How To Play Bingo
Online bingo and land based bingo are pretty much the same game. The rules and structure are the same and, if the site is regulated correctly, your chances of randomly winning are the same! Therefore, learning how to play bingo, applies to both the land based and the online bingo game.
Regular 90 ball bingo sees the players buy strips of cards. There are six different ‘houses’ on each bingo card, and the numbers, one – ninety are split evenly between each of these cards, with fifteen in each card. The numbers are arranged in column order, making it easy for the bingo player to scan downwards and mark off the number as it is called. The first column contains the number 1-9, the second column 10-19, the third 20-29, and so on and so forth. Cards may be bought as whole strips of six, or as individual houses.
The object of the game is to mark off first one line, then two lines, then a full house (most sites have auto daub facilities). The ‘lines’ are vertical, and contain five numbers. When you have achieved this, you either ’shout’ house or bingo (for land based bingo), or you press the claim button (for online bingo). Most online bingo sites have an auto claim system to ensure that no one misses their claim. The ticket will then be checked and verified and if valid, you will be awarded the prize money.
75, 80 ball, and American coverall bingo works on the same ‘numbers called out, you tick them off’ basis, however, the patterns vary. The numbers on the tickets are packed tighter together, and usually you are required to tick off either all the squares, or to tick off the numbers in a certain pattern formation.
Prize money varies, but usually correlates to the amount of tickets sold and the price of the tickets. ‘Link’ or ‘National’ games have much higher prize jackpots due to large amounts of bingo clubs joining together and pooling the prize money. Some websites also run progressive jackpots which accumulate until a winner claims the pot, usually in under a certain amount of numbers.
You must be over eighteen to play the game for money. Bingo is generally a very sociable game, with much comradeship. The online bingo community has evolved its own set of abbreviations, such as gl (good luck) and 1tg ( one number to go until I can check,etc.). You will also find many ‘in chat games’ which are run on bingo sites, these are usually played for points.
