Bingo Rules and Overview

Everyone knows the game of bingo, right? From primary school to your grandma’s retirement home parties: bingo is the game that is simple enough for kids, but exciting enough to grab people of all ages. There are a myriad of option for you to play bingo on land and online. The legal game of chance has been a favorite since its birth some 80 years ago.

Unlike other casino games, you can find bingo at your local church or civic club in town. Players can buy cards for a specified price, and the winner takes home a great “pot” with the winnings. If you are interested in bingo, but are not yet familiar, you can learn in a snap.

The great gift of bingo is its simplicity. The game is played on a card broken into squares running up and down. Across the top row BINGO is spelled out and the numbers are scattered randomly all over the board. The caller will draw numbered bingo balls from the bingo cage or use an automated hopper. The ball has a specific letter and number, B17, for example.

Now the fun part of bingo is the energy and speed. Players in bingo halls stack up their bingo cards and use their “dauber” to mark the numbers called at lightning fast speed. It isn’t unusual to see the “pros” working 30 different bingo cards each game.

There really aren’t too many rules to learn in bingo, but you should be careful of one or two things. Don’t “jump the gun”, which means that you shout out “BINGO” before there is a full set of winning numbers called. While many bingo halls have a monitor to show the numbers that have rolled out from the cage, you must wait until the number has been called. A “false alarm” is when a bingo player calls “bingo”, but actually made a mistake marking and does not have a valid bingo.

There are many formations on the bingo card that can qualify you as the winner. As the caller announces the numbers, you are looking for a pattern that will count for a bingo. When you get 5 numbers down, across or diagonally, you scream “BINGO”. Sometimes the caller will announce a special game where you should fill the corners or other special patterns decided before the game.

Playing bingo is even easier now thanks to the online format. Not only can you enjoy the community center’s bingo, the casino’s big jackpots, but now you can also enjoy the convenience of the online format. Any way you slice it, bingo is bigger and better than ever to play and win.