Bingo Strategy

Bingo Strategy is very important in allowing you to understand how bingo is played 
Each bingo game card has 24 different preprinted numbers with a free spot in the center. Bingo game cards come in two forms, disposable paper sheets and hard permanent bingo cards. The paper bingo cards are marked with a special marker called a bingo blotter and are thrown away at the end of each bingo game. Permanent bingo cards have little shutters or windows that can be slid over top of a number when it is called. These shutters are simply retracted at the end of each bingo game and the bingo card is reused. The only real difference in reference to the game is that while the numbers on a permanent bingo card remain the same, disposable bingo cards will have new numbers each time. Bingo players are given the option of playing more than one bingo card at a time at an additional cost. 

Each column on a bingo card starts with one of the letters in the word BINGO. The column letters are used to group and more easily identify the numbers contained in each column below. 

column      numbers                       contained number range 
   B                  five                                     01-15 
   I                   five                                     16-30 
   N                 four, because the center
                          spot is always free           31-45 
   G                 five                                     46-60 
   O                 five                                     61-75 

Bingo games are played out in many patterns, the most basic being a straight line in any direction: vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Other patterns include the four corners of the bingo board, or shapes such as the letter T. A coverall bingo game is one in which bingo players win when all of the numbers on their bingo card have been selected. The bingo caller will announce the selected pattern for each bingo game before it starts. 

There are 75 lightweight bingo balls, each printed with one of the letter/number combinations. They are encased in either a ball cage or a glass blower where they can be spun around to ensure that each pick is random and fair. Some gaming houses may forgo this process and use a computerized random bingo number generator. After a bingo ball is selected, its number is announced by the bingo caller and displayed on an electronic board for all of the bingo players to see. The bingo caller then places these called bingo balls into a separate tray to ensure that they will not be selected again. 

This process of selecting and calling bingo balls is repeated until one or more bingo players cover the selected pattern for that bingo game and shout out, "Bingo!" A floor person or checker is then responsible for verifying that the pattern is correct and that the numbers on the bingo card match the numbers that have been called. If these numbers correspond, then the bingo game is closed and the winner is declared and the prize is paid out. If more than one bingo player has won, the prize money is split up into equal parts.