Unlike balls used in regular bingo halls, online bingo sites use a random number generator. Online bingo halls usually offer online casino games as well as the bingo, but the actual bingo play works almost exactly like playing online poker or online casino games, with everything being virtual. One notable feature of online bingo is the chat functionality. Successful online bingo sites foster a sense of community and interaction between players.

Getting started

Some operators require players to download free software to play their games. Other operators use Java or Flash based games that allow you to play immediately online after registering a player account.

Depositing

Free games are available, but before playing for real money players are required to fund an account. Most sites accept a standard range of e-wallet funding options, such as Neteller, Firepay, Citadel and PrePaidATM.

Sites often provide a number of incentives to deposit, including matching bonuses where the site will reward depositing players by matching a percentage of their deposit.

How to play

Bingo is one of the easiest games to play and the online version is no different. Playing bingo online, players can make use of optional features which make playing the game easier, such as auto-daub. Auto-daub automatically marks off the numbers on cards as they are called, so players don’t have to. Most software providers support other gaming features as “Best Card Sorting” and “Best Card Highlighting” where players cards are sorted and highlighted by closest to bingo. Some of these features are designed to free players to enjoy the communal pleasantries of the chat features.

Chat & the CM

The Chat applet brings a different dimension to gaming. This is where all the players of a game can meet and chat during games of bingo. Whereas in land-based bingo where talking is strictly forbidden during a game, it is actively encouraged in online bingo. Chat functions as an effective retention tool, aimed especially at the predominantly female audience.

CM stands for “chat monitor”. The CM works for the bingo site as the host of a chat room and plays a role in welcoming players and creating a friendly and communal atmosphere in the room. This includes, but is not limited to, congratulating players when they win a game as well as playing chat games in-between bingo. Most sites have a chat protocol known as chat etiquette or chatiquette.

90 Ball versus 75 Ball

There are two types of bingo played around the world. North America plays 75-ball bingo on a 5×5 card with the centre square usually marked ‘free’. In the UK, parts of Europe, Australia and parts of South America they play a 90-ball game, marked on a 9×3 card. Both types of bingo are prominent online.

The desired pattern which players aim to achieve in 75 ball can vary dramatically, from a simple single line to more complicated themed patterns. The aim of the game, however, is always the same: to mark off the numbers to achieve the desired pattern. Speed Bingo is a variation played exactly the same, but numbers are simply called much quicker.

In 90-ball bingo, each card has three horizontal lines and nine columns. Each line contains five numbers, meaning each card has 15 numbers. The first column contains numbers from 1 -10, the second column contains numbers from 11-20, all the way through to the final column which contains numbers from 81-90.

A game of 90 ball bingo will normally be played in three stages: one line, two lines and Full House. In a “one line” game players need to mark a complete horizontal line across one card (i.e. 5 numbers marked). The aim of a ‘two lines’ game is to complete any two marked lines horizontally across one card (i.e. 10 numbers marked). Finally a “Full House” means all the numbers marked off on one card (all 15 numbers), as in a regular coverall game. The prize split differs for each stage of the game. The Full House is always the largest prize in any one game.

Bingo networks

There are a number of sites that will have the same promotions, similar graphics, the same bingo rooms and the same CMs. This occurs because they are part of a bingo “network”. In very simple terms, this means a number of different sites (or “front ends”) are playing with the same numbers for the same jackpot. Multiple sites act as doorways to a single game, leading to larger pools of players in chat and sizeable pots to win.

Online bingo in the UK

Bingo is now the most popular leisure activity in the UK for women between 20 and 25 years old. The UK market has seen an influx in big brand names launching bingo games on their already established websites. Huge brand names such as Yahoo!, Virgin, AOL UK and most recently MSN UK are all now associated with the UK online bingo market. Gala Bingo the biggest bingo operator in the UK is also now online, this is as well as other brand names such as:

The Sun, plus most other tabloid newspapers
Closer Magazine
Hit UK TV shows such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and I’m a Celebrity
LastMinute.com
Park Hampers
Butlins
Ladbrokes
Littlewoods
A number of products from one of the UK’s leading media companies, Emap plc. These include MagicFM, Top Sante, Yours and New Woman.
Keith Chegwin now has his own branded bingo game.

Former Atomic Kitten star and celebrity mum Kerry Katona signed a £500,000 deal to be the face of Bingos.co.uk.

Software providers

Notable bingo software providers include:

Parlay Entertainment
Playtech
ChartWell Technology
1Gaming
Leapfrog Gaming
PartyGaming
WorldBingoNetwork

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Keno, in its modern form, is like a lottery or bingo in that it is a numbers game. Unlike bingo, the keno player picks the numbers for his or her ticket(s). Keno cards have 80 numbers; the keno player can pick as many (or as few) numbers as desired. This is done by circling or otherwise marking them with a pencil. Once the player has picked his or her numbers, he must bring his or her card back to the clerk at the keno booth. The clerk will then issue a receipt after recording the player’s numbers.

After picking numbers and recording them at the keno booth, the player will then watch either a “big board” in which winning keno numbers will light up or on a video monitor showing the selected numbers. As the winning numbers light up, the player usually marks them on his or her card with a bright-colored marker. The amount of numbers the player originally picked that match winning numbers of a particular drawing will determine if any money is won and, if so, how much. The winning ticket needs to be taken to the keno booth immediately if it is an individual game ticket, as drawings usually take place every five minutes. If the player tries to redeem a winning ticket when the next drawing starts, it is void and no money is paid out.

To avoid having a void ticket, a keno player can purchase a “multi-race” ticket with the same picked numbers on anywhere from 2 to 20 tickets. When the maximum number of games (matching the number of tickets) is finished, the player can then redeem any winnings and avoid the peril of a void ticket. Another option is the “stray and play” ticket, which is usually a number of games greater than 30. Unlike standard keno tickets, the “stray and play” doesn’t have to be redeemed immediately and is often good for up to a year after purchase.

Lottery versions of Keno are now used in many National Lotteries or state licensed Lotteries around the world. The games have different formulas depending on the wanted price structure and whether the game is slow (daily or weekly), or if it is a fast game with just minutes between the draws. The drawn numbers are typically published on TV for the slow games and on monitors at the point of sale for the fast games.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Video Keno at 32Red Casino

Keno is a bingo-like gambling game. Its history can be traced to a Chinese game called “The Game of the White Dove (白鴿票)” invented during the Han Dynasty (187 BC). The name “keno” descends from a form of bingo or Lotto popular in the USA in the 19th century. There are many references to “Keno” played in a bingo like format in the eastern states prior to the influx of Chinese during the gold rush. The name appears to have been transferred to the similar format Chinese lottery in the late 1800s.

History

The following account of the history of the game is an excerpt from Stewart Culin’s paper published in 1891. [1]

This game is an old establishment, and was first introduced by Chéung léung of the great Han Dynasty. When the city was hard pressed, and provisions were beginning to fail, they (the besieged) were anxious to increase the contributions, and to exhort the people to subscribe more for the army, but were unable to do so. Hence they established a game of chance (to guess characters), by which they hoped to tempt the people to hazard their property. In order to fix a method of losing or gaining at hazard, they chose 120 characters for the whole game and eight characters for one subdivision. If the people lost one (whole) subdivision they lost three lí of property; if they gained one division they were rewarded with ten taels. These regulations being once established, who would not sacrifice a little in order to gain much? The two games in the morning and evening were attended by men and women who tried their luck by guessing. They had only opened the game for about ten days, when they had accumulated more than 1000 pieces of silver; and after a few more decades their wealth was boundless. The money thus gained was considered a contribution to the army for the reduction of the empire….

At present the people practice the game as a profession. They borrow the characters from the Thousand Character Classic, of which eighty are chosen and arranged after a new plan, ten characters forming one division, which the people are permitted to purchase for more or less (for whatever they please.)

Three cash gaining ten taels makes the people covet the game without loathing. When they guess five characters they gain five lí; when six characters they gain five candareens; when seven characters they gain five mace; when eight characters they gain two taels and five mace; when nine characters they gain five taels; when ten characters they gain ten taels.

When this game was first established, the houses were often at a great distance, and communication being difficult and the people anxious soon to know the result respecting their gaining or losing, they employed letter doves to carry the news to the parties, whence the present designation: ‘The Game of the White Dove.’

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Combination Keno Pro

In New Zealand, calling nicknames are not used as much as in the UK, but here are some of the more common ones. When calling, the caller will usually say both digits on their own first, and then the number itself, for example, “Three and two, thirty-two”. Some callers will use many of these slang terms, others just a few. However, “Kelly’s Eye”, “Legs Eleven” and “Top of the Shop” are often used, even if none of the others are. See section below for usage.

There is at least one nickname for each bingo number called. See sources for more.

Sources

• Bingo Nicknames / Caller Slang

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fundraiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.

Bingo, as housie is known as in the UK (not to be confused with the similar US game Bingo), is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers’ money.

The two largest companies with bingo halls in the UK are:

• Gala Bingo (Gala Group Ltd.)
• Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)

As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical “take” of fifty percent of the stake.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Bingo – Chris Landreth

A typical housie/bingo ticket is shown to the right. It contains fifteen numbers, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains either one, two, or very rarely three, numbers:

• The first column contains numbers from 1 to 9,
• The second column numbers from 10 to 19,
• The third 20 to 29 and so on up until the last column, which contains numbers from 80 to 90 (the 90 being placed in this column as well).

The game is presided over by a caller, whose job it is to call out the numbers and validate winning tickets. He will announce the prize or prizes for each game before starting.The caller will then usually say “Eyes down” to indicate that he is about to start. He then begins to call numbers as they are randomly selected, either by an electronic Random Number Generator (RNG), by drawing counters from a bag or by using balls in a mechanical draw machine. Calling takes the format of simple repetition in the framework, “Both the fives, fifty five”, or “Two and three, twenty three.”

The different winning combinations are:

• Line — covering a horizontal line of five numbers on the ticket.
• Two Lines — Covering any two lines on the same ticket.
• Full House — covering all fifteen numbers on the ticket.
  • In New Zealand in bonus (Super Housie) games, often three lines may be claimed – top, middle and bottom, usually with much larger prizes, are also played at various times throughout the session.
  • In the UK, however, it is most common for a line game to be followed directly by a two line game and a full house game, or just by a full house game.
  • In the UK’s National Bingo Game only a full house game is ever played.
  • In all cases, the last number called must be in the winning sequence.

When players first come to the venue (often a church hall, rugby club or other place with sufficient tables and chairs, including in the UK many specifically designed bingo clubs) they can buy a book of tickets. Players generally play between one and six books. In New Zealand a book usually contains fifty tickets which are played over the course of the night. In UK bingo clubs, playing is divided into sessions with different books, each with a designated number of pages. Players in the UK usually prefer to buy books of 6 tickets containing all possible numbers in different combinations.

As each number is called, players check to see if that number appears on their tickets. If it does, they will mark it with a special marker called a “dabber” or a “dauber”, shown here. When all the numbers required to win a prize have been marked off, the player calls out “Line” or “House” depending on the prize, and an official or member of staff will come and check the claim:

• In the UK with the increasing computerization of bingo systems, an Auto-Validate system is often used in large clubs where a 1 to 8 digit security code is read out by a member of staff and checked against the entry for that ticket on the system. This saves the club from the time-consuming exercise of reading out every number on the ticket.
• In smaller clubs, however, each number in the winning combination must be read out. The caller will check to see if each number has been called, and if it has, he will say something similar to “House correct – please pay out”.

There will often be an interval halfway through the game. In Australia and New Zealand Super Housie tickets are played and raffles (if there are any) are drawn. In UK bingo halls it is most common for Mechanised Cash Bingo to be played.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Housie is a gambling game played in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, where it is called Bingo. Players mark off numbers on a ticket as they are randomly called out, in order to achieve a winning combination.It is not to be confused with the similar American game Bingo, as the tickets and the calling are slightly different.

Business Aspect

In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fundraiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.

Bingo, as housie is known as in the UK (not to be confused with the similar US game Bingo), is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers’ money.

The two largest companies with bingo halls in the UK are:

• Gala Bingo (Gala Group Ltd.)
• Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)

As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical “take” of fifty percent of the stake.

Usage of Bingo nicknames in the UK

Since the introduction of the electronic Random Number Generator (RNG) in Bingo Halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames above in mainstream Bingo has dramatically decreased. Bingo with an electronic RNG is much less time consuming and it has been discovered that replacing the nicknames with a simple repetition (in the pattern “All the fives, fifty five” or “Two and four, twenty four”), has allowed bingo halls to focus on the more lucrative business of Mechanised Cash Bingo (MCB), known in Gala Bingo Clubs as Party Bingo, and Mecca Bingo Clubs as Cashline.

It is perhaps nostalgic to note that the usage of these nicknames tends to be greater where the focus of playing bingo is upon fun rather than big business; this includes British holiday resort chains such as Haven, British Holidays and Pontins, and also church halls, social clubs etc.

Trivia

• An average British game of bingo takes between four and four and a half minutes.
• The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute.
• The average time to check a winning claim is 30 seconds.
• There is a UK Caller of the Year Competition in which bingo callers compete for a cash prize and the chance to call the numbers in Las Vegas, as well as to become the bingo ‘ambassador’ for Britain.
• The bingo industry employs over 20,000 people from callers, and change givers to cleaners and accountants.
• There are 699 licensed and operating bingo clubs in Great Britain.
• For the year 2000 the total estimated market was around 89 million admissions.
• Over 3 million people regularly play bingo in licensed clubs.
• Players are often members of more than one club.
• Players often arrive 2 hours before the game starts, to enjoy a meal or chat with friends.
• More than two in three people go to bingo for social, rather than financial reasons.
• Many celebrities like to play bingo, including Denise van Outen, Elle MacPherson, Damon Hill, Mariah Carey, Bianca and Jade Jagger.
• In 2004 more people attended bingo than football matches in both UK leagues.
• The current Bingo Caller of The Year is Karl Seth, aged 33, from the Buckingham Bingo Club in Old Trafford, Manchester.
• All bingo halls in the UK participating in the National Bingo Game must adhere to the somewhat more strict rules on calling numbers because of the overwhelmingly large prize money (sometimes up to GBP £500 thousand). This includes a double repetition of every single number, in the format, “Fifty five, both the fives, fifty five”.

Sources

• National Bingo Game website

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Video: Bingo Game

Buzzword bingo is a game sometimes played in relaxed team meetings. The rules resemble those of bingo and housie, but instead of a matrix of numbers, each player’s card is a matrix of buzzwords. When a player hears one of his buzzwords spoken in the meeting, he crosses it off his card. The winner is the player who crosses a full line first and exclaims, “Bingo!”

One documented buzzword bingo occurred when Al Gore, the then Vice President of the United States known for his liberal use of buzzwords hyping technology, spoke at MIT’s 1996 graduation. The graduation class had distributed bingo cards containing buzzwords to the audience.[1]

A similar game is bullshit bingo, which is normally played for satirical or ironic purposes.

Links

• MIT original buzzword bingo hack for Al Gore in 1996
• Bullshit Bingo!
• thalasso’s buzzword bingo
• Bullshit Bingo (German buzzword bingo)
• Wank word bingo
• Thanksgiving Dinner Buzzword Bingo
• Buzzword Bingo actually created by SGI founder Tom Davis February 1993
• George Bush Buzzword Bingo
• Superbowl Ads Buzzword Bingo
• Comsui’s Meeting Bingo

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

• One card per sheet
• Two cards per sheet
• Four cards per sheet
• Six cards per sheet
• Nine cards per sheet

Flimsies costs $1-$2 per sheet and a win on a flimsy on a “special” game usually pays quite a bit more than a win on a “regular” game.

Also known as flimsy sheets or throwaways.

Sources

• Bingo Dictionary

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

U.S. Bingo Cards

A typical U.S. bingo card

U.S. bingo cards are 5×5 squares, with the columns labeled B-I-N-G-O and with spots contains numbers between 1 and 75. The center square typically is a free spot, and often has the word “free” printed on it.

• Column B contains numbers 1 – 15
• Column I contains numbers 16 – 30
• Column N contains numbers 31 – 45
• Column G contains numbers 46 – 60
• Column O contains numbers 61 – 75

U.K. Bingo Cards

U.K. Bingo, or Housie, cards are usually called tickets and differ greatly from U.S. Bingo cards. The cards contain three rows and nine columns. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains one, two or three numbers.

A typical housie/Bingo ticket

• Column 1 contains numbers 1 – 10
• Column 2 contains numbers 11 – 20
• Column 3 contains numbers 21 – 30
• Column 4 contains numbers 31 – 40
• Column 5 contains numbers 41 – 50
• Column 6 contains numbers 51 – 60
• Column 7 contains numbers 61 – 70
• Column 8 contains numbers 71 – 80
• Column 9 contains numbers 81 – 90

Sources

Bingo Dictionary

Links

• Bingo To Play For Cash

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.