The American bingo guide explains everything about one of the most popular bingo variations. American bingo or 75 ball bingo is available for players both offline and online. Learn how to play it on the Internet!
Bingo is a classic game of chance with multiple variations. There are at least five different types of bingo you can play either in bingo halls or online. Among these five games, the most popular variations of bingo are British bingo which is played with 90 balls, and American bingo. In this guide, we will explain everything you need to know about American bingo or, as it is also known, 75 ball bingo.
American bingo guide
As it might be understood from its name, American bingo is the most popular bingo variation in the US. It also has many followers in Canada and some countries of Latin America and Europe. However, players from most European countries are still the biggest fans of British bingo.
What is American bingo and how to play it? Also known as 75 ball bingo, American bingo is a game of chance in which players mark off numbers on their tickets in correspondence to the numbers that are called out. If the whole pattern is covered, the player receives the prize pool.
If the game is played on the Internet, the whole process is fully automatic. No host is needed to call out the winning numbers – players see them popping up on the screen. Players don’t even need to mark off numbers by themselves at some sites as they can use the “Autoplay” button. This is one of the main benefits of playing American bingo online.
The rules of American bingo are pretty similar to other bingo games, so how is it different from other bingo types?
Peculiarities of American bingo
The main feature of American bingo is the total number of balls that are present in the game. The game is played with 75 balls numbered from 1 to 75. This is why American bingo has received its second name – 75 ball bingo. Learn more about other types of bingo from our online bingo guides for beginners.
Besides balls, American bingo has its own tickets (cards). They have a square form with 25 cells arranged on the 5×5 grid. The five columns on the ticket have the letters ‘B’, ‘I’, ‘N’, ‘G’, and ‘O’ on the top. Each cell in the grid contains a number from 1-75, except the middle cell, which is left empty. This cell is always automatically filled and counts in all games.
To win at American bingo, players must cover a certain pattern on their tickets. Patterns vary from one game to another. For example, classic 75-ball bingo games have lines, circles, or squares as winning patterns, while more exotic variations require players to mark off all numbers in the shape of letters (O, X, T, etc), numbers (7, 5, 0), bells, pyramids, arrows, and many other weird figures.
Variations of American bingo
The American bingo guide wouldn’t be full without mentioning variations of this game of chance. Although American bingo is a variation of bingo itself, it may come in many forms and types in bingo halls. Not all variations of American bingo are even similar to the original game, but they are still popular in the US. They differ by the number of players, balls, patterns on cards, rules, etc. As most of these games are not featured on online bingo sites, we will just list them below.
- U-Pick’Em bingo
- Shotgun Bingo
- Music bingo
- Electronic bingo
- Quick Shot bingo
- Bonanza bingo
- Facebook bingo
- Horse racing bingo
- Bovine bingo
- Table bingo
- Buzzword bingo
- Bingo America
