Bingo - Definition and Overview

This article is about the game known as bingo. Bingo province was an old province of Japan.

Bingo is a game of chance where randomly-selected numbers are drawn and players match those numbers to those printed on cards. The first person to have a card where the drawn numbers form a specified pattern is the winner and calls out "Bingo!" to alert others to the win. Bingo is a game used for legalized gambling in some countries.

Description of the Game

Each Bingo player is given a card marked with a grid containing a unique combination of numbers and, in some countries, blank spaces. The winning pattern to be formed on the card is announced. On each turn, a non-player known as the caller randomly selects a numbered ball from a container and announces the number to all the players. The ball is then set aside so that it cannot be chosen again. Each player searches his card for the called number, and if he finds it, marks it. The element of skill in the game is the ability to search one's card for the called number in the short time before the next number is called.

The caller continues to select and announce numbers until the first player forms the agreed pattern(one line, two lines, full house) on their card and shouts out the name of the pattern or bingo. One of the most common patterns, called house in the United Kingdom and Australia and full card in Canada and the United States, simply consists of marking all the numbers on the card. Other common Canadian and American patterns are single line, two lines, centre cross, L, Y, inner square (4 × 4), roving square (3 × 3), and roving kite (a 3 × 3 diamond). On Canadian and American cards lines can be made horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Inner and roving squares and kites must be completely filled; roving squares and kites may be made anywhere on the card.

Card Variations

Canadian and American bingo cards are 5 × 5 grids of numbers only; dual dab cards have two numbers in each square. Each space in the grid contains a number, except for the centre square, which is considered filled. The highest number used is 75. The columns are headed with the letters of the word BINGO, and the letter is called with the number — for example, B-10, I-25, N-40, G-55, O-70. Numbers 1 to 15 are assigned to the B column, 16 to 30 to the I column, 31 to 45 to the N column, 46 to 60 to the G column, and 61 to 75 to the O column.

In the United Kingdom and Australia bingo cards have three rows and nine columns. Five squares in each row contain numbers ranging from 1 to 90 and the rest are blank. The numbers are usually called quickly, so players rarely play more than one book (six cards). A Bingo Book (a set of six cards) contains all the numbers from 1 to 90, fifteen numbers on each card, five numbers in each row. The first column contains single numbers, the second tens, the third twenties, and so on. Number 90 is placed in the ninth column along with the eighties.

Each card has a unique serial number to permit quick verification by computer.

Culture

Canadian and American games often have multiple bingos — for example, the players may first play for a single line, then after that is called continue playing for a full card, then for a consolation full card.

In Canadian and American Halls, players often play multiple cards for each game. Because of the large numbers of cards played by each player, most Canadian and American 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 dabbers. 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. The numbers already called and the patterns being played are also displayed on electric signs.

History

Bingo can be traced back to a game called Lotto, played in Italy in 1530. The bingo name comes from a corruption of the name Beano, the name of a form of bingo played in the United States in the 1920s. Beano was so called because beans were used to cover the numbers.

The Business of Bingo

Bingo is an expanding and highly profitable business in the UK. The Rank group (owners of Hard Rock Cafe, Mecca Bingo and bluesquare.com) is one of many global companies to have taken an interest in the game, with other major chains including Mecca, Gala, Top Ten, and Masons.

A typical bingo club in the UK can have between 4,000 and 60,000 customers a week, with prize money ranging from tens of pounds to hundreds of thousands of pounds. A major Bingo event of 2004 was the National Game company's Groundshaker prize draw promotion, played by over 500 participating clubs throughout the country for a full house (all numbers marked off). The prize is split into three: an In-house prize, a regional prize (the country is split into about 12 regions) and the national prize which can range from £50,000 to £200,000 (usually highest on a Sunday night). This promotion involved the biggest link-up of different Random Number Generator systems to date.

Bingo is not only restricted to Mainstage Bingo, (bingo played on bingo books) most Bingo halls contain Mechanised Bingo boards, these boards are 4×4 with numbers ranging from 1–80 in colours (eg Red 1–20, Blue 21–40, Yellow 41–60, White 61–80) these boards are played for either money, or a prize. Games have multiple stakes, and are played very quickly. Called by colour and number. (e.g. Red number 2, Blue 30, etc.) These games are played in patterns like mainstage bingo. Unlike mainstage any line can include diagonal lines and downward lines, also four outer, and inner squares.

Caller Slang

Although these numbers are amusing and each has its own story, most professional Bingo halls do not use them. If a caller were busy saying "two little ducks", and the number 22 has not yet been said, it is therefore not deemed "called". In an instance where a player may have missed his or her number, and a player is waiting for 22, both players would have valid argument that their number was "called".

There are traditional calls for the numbers. For example:

Interesting Facts

• 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 "caller of the year competition" in which Bingo callers compete for a two week holiday.

Alternate Variations

Two notable modern variations of bingo have achieved some kind of status in American culture:

• Buzzword bingo (also called bullshit bingo)
• Bovine bingo

External Links

• Bingo Culture (comparing Canadian and British Bingo) (http://www.newimprovedhead.com/bingo.htm)
• History of Bingo (http://strangelife.com/bingodoc/bingohist.html)