The Basic Rules of Bingo
The Bingo game is a lottery based around a large amount of possibilities and players playing together in the bingo hall. Players try to match the numbers called to the numbers on their cards in hopes of shouting Bingo.
The Bingo Card
Players buy into the game by buying bingo cards. These are specially printed cards that contain variations in the numbers on the cards. The card set up is a square of 25 boxes with 5 columns top to bottom and 5 columns left to right with the letters B, I, N, G, and O, respectively marking their columns. The numbers 1 through 15 randomly going into the first vertical column or B, and then numbers 16 to 30 for column 2 or I.
The game starts when a caller draws the first numbered ball from the hopper and announces it to the players. If a player has the number located on one or more of their cards (players generally play more than one card at a time), they mark the number with a special marker called a dauber. With the boom in online gambling and computers, many of the callers use computer generated random numbers for bingo. There may even be an electronic board showing a readout of the called numbers.
They object of bingo is to correctly match the numbers called to a pattern specified at the beginning of the game. Bingo is a very varied game. Since there are 25 squares to choose from, you have many options to set the style of game. You could have a Cover All game, which you must cover the entire card, or an X pattern criss-crossing the card. There may just be the first to a Bingo wins. Correctly matching 5 squares in a row is called a bingo. The winner shouts Bingo and collects their prize or cash money depending on the bingo halls rules.