When you think of gambling you likely think about Vegas, Atlantic City, casinos, and even cards. Do you, though, think of the local VA, elementary school, or Catholic Church? If not, then maybe you should consider that not only is a Bingo a game of chance, but it is also one of the most popular kinds of gambling around. With that in mind, consider some of the basics of the game before you run off to the Wednesday night games at the local VA lodge and try to win the big jackpot.
Bingo was actually originally a European game. It was played in Italy in the 16th century and then later by the French. By the 19th century, Bingo was being played all over Europe by adults for money and by children to learn basic arithmetic. It wasn’t until the early 20th century, though, that it actually found its way to the United States, and eventually your local Catholic church’s fund raiser.
Really, perhaps the easiest thing about bingo is that all you need to pay it are the cards, bingo cages, and markers. Bingo cards should have five rows and five columns. As the numbers are called they are marked on the cards with either the markers or what are called daubers. Daubers are really the tool of choice for true bingo players. They are like stamps for marking bingo cards.
The only real strategy you will see in your typical bingo game, aside from good luck charms, are the purchase of multiple cards to increase your odds of having a winner. The only problem is that you need to make sure you keep your number of cards manageable enough so that you can always keep track of all cards on each number call.
Finally, keep in mind that bingo is completely a game of chance. You have the same odds as anyone else, or rather each of your cards does. In the end, there are no quick ways to win or secret strategies. Many people keep good luck charms with them or sitting on the bingo table near their cards, but if you do not like the idea of pure luck, then bingo is not the game for you.
So next time you are at that big Catholic fundraiser, elementary school game night, or even at your local bingo hall, keep these ideas in mind. Bingo can certainly be quite enjoyable and you can win money or prizes, but keep in mind that there is little if any skill involved. If you keep those things in mind and try to take the game for what it is then you will be able to enjoy it to the fullest amount possible.
By: Scott Hargrave
Good teachers are always on the look-out for engaging, interesting and fun educational activities to use in their classes. One such activity that is growing in popularity, is bingo. The reasons for this, are that bingo is very easy to learn and play, adaptable to almost any type of lesson, subject or student age group, and is not requiring of expensive specialist materials. In short, it’s an ideal game for use in schools, colleges and other educational situations.
When bingo is played as an educational game, one of the main differences from traditional bingo is that a different style of bingo cards are used. In traditional bingo, bingo cards containing a 5 X 5 grid of numbers are used. However, in educational versions of bingo, each item on the grid is an item specific to the subject being taught – for example the name of a country, city, mountain or river in a geography class, or the names of different plants or animals in a biology class, and so on. Bingo is suitable for use in a range of subjects across the entire curriculum, but is a particular favorite among math teachers. The most common way to play the game is to use bingo cards containing math questions – students must write in the answers to questions that come up, rather than simply tick off squares, but there are other variations too. Another idea is to use bingo cards containing numbers, and in this case, the teacher calls out math problems (or writes them on the blackboard), and the students must mark off the number which is the solution to the problem.
There’s no limit on the kinds of math classes which bingo can be used for. It’s probably fair to say that it’s most popular as a tool for encouraging practice of basic arithmetic, especially multiplication and multiplication tables. That’s not bingo’s only use though! Another popular activity is bingo using fractions or decimals – in this version students may be required to convert between different representations of the same number (e.g. marking off any of 1/2, 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, or 0.5, if the teacher calls “a half”).
To play fraction bingo, or in fact any other educational version of bingo, you will of course need the appropriate special bingo cards. Once upon a time, it wasn’t possible to get cards customized to your exact requirements, and the closest thing was preprinted cards from a specialist publisher (which were also often quite expensive). Today however you can simply print bingo cards using your computer – download some bingo card creator software, and it’s a simple job to printed as many cards as you want, whenever you want.
By: Sunil Tanna
