How to Play Bingo

Bingo is a very simple game. In fact, the very simplicity of the game is where its charm and appeal lies – and online Bingo is simpler still! However, even if you have played before at Bingo clubs, the online game has its own unique character and playing styles that you may need to know about before you start – moreover, the countless online Bingo sites feature loads of variations on the traditional game and unique idiosyncrasies that might be exclusive to particular Bingo site.

So it’s a good idea to make sure you’re familiar with all aspects of the game before you go spending your hard-earned cash.

Here at bingobonus.org.uk we’ve put together a rundown of the main game types that you’re likely to encounter. Reading this should make you a bingo expert in no time. It will only take a few minutes and could be the first step on the way to your first jackpot.

All Bingo:

Online bingo is basically identical to traditional bingo in its general structures and progress of play. Prior to the start of a game, players obtain one or more Bingo ‘tickets’ or ‘cards’. Each card contains a random selection of numbers. Presiding over the game is a caller, who announces numbers as they appear from a bingo cage. Players must rub out the numbers on thier as cards as they are called out. The game continues until a person indicates that they have completed on of the winning combinations (dependent upon the variation of game they are playing.

Online bingo uses this same structure but replaces a real-life caller with software. What makes online bingo somewhat easier to play is that most sites feature automatic marking – even if you’re a purist and prefer to mark your own the computer will always know whether you have a winning ticket – so you need never worry that you have missed a jackpot.

90 Ball

This is the version beloved of British Bingo players. Since it is the country’s standard form of the game it will be very familiar to those who have ever played in a UK Bingo hall.

90-Ball Card

At the beginning of a game, players obtain one or more Bingo ‘tickets’ or ‘cards’. 90-ball Bingo playing cards are arranged in a 9 x 3 grid. Each card contains fifteen random numbers – five on each row and four blanks. Numbers are organised in a particular manner, with the first column containing any numbers that fall between 1-9, the second column 10-19, the third 20-29 and so on up to the ninth column which contains number of between 89 and 90.

Traditionally, the game is presided over by a caller who calls out the numbers as they randomly appear

Progression of Play

75 Ball

Traditional 75-Ball Bingo is more commonly played in the US and Canada; online, however, it is as ubiquitous as the 90-ball version. This form of the game uses a card containing 25 squares arranged in a 5 x 5 grid.

80 Ball

Those of you who find 90 balls to many and 75 balls not quite enough are in luck. Somewhere in an underground research facility Bingo boffins recently devised a game that lies somewhere between the two: 80 ball bingo. At the cutting edge of the bingo universe...

At a glance:
Card layout:
Winning patterns:
Depositing Money
Side Games