How to Play Bingo-Rules, equipment and Cards GAMBLERS March 7, 2014 Bingo, Home Bingo is played on a printed paper which consists of 25 number spaces having 5 rows and 5 columns. The printed paper is known as Bingo Card. The player got all the specified required numbers proclaim the term “BINGO” so that all other players know the winner and if anyone else has got the same combination. All the numbers are checked to assure the winner and then only a new game begins. Players are not competing against the house but against each other for the jackpot. Now days BINGO is played everywhere, it’s Payout and Rules vary from location to location. At each and every place brochures are available that specify its Rules and Payouts. Players have to complete a line which could be diagonal, horizontal or vertical consisting of 5 numbers. This BINGO pattern completed by a player wins the jackpot. There are 25 boxes in total out of which 24 are numbers and 1 box is blank, through which players play the game. There is no specific sequence and the number appearing on the cards are random and most likely differ from cards of another player. U.S Standards The word BINGO consists of 5 letters and has five columns. Each word corresponds to a column. In U.S standards cards contain number from 1 to 75. They have set some standards for each column. 1. The cards must have number between 1 to 75. 2. The first column correspond to the letter B will have five numbers from 1 to 15 in random order. 3. The second column correspond to the letter I will also have 5 numbers from 16 to 30 in random order. 4. The third column will have 4 numbers and one blank space at the middle having number from 31 to 45 correspond to letter N. 5. The fourth column and fifth column have the same specification as the first two columns containing five numbers correspond to letter G and O. The cards are very unlikely to be identical as manufacturers now days produce series in which every card is different. There are series of 9000 and 6000 cards available. Mathematical Analysis For all the five columns there are 15 numbers available but the middle row can only have 4 numbers. So, 15P5 × 15P5 × 15P4 × 15P5 × 15P5 = 552446474061128648601600000 that means it has approximately have 552 × 1028 combinations. Equipment There are numerous methods to call out numbers but random number generator through computer software’s in mostly in fashion. Earlier mechanical setup was used from which numbered balls were drawn from a box. There is only one motto of doing all this that the number must appear randomly to decide the winner. There are no skill requires, it is 100% luck. Terminologies Used 1. Cased, Ready or Waiting – If the player requires only 1 number to complete a pattern than player is Cased, Ready or in Waiting State. 2. Possible or Breaching the Bubble – The required bubbles needed in order to complete a Bingo Pattern is known as Breaching the Bubble. It needs at least one bubble from every column and they must be in a specified Bingo pattern. 3. The player who proclaims the term BINGO without having the valid pattern is jumping the Gun . 4. Wild Numbers – Now days they are included everywhere. Multiple numbers are called out in Wild Numbers. Usually, the variant is the first ball drawn. 5. Forward/ Backwards -Numbers starting or finishing with the wild number are Forwards/Backwards. For example, numbers commencing or ending with 3 would be considered if the first ball is 33. If the first ball drawn is either a 9 or 8, then there will not be any other ball which would start with these two numbers. Even in case of zero, there are only 6 numbers that could result in starting with zero. 6. Standard – The second number of the first ball drawn is known as Standard. If the first ball drawn is 17, than any number ending with 7 would be a Standard. 7. False Alarm – This is a faux-pas done by the player mistakenly. Player thinks he has got the combination but is mistaken as either he has bubble the wrong number or have misheard. It is also known as BONGO. The player who commits False Alarm believes that he has BINGO. United Kingdom BINGO The rules are similar with little variations in size and numbers. The environment is a bit different as they are played in large space with jackpot being the huge cash. There are screen in front of players to bubble for the number called in almost every seaside town in England. They have strict Gambling Rules and that is why player is only awarded with toys and not cash prices. Mostly BINGO is played for the welfare of others. The money earned from the game is used in philanthropy. The environment is very relaxed and everyone is welcome. The prizes are offered by the local businessman usually of the city. The amount of cash vary from one place to the other but it is usually between £1-£3 for having all the numbers on one line, £3-£5 for two lines and up to £10 for scoring Full House. Prizes other than cash could be a bottle of wine, chocolate box, vouchers to buy things from Grocery Store. Card Layout for U.S BINGO It has 3 rows and 9 columns. They come in Books and every single book consists of ten cards. To differentiate one from the other every BINGO book card color is different from other. There are six books in a Multiple Book. Six cards have the same color in a multiple one. Players like children play for only one hand while experienced ones utilize the entire six pages. “Flyers” are also played by the players as it has 6 cards that are printed on 1 single sheet. The cost of Flyers worth more so does the prize. Big cities like London, Manchester, Liverpool, etc. Bingo is a business and profit is taken by the organizers while players try to hit the jackpot with a huge cash prize while in small towns it is played for the welfare of others as the revenue is spent on social activities. The same is in Australia. They have the same bingo cards patterns and rules as in U.K. Number calling They are played in large halls as all the other persons are seated while only one person calling the numbers. The numbers are called speedily and players have to be 100% attentive till someone win. The game goes on till anyone claims BINGO. The numbers of winners are usually three. The first one takes the jackpot and the rest two takes the prizes or cash and it varies from one place to other. It does not have a fixed criterion. Casinos of Las Vegas and Nevada offer jackpots that have cash as high as ten thousand dollars for some special variations like Coverall Bingo, Six Pack, etc. Electronic BINGO Moving with the technology, now days BINGO games are offered in Las Vegas Casinos just like traditional slot machines. New players or players playing for the first time would hardly distinguish the difference between the regular slots and BINGO slots. They are different and is regarded as Class II machines as players are competing against each other and someone has to win a jackpot. They keep their share and this game is a complete luck. Since the past two or three years the traditional BINGO cards are being replaced with the portable computers. They keep track of the numbers called so that player would never miss a BINGO as it happens many times when played with cards. What players have to do is press the key being called by the CALLER. Whenever a Key is down the BINGO software look it in the card and mark it on the screen if the card have that number. The player has to proclaim his BINGO by shouting to alert the caller. There are many portable devices now days. They come with amazing sound effects and having multiple cards on screen. Halls have the limitation on the number of cards to be played on time as some devices can hold more than two hundred cards at a time. Online Bingo Bingo can also be played online but the joy of playing with people surrounding you and shouting BINGO cannot be matched while playing online. The cards are randomly selected and generally two or three cards are given while some websites lets you take more than that. The player is provided with Display Board and a Caller. Players have to tick on the numbers being called while some do automatically for the player and click on the BINGO button.
