in the 'B' column
contains a number from 1 - 15. Each space in the 'I' column contains a
number from 16 - 30. Each space in the 'N' column contains a number from
31 - 45. Each space in the 'G' column contains a number from 46 - 60.
Each space in the 'O' column contains a number from 61 - 75.
Furthermore, a number can appear only once on a single card. Here's a
sample BINGO card: B I N G O 10 17 39 49 64 12 21 36 55 62 14 25 FREE
SPACE 52 70 7 19 32 56 68 5 24 34 54 71 The number of unique BINGO cards
is very large and can be calculated with this equation: // the B, I, G,
and O columns * the N column (15 * 14 * 13 * 12 * 11) ^ 4 * (15 * 14 *
13 * 12) While perhaps interesting to a statistician, the number of
possible BINGO cards has nothing to do with player's chances of winning.
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How to play bingo
Traditional BINGO is
played in person in a large hall. Players meet at the hall, pay a fee to
get in, then the games begin. A night of BINGO consists of many BINGO
games played continuously, one after another. A single BINGO game
proceeds like this:
You will note that there are 75 possible BINGO numbers: B1, B2, B3, ...
B15, I16, I17, I18, ... I30, N31, N32, ... O74, O75. Each of these
numbers is represented by a ball in a large rotating bin. Each ball is
painted with its unique BINGO number. An announcer spins the bin,
reaches in a selects a ball, and a announces it to the room. The players
check all of their cards to see if that number appears on their card. If
it is, they mark it. When a player has a BINGO (5 in a row, column, or
diagonal), he or she calls out BINGO.
The game pauses while the card is verified. If indeed a winner, the game
stops and a new game begins. If the card wasn't a winner, the game
proceeds where it left off. Each BINGO game proceeds until someone wins
(there's always a winner). Chances of Winning Every BINGO game has a
winning card, so a player's chances of winning depend on the number of
cards in the game and how many cards s/he is playing. For example, if a
player has 12 cards in a game with 1200 cards, the chances of winning
for that player is 1 in 100.
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