Complete Guide To Online Bingo
Bingo Beginner’s Guide
Online bingo has been one of the more unpredicted and amazing success stories of the online gambling revolution. Once merely a pleasant pastime for past-prime pensioners, the Internet infusion has given Bingo a significant boost of excitement.
Young women especially seem to be taking to the game in record numbers (over 85% of online bingo players are women, and over a third are under 35 years old), which could very well account for the incorporation of pop culture-drenched chat and chat games, as well as the decidedly empowering feminine design themes that enliven many of the major bingo websites.
The game of bingo has a relatively simple basic set of rules: a card is marked off with a set of rows and columns, and individual intersections are selected by the player. As the game round progresses, the caller (a person in land-based games, a random number generator in online bingo) calls out numbers one by one. Play progresses until someone’s card has every number that the caller has announced (usually yelling “Bingo!” to declare the win).
From this premise, many variations and details may differ. The primary difference is between the US and UK versions; the US card is a 5×5 card with 25 squares (the center may be a “free square”) and 75 possible numbers (i.e., 75-ball), whereas the UK version has a 9×3 grid with 90 possible numbers (90-ball). The US version often features matching various patterns to win, whereas the UK version tends to stay with one or two horizontal lines or all lines (“full house”).
Online bingo adds a chat function, which not only does away with the usual moratorium on a conversation during games but also presents many opportunities for bonus games. The chat feature contributes greatly to the development of the unique culture and community that accompanies online bingo.
Unlike many forms of online gambling, bingo is a highly social game which requires a minimum investment. In fact, free bingo games are very common, and can often lead to the same sort of jackpots as the pay games. Bingo is also unusual for the types of game prizes, which tend to feature merchandise, electronics, and travel and shopping prizes as much as cash winnings.
How To Play 75 Ball Bingo
75 Ball Bingo is the favorite form of bingo in the United States (as opposed to 90 Ball Bingo, favored in the UK). Keep in mind that the principle for both games is exactly the same, the key difference between the two is found in the bingo cards themselves and in the game’s winning combinations.
We’ve taken the time to make a few hearty online bingo halls recommends above. Know that at most of these online halls, you can find both 75 ball and 90 ball bingo games, and they all offer new members free welcome bonuses to get you into the game with a head start. As well, you can play bingo for as little as 1 cent a game, and in some cases, for free (with real money wins!).
On the 75 ball bingo card, you’ll find 25 squares arranged in five columns with the letters BINGO above each, along with five rows. Usually, the B of Bingo column will contain numbers from 1-15, the I column will contain 16-30, the N column houses 31-45, the G column stores 46-60, and the O holds 61-75.
A dealer will count off bingo numbers as they’re randomly selected from a container, and you mark off numbers as they match the numbers on your card(s). Your goal is to mark one of three generally accepted gaming patterns in 75 ball bingo, which are:
Coverall, Full Card or Blackout – here, all numbers on the card must be marked to win.
Regular – there are 3 ways to win standard 75 ball bingo games – by a horizontal line, vertical line or diagonal line.
Four Corners – here, only four squares count, B1, B5, O1, and O5.
At the recommended bingo halls above, not only will you find these three generally-accepted winning gaming patterns, you’ll find a plethora of other “themed” patterns that make the game even more exciting and which can increase your wins.
How To Play 90 Ball Bingo
90 Ball Bingo, or “Housie” in the United Kingdom, is becoming one of the world’s most popular online bingo games. It’s the official favorite leisure activity of young women between the ages of 20 to 25 years of age in the U.K., and has officially reached “craze” levels since its introduction in 2005.
You can join the craze by joining any one of the online bingo halls that we’ve recommended above. We’ve meticulously researched each of these bingo halls, and they’ve passed our rigorous tests of reputation, integrity and pure, unadulterated joy.
One of the great things about 90 Ball Bingo is that each game offers multiple prizes for each pattern. For example, 90 Ball Bingo has a prize for one horizontal line and another prize for two horizontal lines. The biggest prize is reserved for the full house – i.e. all of the numbers on your bingo card.
So how do you play 90 Ball Bingo? The game starts with players buying their bingo cards, which consists of numbers spread out across three rows. On each of the rows, five of the nine spaces have numbers on them, while four of the spaces are blank, and numbers range from 1 to 90.
The first column contains numbers from one to 10, the 2nd has numbers from 11 to 20, the 3rd has 21 to 30, and so on until the last, ninth column. The dealer begins by drawing numbers randomly from a container, calling the numbers out as he/she goes, and players mark each number called if it appears on their cards.
The first player who completes any of the three established patterns, either one line, two line or full house – shout out “Bingo!” to indicate a win, which the dealer confirms. Once confirmed, a new game begins.
Despite having more numbers, 90 Ball Bingo actually simpler than 75 Ball Bingo, which has many more complicated patterns.
Bingo Number Tracking
There’s a school of thought that in bingo, a player can determine which numbers are more likely to be drawn, similar to card counting techniques in blackjack. The theory is that numbers that haven’t been called (as recorded across a number of bingo rounds) are more likely to be drawn since because they’re “due”.
I visited several online bingo sites, such as the ones that we’ve recommended above, to test the theory out and see if bingo number tracking can give me an advantage when playing. Didn’t even have to purchase anything, since I was able to play bingo for free at these sites. Just signed up and away I went. As a little side note, I was pretty amazed at the sheer variety of bingo games that I could play for free, which made my “research” all the more fun and exciting.
So, post-research, does bingo number tracking work?
As ‘logical’ as this might seem on the surface, there are a couple of flaws with this strategy. : first of all, real-life probabilities cannot be gleaned from a relatively small number of game rounds. Real sample size in statistics represents an immense volume of data. Simply put, the results collected across a small number of games are inherently inconclusive. They have no more weight in statistical credibility than assigning random probabilities to bingo numbers.
Online bingo software developers know this – and that’s exactly why the software used for bingo games online takes advantage of an RNG (random number generator), which are fool-proof algorithms that produce random numbers in fair distribution.
So, in my experience, bingo number tracking does not work in the real world. You would have to play and record numbers for days on end in order to get a statistical sample large enough to identify a probability pattern – and most bingo games don’t last that long.
Come to think of it – I don’t want the unfair advantage when playing bingo. I like the fact that the game is inherently 100% random – it levels the playing field, as flaws don’t exist that can be exploited. I can win the game, or one of my ‘roomies’ can win it just as easily. I like feeling like I’m part of a friendly community playing bingo online, and have made many new friends at the online bingo halls above. Personally, that’s enough for me – and that’s why I stay in this game.
