How to Play Bingo
Bingo is a very easy game to play and enjoy - and it's even easier to play online. The objective of any Bingo game is to complete the game pattern on your bingo card before any other player. If you do, you have a "bingo" and win the prize!
When playing online, you can choose your bingo cards from a selection, or you can let the computer randomly select them. At most sites you can choose from 1 bingo card up to 12 for you to play on.
Every online bingo game has a caller or a display board for the bingo numbers. The game pattern is also displayed.
It's important to pay attention to the pattern. You only need the numbers that form the pattern to win the game. Some patterns are much easier than others to complete. The most basic patterns are straight lines in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction. Another simple and popular game is the "blackout" or "coverall" where you have to cover the whole card. Most games are a mixture of the two, whereby once someone has achieved a line every body then tries to fill two lines, once someone has done this they then try to cover all the numbers to get a "full house".
The numbers are announced quickly, usually 10 seconds apart, so you must pay careful attention to the numbers that are called and mark them quickly and accurately on your cards. Some games automatically mark the numbers on your card for you, but others simply highlight the called numbers for you to then "dab" them with the mouse. It's much more fun to actively dab your numbers, you really feel part of the game.
Play continues until one or more players claim bingo, at which time, the game stops immediately and the numbers are verified. If there's a winner announced, the prize is awarded. If there is more than one winner, they split the prize.
Next, the players get new cards and a new bingo game starts!
Bingo Games
UK 90 Ball Bingo
90-Ball Bingo is the bingo game traditionally played in the United Kingdom, featuring a 3x9 grid pattern with three ways of winning in a single game.
Each of the three row rows contains five numbers ranging from 1 to 90, but unlike its North American cousin, the numbers are in descending order from left-to-right and grouped in groups of ten. So, for example, column one will only contain numbers 1-9 while column two will only feature numbers 10-19 and so forth. Each card has 15 unique and random numbers.
There are three prizes awarded during each game, starting with a Single Line Across (a line), Two Lines and a Full House, where the player wins the jackpot. The numbers are randomly called on the Bingo Call Board and the first player to correctly cross off a line, two lines or a full house wins the corresponding prize. However, should more than one player call at the same time, the prize is shared.
US 75 Ball Bingo
The 75-ball bingo ball game is played on a 5x5 square grid. This game is more popular in North America than in Europe. Each row has five numbers and there are no spaces on the card unlike 90 ball bingo. The various games played with 75-ball bingo are shown below:
Cover All
This is the easiest form of online bingo you can play. With a cover-all type of game, all you'd have to do to win is be the first one to have all the numbers in your card marked. In a cover-all game, the jackpot is also usually higher than in other games. But there's a catch to win the jackpot, all the numbers in your card must be marked before the 41st ball or number is drawn out. The jackpot prize will be greatly reduced afterwards.
Regular
For regular bingo there are three ways to win. The first one is to form either a horizontal line, secondly is to form a vertical line and lastly is to have all your numbers in a diagonal row marked. Any of those three directions will get the jackpot prize. Since there are multiple ways of winning, the cash prize is usually much smaller.