Millions of people around the world find online Bingo to be the ultimate and most popular gaming experience. The larger the number of players contribute to the pot, the bigger it gets and there for the more thrilling the game gets.
Online Bingo in its 75 Ball
Bingo, 80 ball and 90 Ball versions developed its own set
of terms. Knowing these terms and there meaning will make your
bingo game play much easier, smoother and definitely more
enjoyable.
Bingo Terminology
Admission: To be eligible to enter a bingo hall
and/or participate in a bingo game.
Admission Packet: A minimum number of cards that you
must purchase as the price of admission. Typically you must
purchase an Admission Packet, which usually contains three to
six card for every regular game, and may also contain some
special games. Exactly what is part of the Admission Packet
varies from hall to hall.
After Game: The game played after the end of a
regular session of play.
Ball Gate: Part of the ball dispensing machine, the
one-way flap at the top of the 'ball runway' which the ball
passes under to enter the main playfield area.
Ball Lifter: The mechanism used to raise the ball
from beneath the playfield to the 'ball shooter' tip.
Ball Runway: The channel where the ball is launched
up by the ball shooter to enter the main playfield area.
Ball Shooter: The spring loaded plunger with a rubber
tip used to launch the ball into the playfield area.
Basket Bingo: Bingo game where "basket"
prizes are given.
Bingo Board: A display board, usually electronic that
lights up showing each number as it is called.
Bingo Books: A number of different colored
bingo sheets/cards bound together to form a book/booklet to be
played one for each game at a bingo session. They are usually
bound in the order in which they will be played.
Bingo Card: A card containing 24 numbered
spaces and one free space, with which you play BINGO. The
numbers are assigned at random on each card and are arranged in
five columns of five numbers each by five rows. The numbers in
the B column are between 1 and 15, in the I column between 16
and 30, in the N column between 31 and 45, in the G column
between 46 and 60, and in the O column between 61 and 75.
Players have thousands of unique cards to choose from. Some
manufacturers print unduplicated series of 6,000 cards.
Bingo Marker: A crayon or ink dauber that is used to
cover the numbers on a bingo game card.
Blackout: A pattern where you must
cover the whole card to win. Usually 50 to 60 of the 75 bingo
numbers have to be called to cover all the numbers on a card.
But blackouts in as few as 43 numbers have been recorded.
Blower: A forced-air device that mixes the bingo
balls and dispenses them to the caller who announces the number
and displays it on a bingo board.
Bonanza Bingo: A progressive coverall Jackpot that is
usually played as the 13th game of the session. Forty-five
numbers are drawn before the session and players mark them on
separate cards and set aside. There is an additional fee to play
this game, usually $1. The countdown begins at 48 numbers or
less and go up one number per week to 52 numbers or until won.
The amount of the jackpot is determined by card sales for that
game.
Break-open: A multi ply card, made completely from
paper or paper products, with perforated break open tab or tabs.
The game play area of the card is covered to conceal a number,
letter and or symbol some of which have been designated
in advance as prize winners.
Buy-in: Buying bingo cards or an Admission Packet. Converting cash into bingo cards.
Caller: The person who calls out the bingo numbers as
they are drawn.
Cash-In-Prize: A form of bingo where the prize is a
cash payout. This is taken from the money paid in.
Casino Night: An event held for a
specific period of time during which a qualified organization is
entitled to hold casino-style gaming events. Games conducted
include: Pull tabs, bingo, roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, gin
rummy, five card stud poker, and merchandise wheels.
Chat Room: A handy monitor or screen where you can
read and exchange messages with other players.
Consolation Prize: The prize or prizes offered on
some special games if there is no winner in a predetermined
number of calls.
Coverall: A pattern where you must
cover the whole card to win.
Dauber: Bingo dauber is ink-filled bottle
with a foam tip on it used to mark called numbers. When you
touch the bingo card with the foam tip it marks the square.
Early Bird Game: A bingo game that starts earlier
than another regularly scheduled game. But sometimes the Early
Bird game is merely the first game of the session. The first
game of a session is more commonly known as a Warm Up.
Face: Is the individual bingo sheet containing 24
numbers plus the free space in the middle.
Flimsies: Bingo cards printed on thin sheets
of paper. There are usually three cards printed on a single
sheet but flimsies are also printed in one, two, four, six or
9-card formats. Typically a flimsy sheet costs one or two
dollars and a win on a flimsy on a special game usually pays
quite a bit more than a win on a regular game.
Four Corners: A pattern where you must cover the
corner numbers of the card. If you get those four numbers, you
win.
Free Space: The center square of the card, which does
not have a number assigned to it. It's like a Joker or a Wild
square. You get it free every game and it counts towards your
winning pattern.
Game Board, Game board: An electronic
display that is attached to the bingo board to show the pattern
needed to win that particular game. It looks like a bingo card
and shows what variation of bingo you are playing on that
particular game on the program.
Game Room: Some online games divide the players into
game rooms.
Hard Card: A bingo card printed on heavy cardboard
material usually with shutters to cover each number as it is
called out.
Hard way Bingo: Bingo in a straight
line without the use of the free space.
House: A casino or gambling center/centre or a
gambling hall/property. Also the property owners or the
operators of a gambling game, such as Bingo.
Inlaid Card: A pre-printed card, usually in 4x4
format laid into a table, and black discs are used to cover the
numbers as they are called out.
Instant Bingo: A break open ticket which contains the
letters B I N G O, bingo card faces, bingo numbers, and no other
symbols. Winning tickets may incorporate letters spelling the
word B-I-N-G-O, or contain a complete pre-designated bingo
pattern, i.e., vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line.
Jackpot: A big prize usually awarded for achieving a
difficult pattern, such as a blackout, within a specified number
of balls.
Lucky Jar: A container with cash. You
win the contents of the lucky jar if you bingo on the lucky
number. The lucky number is usually the first number called at
the beginning of a session. Money is added to the jar every time
the lucky number is called or if the caller makes a mistake in
announcing the game. Usually you can win the lucky jar only on
regular games. There is no lucky number in play on special
throw-away games.
Main Stage Bingo: The main event of a session of
bingo, and the one said to draw the most customers.
Minimum Buy in: The least amount you must spend to be
eligible for prizes.
Moonlight Bingo: Session of bingo that starts late at
night, usually about 10:00 pm.
Money Ball: A number drawn before the game that will
double a player's winnings if bingo is hit on that number.
Multiple Winners: Two or more players bingo
at the same time. When this happens, the cash prize is divided
among them.
Mushroom: A group of bingo displays which takes its
name from its shape: it has a narrow tubular base, and a wider
head with the machinery used to play the game and collect money
from players. Customers sit around the mushroom to play, and
there are usually 6 to 8 positions at each.
On: A player is said to be On when one or more cards
they are playing lacks only one number for a bingo.
On The Way: The game played on the way to the
blackout game. It is played prior to the blackout on the same
card. First the preliminary game are played and then more
numbers are called until there is a blackout.
Pattern: The shape you need to cover on your card
with called out numbers, usually it is in a straight line;
horizontal, vertical and diagonal.
Parti: Short for participation bingo, a type of slot
bingo or cash bingo where the prize is cash and depends on the
number of players, since the cash prize is at least 50% of the
money paid in. The most common boards used for parti bingo are
inlaid cards and hand-held shutter boards.
Payout: The percentage of sales paid out by the
House. The average payout among all bingo halls is approximately
75 percent. This compares with a payout of approximately 45
percent on state lottery games.
Postage Stamp Pattern: Matching four numbers to form
a postage stamp in any of the four corners.
Prize Bingo: Until recently, this game was only
played for a set prize or vouchers. Recent changes in UK law
mean that now the prize may be cash of up to £15.
Progressive Jackpot: A Jackpot that gets bigger until
it is won. It builds daily, weekly, or monthly if it is not won
in a specific number of calls. If there is no winner in X number
of calls, consolation prize of lesser dollar amounts are
paid. Different variations of progressive games add dollars or
numbers, or both, to the jackpot. There is usually a separate
buy-in for Progressive Jackpot games.
Quickie: Numbers are called as quickly as possible &
the card must be full to win Bingo.
Rainbow Pack: A paper pack that allows players to
play for three or four different prize denominations at once.
Reno Night: An evening of casino games like blackjack
and roulette. These are sometimes held in bingo halls but more
often in restaurants and hotels, Eagles & Elks clubs and other
fraternal organizations.
Random Number Generator: the machine used to
pick the numbers for a game of bingo. Most are electronic.
Serial Number: The minimum five-character number
printed by a manufacturer on each set of charity game
tickets/cards. Each ticket in a set contains the same serial
number.
Series: Indicates the number of unique faces
that a single set will contain.
Session: An entire evening or daytime program of
bingo consisting of regular games usually played on hard cards
and special games played on throwaways, flimsies or paper
sheets. A session usually lasts somewhere between two and a half
hours and three hours and 15 minutes.
Shutter Board: A hand-held re-usable plastic board
with pre-printed numbers, usually in a 4x4 format. These numbers
are marked off by closing shutters over them.
Six-pack, Nine-pack: Six or nine numbers in a block
on one card.
Special: Games that usually are played with a
different set of cards than the pack purchased at admission.
Speed Bingo: A variation of regular bingo. Numbers
are called very quickly and you can bingo in as few as three
numbers. Usually played before or after a regular session.
Speed game, Speed Game: A coverall that is called very
quickly. It is sold as a special game one card at a time.
Split Pot: A bingo game in which the winner splits
the sales of the game with the bingo hall or House.
Table Board Bingo: Table Board Bingo is a lottery
scheme where players purchase the Table Board card and win
prizes by being the first to complete specified arrangements or
patterns of numbers on the Table Board Bingo device from numbers
selected at random. A Table Board Bingo event can be held in
conjunction with a Regular Bingo event and where the Table Board
Bingo prizes are in addition to the maximum Regular Bingo prize
board.
T.E.D.: An electronic dauber system used to
play multiple packs at once. These usually require a rental fee
and only one is allowed per player.
Texas Blackout: A variation of bingo. The first
number called will be either odd or even. If the first number
called is Even then all the even numbers on all your cards are
Wild. Cover all the even numbers. If the first number
called is Odd, cover all the odd numbers. The game then proceeds
to a blackout.
Throwaways: See Flimsies above.
Tickets: These are printed pages on which the main
stage bingo is played. They are laid out in grids, and normally
come in books. Some tickets have bar-codes which describe the
numbers on them and are used to help check claims.
Validation: Eligibility required to win additional
jackpot amounts. Price varies by number of cards played.
VFW: Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Wild Number: Usually played on a double bingo that
leads into a triple bingo. The first number out of the hopper
determines the wild number.
Wrap Up: The name of the last game of a session.
Good Luck
From the Online Casinos USA team
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