The Bingo game is usually held in spacious halls and is attended by a large number of people. Of course, nowadays it can be played online as well. Although there are many variants of the game, the rules are similar and very simple. In the beginning, all the players are to buy cards with numbers. The cards actually, are matrixes filled with random numbers, commonly in the range of 1 to 75, or to 90, depending on the variant of the game played. Each card contains 5 rows and 5 columns. At the top of the card it is written BINGO, so that each column has lettering. For instance, the first column is B, the second is I etc. The first column – B, can contain the numbers from 1 to 15, the second column – I, the numbers from 16 to 30, the third column – N, the numbers from 31 to 45, the fourth column – G, the numbers from 46 to 60, the fifth column – O, the numbers from 61 to 76. The cell in the middle – 3, is called free or Free Space. Thus, 24 out of 25 cells have unique numbers.
In the game a lototron and balls with numbers are involved as well. Lototron is a device used for mixing the balls in its drum and drawing (selecting) the winning numbers. In online games, random bingo numbers generators are used. Players may begin playing bingo after they buy bingo card/s (they are also called tickets). They are allowed to purchase as many as they want. In order to increase their winning chances, many players buy more bingo cards and play them simultaneously. Especially experienced players are able to control many cards – some of them even 30! But you need to be sure and buy as many cards as you can control, otherwise it does not make any sense. Players do not play against the casino but against all other players involved.
The caller usually announces: “Eyes down” in order to capture the attention and to show that he is going to announce the numbers right away. Then the winning numbers are drawn and are to be called out by a caller. Players need to mark these numbers on their cards. For this purpose, bingo daubers may be used since you may find them in different colors and some of them can even glow in the dark. Daubers are very useful, especially if you play with several cards. The winner (the Bingo prize holder) is the player who first fills one of the card lines or builds a special pattern. When this happens, the player is to raise his hand and shout “Bingo”. In order to keep the game interesting, the owners of bingo rooms change the patterns regularly.