How to Play Bingo: A Beginner’s Guide

What Is Bingo?

Bingo is a game of chance played with printed cards and randomly drawn numbers. Each player holds one or more cards covered in numbers. A caller (or, online, a random number generator) draws numbers one at a time, and players mark any called number that appears on their card. The first player to complete the pattern announced for that game calls out "Bingo!" and wins the round.

That is really all there is to how to play bingo. There are no moves to plan and no opponents to read. Your only jobs are to mark the numbers correctly and to notice when your card is complete. In India many people know the same idea as Tambola or Housie, the version played at family gatherings, club nights and festivals, where the caller reads out numbers and players race for lines and a full house.

Bingo rules vary a little between halls, apps and countries, mainly in the size of the card, the range of numbers and the patterns that win. The next sections cover the two formats you are most likely to meet.

Cards and Numbers

A bingo card (called a ticket in 90-ball games) is a grid of numbers. No two cards in a game are the same, so every player is waiting for a different set of numbers. Buying or holding more cards means more chances to complete a pattern, but also more numbers to watch and, in paid games, a higher cost per round.

Numbers are drawn without repeats: once a number is called it cannot come up again in that game. In a hall, numbered balls are drawn from a machine. In online bingo, software draws them and usually marks your card for you automatically (often called auto daub). On paper you mark numbers with a dauber pen or a pencil.

Callers in traditional games often add a short rhyme or nickname to each number, such as "two little ducks, 22" or "legs eleven". It is part of the fun in a hall and in Tambola, but the number itself is all that counts.

75-Ball and 90-Ball Formats

The two most common bingo game rules are built around the number of balls in the draw.

75-Ball Bingo

A 75-ball card is a 5 by 5 grid with the letters B, I, N, G and O across the top. Each column draws from its own range: B holds 1 to 15, I holds 16 to 30, N holds 31 to 45, G holds 46 to 60 and O holds 61 to 75. The centre square is a free space, marked from the start. Calls are given with the letter, for example "N 38", so you know which column to check. 75-ball games are known for using many different patterns.

90-Ball Bingo

A 90-ball ticket has 3 rows and 9 columns. Each row holds 5 numbers and 4 blank squares, so a ticket carries 15 numbers. The first column holds 1 to 9, the second 10 to 19, and so on up to the last column, which holds 80 to 90. Tickets are often sold in strips of six that together cover all 90 numbers. A 90-ball game usually pays out in stages: one line, then two lines, then a full house.

Tambola and Housie follow the 90-ball layout, with extra prizes such as early five and top, middle or bottom line. Other variants exist, such as 80-ball and 30-ball speed games, but the rules always appear on the game screen or ticket before you play.

How a Round Works

1. Get your cards. Pick how many cards you want for the round. In a paid game, check the cost per card first.
2. Check the pattern. The game shows which pattern wins this round, and sometimes several prizes in order.
3. Numbers are called. One number at a time, at random, without repeats.
4. Mark your card. Mark each called number that appears on any of your cards. Online, auto daub usually does this for you.
5. Claim the win. When your marked numbers complete the pattern, call "Bingo!" in a hall. Online games usually detect and confirm the win automatically.
6. Check and pay. The caller or software checks the card against the called numbers. If two players complete the pattern on the same call, the prize is usually shared.

How to play bingo online follows the same steps. The difference is speed and automation, which Bingo Online: How It Works explains in more detail.

Winning Patterns

The pattern decides what counts as a finished card, so read it before the first number is called.

• One line. A full row (in 75-ball also a column or a diagonal).
• Two lines. Any two complete rows on a 90-ball ticket.
• Full house or blackout. Every number on the card marked.
• Four corners. The four corner squares of a 75-ball card.
• Shapes. Letters, crosses, frames or pictures on a 75-ball card, shown on screen before the round.
• Early five. In Tambola, the first five numbers marked anywhere on the ticket.

No pattern or bingo strategy changes the draw. Every number has the same chance of being called, and past games say nothing about the next one. Holding more cards raises your chance of completing a pattern, but in a paid game it also raises the amount you spend.

Worked Example

Here is a short 75-ball example. Your card has these numbers (FREE is the centre space):

The pattern for this round is one line in any direction. The caller draws B 12, G 60, I 27, O 71, N 41 and then G 55.

• B 12: on your card, middle row. Mark it.
• G 60: not on your card.
• I 27: middle row. Mark it.
• O 71: middle row. Mark it.
• N 41: not on your card (your N column has 33, 40, 36 and 44).
• G 55: middle row. Mark it.

Your middle row now reads 12, 27, FREE, 55 and 71, all marked. Because the free space counts, you needed only four numbers for that line. That is a bingo. In a 90-ball game the same logic applies: you would need all five numbers of one row for the first prize, then a second row, then all fifteen for the full house.

Playing Bingo on Your Phone

Bingo is one of the games inside the Bingo 101 app for Android, which also carries slots, card and table games, crash and fishing games, 216 games in 6 categories on the live site. Rules, card prices and patterns for any bingo room are shown on its game screen, so read them there before you join a round. Games in the app are played with real money, and players must be 18 or over.

If you are deciding where to play, Best Free Bingo Games Online: What to Compare explains what "free" usually means, and Bingo Apps: Compare Devices and Download Options covers Android, iPhone and download sources.