Bingo is indeed a social game which many adore. You might have seen unfamiliar words alongside a lot of chatter upon entering a bingo hall. In order to keep up with the conversations, one has to get themselves well acquainted with some of the most obscure and widespread bingo terms.
We have compiled some of the most popular bingo terms in the following glossary in the hope of making you well versed with its terminology.
A
Admission Pack: bingo halls and some gambling venues have set a minimum number of cards which players need to purchase in order to take part in a game. Different venues have different numbers of cards in the pack. However, often there are 3 to 6 of them.
After Games: this bingo term refers to a bingo game that would start after a regular bingo session. However, this wouldn’t be a fit for online casinos as you can play bingo at any time.
Any Way: this bingo term refers to how a bingo pattern can be won. An ‘any way’ bingo pattern can be won right side up, upside down, turned to the left or turned to the right.
Auto-Daub: when you play online bingo, you can automatically have your numbers crossed off by the software, this process refers to auto-daub. Players can play the maximum number of cards without worrying that they’ll miss a number.
B
Ball-gate: this is a part of a ball machine with the purpose of passing the ball into the main field.
Ball-lifter: this function places the ball onto the shooter’s tip from the field.
Ball-runway: the passage where the ball launches up by the shooter so that it can enter the main playfield area.
Ball-shooter: a mechanism consisting of a spring-loaded plunger that is used to launch the ball into the playfield area.
Basket Bingo: a bingo game where the winners receive basket prizes instead of money.
Beano: this game was first called with the name ‘beano’ instead of bingo. This requires beans to mark out the numbers.
Bingo: this is the modern name for the game once called ‘beano’. The game where you call out ‘bingo’ once a winning pattern or line is complete.
Bingo Board: this is a display board where all the called out numbers will be displayed. Just in case someone missed a number or couldn’t hear it when it was called out could see the number on the bingo board.
Bingo Booklet: a number of different bingo cards that are bound together to form a booklet. Each card in the bingo booklet is to be played for each game at a bingo session. This is cheaper than buying the cards separately.
Bingo Card: a form of the single grid where players mark off the number that they have successfully matched in each game. For example in 75-ball bingo, it consists of 5 rows and 5 columns along with the part that reads BINGO.
Bingo Marker: a pen which marks out the numbers on the bingo card. Another name for this is ‘dauber’.
Blackout: a winning pattern where the player has to mark off every number on the bingo card. Another name used for this is ‘coverall’.
Blower: a device with an air mechanism that mixes the balls and then dispenses them to the caller who announces and displays the number on the bingo board.
Bonanza Bingo: a progressive blackout version of bingo where the caller will draw out 43 to 48 numbers. However, if there is no winner after all the numbers have been announced and displayed then the game will continue in another session later. The caller will eventually increase the number of drawn numbers with each progressing session so that they may find a winner.
Buy-In: buying bingo cards in order to play.
Buzzwords Bingo: a variant of bingo where they use buzzwords instead of numbers.
C
Caller: the person who is responsible for announcing the numbers which they draw randomly.
Callers choice: this is a variant of bingo where the caller chooses the target winning pattern.
Card: a bingo card
Cash-In Prize: bingo variant where the prize is a cash payout. This payout is a part of the total money paid in by the participants.
Consolation Prize: a prize offered on some games where there is no winner after a predetermined set of numbers have been announced.
Coverall: same as ‘Blackout’ (see above).
D
Dauber: same as ‘Bingo Marker’ (see above).
Deposits: this bingo term refers to online bingo where a player deposits money into their online account in order to purchase bingo cards and booklets.
Diagonal Line: a winning bingo pattern where the numbers from one corner to another make a diagonal line.
Diamond: a winning bingo pattern in the shape of a diamond.
E
Early Birds: a bingo game that takes place before the regular bingo session commences.
F
Face/Card: a bingo card consisting of 5 rows 5 columns with 24 numbers and a free space in the middle of the grid.
Fair and Square: a bingo game variant where all the participants have the same number of tickers/cards in order to make the game equal and fair to all those playing it.
Flimsies: also commonly famous as throwaways are bingo cards which require wafer-thin sheets of paper for printing. They are available in a group of three, six or nine. Flimsies are usually cheaper than normal bingo cards due to the material used.
Four Corners: this is a bingo winning pattern where one has to mark off the numbers on each of the four corners of the bingo card in order to win.
Free Space Number – This bingo term refers to the free space in the middle of every bingo card which doesn’t have any number on it.
Full House: same as ‘Blackout’ and ‘Coverall’ (see above).
G
Game Board: this bingo term refers to an electronic board which displays the current bingo winning pattern.
Game Room: the game room is a bingo term in association with online casinos. They tend to separate the players into different game rooms in order to manage the players who engage in one session.
G.T.I: stands for GameTech Inc. This is a company that develops its own electronic dauber system. Individual players use this to play multiple cards simultaneously.
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H
Hard Card: an old and traditional bingo card that is printed on cardboard with shutters on each number that were used to cover each number as they were called out instead of marking them off.
Hardway Bingo: another one of the winning patterns where it is not permissible for the player to use the free space in the middle of the bingo card in order to achieve the winning pattern.
House: is another bingo term that used to refer to the casino or a gambling facility, including the bingo hall.
I
Inlaid Cards; these cards are built into the bingo table you’re playing on instead of being printed on a sheet.
Instant Bingo: is a scratch card with which you play bingo instead of the normal card sheets. Instant bingo cards often have the winning pattern underneath them.
J
Jackpot: a prize bigger than the usual prizes that are given upon completion of a difficult bingo pattern such as the blackout within a predetermined number of balls.
L
Late Night Bingo: this bingo term refers to the session that starts late in the evening and proceeds until the early hours of the morning.
Lights Out: the final game at the bingo venue before closing down.
Lucky Jar: a prize that is given to you if you can guess the lucky number that was drawn out at the start of the game.
M
Main Stage Bingo: this bingo term refers to the main event of a bingo session. This event also draws the most customers.
Maximum Tickets: this is the maximum number of cards a player can buy and the number varies between casinos.
Minimum Buy-in: the minimum threshold for the number of cards one has to buy in order to be eligible for prizes.
Moneyball: this is the number that is drawn out before the beginning of a game and if some player calls bingo on this number then the casino will double their winnings.
Moonlight Bingo: same as ‘Late night bingo’ (see above).
Multiple Winners: as the name suggests this is when two or more players simultaneously call out bingo then the prize money divides equally amongst them.
N
Nine Pack: a bingo winning pattern where the player has to mark off nine numbers in the shape of a block.
O
On: a player identifies as ‘on’ if he/she is one number short of before calling out bingo.
On The Way: this bingo term refers to the game which players play before the blackout. The game is played on the same card and more numbers are called out until blackout is achieved.
P
Pattern: a predetermined shape or pattern that needs to be achieved by someone as numbers are being called by the caller. There are countless bingo patterns, to begin with, some common ones being a horizontal line, vertical and diagonal.
Payout: the money that the players receive after winning a bingo game and after the bingo operators (House) has deducted its commission.
Postage Stamp: a winning bingo pattern where the players have to mark off four numbers in a 2×2 grid in any of the four corners of the bingo card.
Pre-paid Bingo: this bingo term refers to the online casinos where the players purchase the cards and use the auto-daub function. This allows the players to play the game without being online at all times.
Progressive Jackpot: a jackpot that is on-going through multiple games without anyone being able to land the winning pattern is a predetermined number of calls. The prize gets bigger through the on-going games.
Q
Quickie: in this variant of bingo, the caller calls out the numbers much faster than usual. The players must mark off the numbers as fast as possible in order to avoid missing the numbers. Subsequently avoiding the possibility of missing a chance to call out bingo.
R
Rainbow Pack: an admission pack that includes different bingo cards that allow the players to play for three or four prize denominations simultaneously.
Random Number Generator: the software in online casinos which selects numbers in a completely random fashion so that everyone to have a fair chance.
S
Session: this bingo term refers to a bingo program that consists of different regular games.
Sheet: a paper or traditionally cardboard with a bingo grid printed on it. Each square in the grid has a number printed in it. A single sheet may include several bingo cards printed on it.
Shutter Board: same as ‘Hard Card’ (see above).
Six-Pack: a winning pattern where the player has to mark off six numbers in the form of block.
Special: this bingo term refers to a game which requires different bingo cards than usual. It also requires an extra cost than the normal admission cost for the main bingo games. A special game of bingo includes special prizes or may include a progressive jackpot.
Speed Bingo: same as ‘Quickie’ (see above).
Split Pot: a game during which the player needs to split the winning (pot) with the House e.g. a bingo hall, casino.
T
Texas Blackout: this is another variant game of bingo which is similar to blackout bingo. A lot depends on the first number. If the first number an even number then all the even numbers on your bingo card become wild (jokers). Hence, you will mark off all the even numbers. Vice versa if the first number is an odd number then all the odd numbers on your bingo card will be wild and you will mark off all the odd numbers. The game proceeds to a blackout where all the numbers on the bingo card need to be marked off.
Throwaways: same as ‘Flimsies’ (see above).
Tickets: same as ‘Bingo Card’ (see above).
W
Warm-up: this is the bingo game which takes place before the start of the normal bingo session.
Wrap up: this is the final game concluding a bingo session.
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