Archive for the ‘Game Types’ Category
Posted on April 2, 2011 - by admin
The Game of Bingo in the UK
Today, bingo is a very popular form of entertainment for residents of the United Kingdom. While the game has been present in the country for many years now, it has evolved into the current game we all know and enjoy participating in. Previous names for this fun-filled game include lotto and housey housey, the term still used in Australia today.
The version of bingo that is most often played in the United Kingdom is known as European bingo or 90 ball bingo. This is different than the American version of the game which has also been dubbed 75 ball bingo. The format of the bingo cards is different in the two versions of the game. The bingo card or ticket as it’s more commonly known contains a total of twenty seven spaces. The spaces are created from a grid containing three rows and nine columns. You would think that all of the spaces contain numbers. However, this is not the case. Only five of the nine spaces within each row actually have numbers found within them. You might wonder what is found in the other four remaining spaces of the row. Actually nothing is printed in these squares, they are simply left blank. With 90 balls in the hopper to be drawn from, the highest number on the bingo ticket would be ninety.
A selected number is drawn either from a ball within a hopper or generated by an electronic device. This number is then announced to the participants of the bingo game who begin their first move. This trend continues until someone has been able to cover the needed pattern on their bingo card. This person after verification would be declared the winner. That round of bingo would conclude.
The pattern created on the bingo ticket may be one of three popular ones used in 90 ball bingo. The most used is a line. Here the player is able to successfully cover all five squares in one of their three rows. Once a player completes a line and wins the bingo game, the ticket is not discarded. It is used for another round of bingo where the player must complete two complete rows. It will be used for a third and final time to get what is called a full house. This means all of the spaces on the bingo card are covered.
Posted on December 26, 2010 - by admin
The Difference between 75 Ball and 90 Ball Bingo
Bingo has two common variants, the 75 ball Bingo (that is popular in the US) and the 90 ball Bingo (that one can commonly see in the UK and other European countries).
The 75 ball version has 75 numbers called in 5 columns with 15 numbers. Every column is said to represent the characters of the word ‘bingo’. These five characters are found at the top of the Bingo ticket. The 75 ball version usually has cards with 25 squares, five down and five across. The card has numbers that have been selected randomly in between 1 & 75. Every card generally comes with its own identification code.
The 90 ball version is also played using cards, and these cards are often referred to as ‘tickets’. These are normally available in packs of six (cards), and each ticket has 9 columns and 3 rows. Each ‘six pack’ (card) has the 90 numbers distributed amidst the 6 tickets. Every row has 9 squares, and while 5 of these squares have numbers in between 1 & 90, the other 4 spaces are blank. Every time a game is played, numbers in between 1 & 90 are called and the player then daubs the numbers on the tickets.
The 75 ball version requires the players to achieve any previously decided on pattern. There are over 6000 different pattern combinations in 75 ball Bingo, and these include ‘four comers’ and ‘blackout’.
The 90 ball version has 3 winning patterns, through one, two, or three, horizontal lines, wherein each pattern would hold a different prize. The game would continue after the different lines have been won until someone gets a ‘full house’.