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Bingo (U.S.)

Bingo is a game of chance in which randomly selected numbers are drawn and players match those numbers to those appearing on 5x5 matrices which are printed or electronically represented and are known as "cards." The first person to have a card where the drawn numbers form a specified pattern (usually in a straight line) is the winner and calls out the word "Bingo!" to alert others and inform the caller of the win. The card must first be properly checked for accuracy before the "win" is officially confirmed at which time the prize is secured and a new game is begun.

Bingo cards

Bingo cards are flat pieces of cardboard or non-reusable paper which contain 25 squares arranged in five vertical columns and five horizontal rows; Dual dab, or "double-action" cards have two numbers in each square. Each space in the grid contains a number, except for the center square, which is considered filled. The highest number used is 75. The letters B, I, N, G, O are pre-printed above the five vertical columns, with one letter appearing above each column. The center space is marked "Free". The printed numbers on the card correspond to the following arrangement: 1 to 15 in the B column; 16 to 30 in the I column; 31 to 45 in the N column; 46 to 60 in the G column and 61 to 75 in the O column.

There are about 5.52*10²⁶, (exactly 15⁵ × 14⁵ × 13⁵ × 12⁵ × 11⁴) possible arrangements of the numbers on a bingo card.

The most chips one can place on a Bingo board without having a Bingo is 19, not counting the free space. In order for this to happen, only one empty cell can reside in each row and each column, and at least one empty cell must be in each diagonal, for instance:

O O _ O O O _ O O O O O F O _ O O O _ O _ O O O O

Note: in addition to a straight line, many bingo halls consider other patterns as a valid "bingo", usually in special games. For example, in the illustration above, the 2x2 square of marked squares in the upper right-hand corner would be considered a "postage stamp". Another common special game requires players to cover the four corners.

Equipment

Most modern bingo halls have one or two bingo blowers and one or two flashboards. The blowers all have four features, a chamber to blow the balls from, a tube to draw one ball at a time, a master board, and a way to return the balls from the board to the chamber. Most modern blowers have a simple computer that can be programmed to display certain games in a certain order, called a session. Some new blowers run off standard household computers, and have their own GUI, or (Graphical User Interface), to operate the blower.

Culture

Single games often have multiple bingos; for example, the players may first play for a single line; after that, play may go on until a full card is called; then, play could continue for a consolation full card.

Players often play multiple cards for each game; 30 is not an unusual number. Because of the large numbers of cards played by each player, most halls have the players sit at tables to which they often fasten their cards with adhesive tape. To mark cards faster the players usually use special markers called daubers. At commercial halls, after calling the number the caller then displays the next number on a television monitor; bingo cannot be called until that number is called aloud, however.

Bingo is often used as an instructional tool in American primary schools and in teaching English as a foreign language in many countries. Typically, the numbers are replaced with beginning reader words (such as those drawn from the Dolch word lists), pictures, or unsolved math problems. Recently many teachers have taken to using software to automate the creation of bingo cards, as it is slow and laborious to do it by hand for large numbers of cards.

A system of etiquette exists in organized play. It is considered rude to carry on conversations with others or on cell phones during an active game. Making excess noises with daubers or allowing your cell phone to ring is also considered rude.

Terminology

Waiting/Cased – When someone only needs one number in order to complete the Bingo pattern, he/she is considered to be “Waiting” or "Cased".

Breaking the Bubble – The bubble is the minimum number of balls required to complete the Bingo pattern. This is the earliest point anyone could have a valid bingo. Example: Winning pattern is 1 hard way bingo, a straight line without the free space. The minimum number of called numbers is 5 although it is not considered “Breaking the Bubble” until 1 number in each column or 5 numbers in a single column have been called.

Jumping the Gun – One who calls bingo before having a valid bingo. The most common situation is someone calling bingo using the next number in the screen before it has been called.

Wild numbers – Many bingo halls will have certain games with a wild number. Wild numbers allow bingo players to start with multiple called numbers. Typically the first ball drawn is the determining factor.

Standard – All numbers ending with the second digit of the first number. Example: First ball is 22. All numbers ending in a 2 including B2 is considered a called number.

Forwards/backwards – All numbers beginning or ending with the wild number. Example: First ball is 22. All numbers beginning or ending with a 2 is considered a called number. If the first ball ends with an 8, 9 or 0, another number may be drawn as there are no numbers starting with a 8 or 9 and only 9 numbers starting with a zero. Some halls will also redraw a number ending with a 7 as there are only 5 numbers beginning with a 7.

False Alarm - Term used when one calls bingo but is mistaken. This could be because of mishearing the caller or stamping the wrong number by mistake. If one calls a falsie, they genuinely believe they have a bingo. Also known as as a "social error". Another term used for this is a "bongo."

History

Bingo can be traced back to a lottery game called "Lo Giuoco Code Loto" played in Italy in 1530. By the eighteenth century, the game had matured, and in France, playing cards, tokens, the reading out of numbers had been added to the game. In the nineteenth century, Bingo was widely used in Germany for educational purposes to teach children spelling, animal names, and multiplication tables.

At a travelling carnival near Atlanta in 1929, Beano was being played with dried beans, a rubber stamp, and cardboard sheets. Edwin Lowe, was watching this game and noticed how engaged the players were. The carnival worker had to dismiss the players at 3 am. Lowe took the idea with him to New York where he introduced the game to his friends. He conducted bingo games similar to the ones he had witnessed, using dried beans, a rubber numbering stamp and card board. His friends loved the game. It is said that one of his players made bingo history when he was so excited to have won that he yelled out “Bingo” instead of “Beano." The Lowe Bingo Game had two versions; the first a 12-card set for $1.00, the second a $2.00 set with 24 cards. Bingo was a wild success. By the 1940s Bingo games were all over the country. Lowe had many competitors and all he asked was that they pay $1.00 a year to conduct the games and of course to use the name Bingo.

The business of Bingo

In the US, the game is primarily staged by churches or charity organizations. Their legality and stakes vary by state regulation. In some states, bingo halls are rented out to sponsoring organizations, and such halls often run games almost every day. Church-run games, however, are normally weekly affairs held on the church premises. These games are usually played for modest stakes, although the final game of a session is frequently a coverall game that offers a larger jackpot prize for winning within a certain quantity of numbers called; a progressive jackpot may increase per session until it is won.

Commercial bingo games in the US are primarily offered by casinos (and then only in the state of Nevada), and by Native American bingo halls, which are often housed in the same location as Indian run casinos. In Nevada, bingo is usually offered only by casinos that cater to local gamblers, and not the famous tourist resorts. They will usually offer several two-hour sessions daily, with relatively modest stakes except for coverall jackpots. Station Casinos, a chain of locals-oriented casinos in Las Vegas, offers a special game each session that ties all of its properties together with a large progressive jackpot. Native American games are typically offered for only one or two sessions a day, and are often played for higher stakes than charity games in order to draw players from distant places. Some also offer a special progressive jackpot game that may tie together players from multiple bingo halls.

As well as bingo played "in house", the larger commercial operators play some games linked by telephone across several, perhaps dozens, of their clubs. This increases the prize money, but greatly reduces the chance of winning due to the much greater number of players.

Bingo halls are sometimes linked together (as by Loto Quebec in Canada) in a network to provide alternative winning structures and bigger prizes.

Bingo is also the basis for online games sold through licensed lotteries. Tickets are sold as for other numbers games, and the players get receipts with their numbers arranged as on a regular bingo card. The daily or weekly draw is normally broadcast on television. These games offer higher prizes and are more difficult to win.

The "bingo logic" is frequently used on scratch card games. The numbers are pre-drawn for each card and hidden until the card is scratched. In lotteries with online networks the price is electronically confirmed to avoid fraud based on physical fixing.

Alternate variations

Christmas bingo

Each player brings three presents to the event. The presents should arrive at the facility wrapped and hidden in a brown paper bag; it is important that no other participant knows which presents each other player brought. After all participants have arrived, the presents are taken out of the undistinguished bags and put in the center of a circle formed by the players.

Before play begins, each participant receives a blank bingo card with 25 squares. Each player then fills in their card by putting any number between 1 and 40 in each empty box. No number should appear more than once on any card.

Play begins as a caller - who can also be playing - picks a number out of a hat. Each person who has that number on their card crosses the number off and selects a present from the center. After each person who had the called number has taken a gift from the center, the caller picks another number. Play continues as before until all of the presents have been selected from the center. At this point with each number called a player must 'steal' one from another player.

Play ends when the caller has picked all the numbers. Each player then gets to keep each present that they ended the game with.

Sex Bingo

The players (usually teenagers) watch a pornographic film together. As various sexual acts are performed, the players fill in spaces. The winner may choose another player to perform a sexual favor for them.