If you live in the United States
or Canada, 75 Ball Bingo is the most popular Bingo game in town. Its most likely that you're familiar with the game already: it uses a card with five vertical
rows and five horizontal rows and displays the letters B-I-N-G-O prominently
on top.
It's called 75 Ball Bingo because
75 numbers (1-75) is the maximum quantity of numbers that can be called
in the game.
The 5x5 Bingo card actually
has only 24 spaces and one free (blank) space. Random numbers are assigned
vertically under each letter. For example, five numbers between 1 to
15 are assigned under Column B, between 15 to 30 under Column I, between
31 to 45 under Column N, between 46 to 60 under Column G and between
61 to 75 under Column O. The dealer calls them out as a combination,
e.g., “B2” or “N42” or “O74”.
Players mark each
number called on their cards. The object of the game is to mark the
numbers that form a pre-agreed Bingo pattern.
The first player
who completes the pattern shouts out “Bingo!” to indicate that he has
won the game. The dealer confirms the numbers on his card. Once the
win is confirmed, a new game begins.
There are hundreds of possible
patterns in 75 Ball Bingo. Among the most popular ones are a single
line with five numbers that can be arranged vertically, horizontally
or diagonally; a square; the number ‘8’; the letter “F”; the letter
“E,” the letter “O” and a host of other patterns.
The most popular pattern is
the “coverall” where all squares of the Bingo card should be covered.
It is also the type of game which has the biggest cash prizes.
Compared to 90
Ball Bingo, the Bingo games that’s popular in the UK and Australia,
75 Ball Bingo is faster and the patterns are easier to complete. 90
Ball Bingo has only three horizontal lines and nine vertical lines and
the object of the game is mark off one, two or three of these horizontal
lines, and that makes it a more difficult game.
Overall, both games have their own unique
allure for the players. But there’s no denying that 90 Ball Bingo is
an absolute craze in the UK.
However, it’s actually a player’s
geographical location more than anything else that dictates which type
of Bingo they prefer.
