[ Bingo Rules ] [ Bingo Glossary ] [History] [ Live Bingo Games ] [ Home ]

How to Play Bingo

Bingo is an exciting game of chance that is played in halls around the world and now can be played on the Internet. Players are given 5 x 5 Bingo cards at the beginning of the game, these cards are either printed or shown electronically. The word Bingo is written on the top of each card and the card has random numbers on it. Numbers are drawn during the game by a Bingo Caller and the first person to have a specific Bingo pattern yells “BINGO”.

The caller randomly draws numbers and announces them to the players, during game players mark the drawn number on their card. Players agree on what the winning Bingo patterns are before the game. The most common Bingo patterns are one line, two lines and a full house. Other common patterns are single line, two lines, the four corners, centre cross, L, T, Y, postage stamp (2x2 and in a corner) inner square (4 × 4), roving square (3 × 3), and roving kite (a 3 × 3 diamond). Many Bingo halls invent their own winning Bingo patterns to keep the game interesting.

A proper Bingo card will have random numbers from one to 75 occupying 24 of the 25 squares on the board. The middle square is reserved for the Free Space area of the card. Many Bingo halls print a serial number on the card, this makes verifying winners a much easier task.

In addition to being a game used to gamble, many teachers use the game of Bingo as a way to teach their students spelling and math problems. Like many gambling games, Bingo found a home on the Internet, especially with the growth of games like online poker. The amount of luck and randomness in the game allows for a relatively smooth transition from the Bingo hall to the online gambling world. Many online Bingo sites have a great element of community through chat and forum discussions. Bingo is bring more women into the online gambling world, studies show that women from 20-to-25-years-of-age are more likely to play online Bingo compared other games like poker.

Play Online Bingo for yourself at one of Bingo Queen’s featured sites