As with any game bingo too has its own set of terms that are commonly used. In this article I will attempt to familiarize you with the common bingo terms you are inevitably going to encounter.
One player: When a player is one number away from winning.
Bingo board: This is the board that displays a random set of numbers, instead of the numbers being called out. This board is usually very large so everyone playing the game can easily view it.
Buy in and minimum buy in: The minimum number of cards that qualify you as a player of the game. The buy in varies with each game. Minimum buy-in is the least amount of money that you will need to spend if you want to enter the game and be counted among one of the contenders for the prize up for grabs.
Caller: This person is an important part of the game however he or she does not play the game. The caller is a person that calls out the numbers as the numbered are drawn.
Coverall: This type of bingo game requires that all the numbers on the bingo card be covered in order to win. This type of bingo is not commonly played.
Dauber: In order to mark the numbers on the bingo card easily a pen with a thick foam tip is used. This pen is called a dauber and is thick enough to mark the whole number easily.
Bingo booklet: This bingo booklet has a number of sheets depending on the game. Each sheet is a different color. These sheets are organized in sequence in which the game will be played.
Six-pack and nine-pack: The number of numbers on a bingo card during a specific game.
Wrap up: This usually means the end of a game. Bingo is played at many times of the day and for each time there is a specific name for example: moonlight bingo which commences with the moon is seen. And the early bird game that starts very early in the morning.
Bingo terminology is fairly easy to pickup as with any other game in bingo you will have to utilize these terms in order to be a respected player. A learner you might forget or substitute the term for another word. But that’s ok as long as you have fun and make lots of friends in the process.
By: Andrew Fullard
Most people know how to play the game of bingo, after all it’s a game that many of us either played as kids or learned to enjoy in later life. The idea of the game is quite simple: every player is given a bingo card (sometimes known as a “bingo board” or “bingo sheet”), each of the squares contains an item (traditionally a number), and players tick off squares when the corresponding items are called out by the bingo caller. The objective of the game is to be the first player to get a continuous line of items diagonally, vertically or horizontally across the card, and then claim the win by calling out “Bingo!”.
As already mentioned, in traditional versions of bingo, the items in the squares of the bingo card are numbers. Today however many variations of the standard game have also become popular, and in these variants, words, phrases, dates, times or even math problems can be used for hte items on the cards.
- Holiday versions of bingo are increasingly popular. Bingo is a great activity for family and community events since people of all ages can play together. In holiday variants of the game, words or phrases relating to the particular holiday are used, so words like “Advent” or “Santa Claus” in a Christmas game, or “Revolution” or “George Washington” in an Independence Day game.
- Bingo games with words and phrases are popular in K-12, English as Second Language (ESL) and foreign language teaching. They’re a fun way for students to practice word recognition, reading and spelling.
- Bingo cards can also be printed with math problems. They’re good way to practice multiplication tables (”times tables”) as well as arithmetic. Students are required to write in the correct answers to problems as they are called out, rather than simply ticking items off their cards.
In order to play most of these variants of the game, you will of course need bingo cards containing items relating to your chosen theme. Obtaining preprinted cards can be difficult – even if you can find somewhere to buy them, they can be expensive and may not contain the exact items that you want. Preparing bingo cards by hand is possible, but very time consuming! The best answer is to get your computer to do the work – with the right bingo card maker software you can print custom bingo cards with consummate ease.
By: Sunil Tanna
Bingo supplies depend on the type of business being run. And what level of pomp you want to put into the event. While there are those who just plan to have a fun night of bingo as a fundraiser, and one who makes bingo as there source of living. Bingo is a game that evolves before those who play this game are the elders. But now all can play such game not just mere play but also it’s being used as a teaching tool. Like in any game bingo also requires supplies that are critical to a brick and mortar bingo game.
For the “pros” they call it “tickets”. Plainly it’s what we call cards. There are variations Bingo cards depending on the bingo being played like in the 75 ball bingo we utilize on 5×5 cards, while on the 90 ball bingo we use the 9×3 cards. Some cards are purchased by the players with a covering that is only broken by the players. These cards may be purchased by players individually or in packages. Cards for pre called games and some progressive games are sealed.
The most varied bingo supplies are the markers are. For those who play bingo for charity fundraisers use simple market. While smaller games such as those used for charity fundraisers may use simple markers such as chips. The disadvantage to chips is that they are unstable and a player may believe they have won when actually someone bumped the table and slid their marker.
By: Mariecor Gumban
