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
I think it would be fair to say that most adults know how to play the game of bingo. This is no doubt because of the widespread popularity of the game, and the fact that the game is very easy to learn. What you may not know, is that bingo, and variations of the game of bingo are proving to be increasingly popular in educational and learning situations.
Nobody would deny that one of the challenges faced by teachers is how to get their students to engage with the subject being taught. Enjoyable classroom activities such as bingo, can be of help with this problem. Of course, an enjoyable activity serves little purpose unless it helps teach the subject – but the good news is that bingo can be adapted to teaching a variety of different school subjects.
The key step in adapting bingo to classroom use, is the introduction of custom bingo cards. As you know, in the standard game of bingo, the bingo cards are simply printed with a set of numbers. In classroom versions of the game, the cards are instead printed with words, phrase, math problems or even musical symbols (depending on the subject being taught), of the teacher’s choice. Additionally, if the teacher chooses to, he or she may also modify the rules of the game slightly. Some examples of educational bingo applications might include:
* Sight word bingo – Used in introductory reading classes: The bingo cards are printed with words that the students simply have to find (often words from the Dolch Sight Word list, or simply lists).
* Vocabulary bingo – Used in language classes: The bingo cards are printed with French, German, Italian or Spanish words, and the students must find the matching word when the teacher calls out an English word.
* Math bingo – The bingo cards are printed with math problems that the students must not only find, but also solve.
By: Sunil Tanna
