Bingo Glossary
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Admission - To be eligible to enter a bingo hall
and/or participate in a bingo game.
Admission Packet - A minimum number of cards
that you must purchase as the price of
admission. Typically you must purchase an
Admission Packet, which usually contains three
to six card for every regular game, and may also
contain some special games. Exactly what is part
of the Admission Packet varies from hall to
hall.
After Game - The game played after the end of a
regular session of play.
Ball Gate - Part of the ball dispensing machine,
the one-way flap at the top of the 'ball runway'
which the ball passes under to enter the main
playfield area.
Ball Lifter - The mechanism used to raise the
ball from beneath the playfield to the 'ball
shooter' tip.
Ball Runway - The channel where the ball is
launched up by the ball shooter to enter the
main playfield area.
Ball Shooter - The spring loaded plunger with a
rubber tip used to launch the ball into the
playfield area.
Basket Bingo - Bingo game where "basket" prizes
are given. (See here for details and rules)
Bingo Board - A display board, usually
electronic that lights up showing each number as
it is called.
Bingo Books/Booklets - A number of different
colored bingo sheets/cards bound together to
form a book/booklet to be played one for each
game at a bingo session. They are usually bound
in the order in which they will be played.
Bingo Card - A card containing 24 numbered
spaces and one free space (blank), with which
you play BINGO. The numbers are assigned at
random on each card and are arranged in five
columns of five numbers each by five rows (5 x 5
= 25 in total including the blank square). The
numbers in the B column are between 1 and 15, in
the I column between 16 and 30, in the N column
(containing four numbers and the free space)
between 31 and 45, in the G column between 46
and 60, and in the O column between 61 and 75.
Players have thousands of unique (unduplicated)
cards to choose from. Some manufacturers print
unduplicated series of 6,000 cards. There are
also series of 9,000 cards available. Hard cards
and Flimsy cards have a series number printed on
them. For example, card number 1252 will always
have the same numbers in the same spaces.
Bingo Marker - A crayon or ink dauber that is
used to cover the numbers on a bingo game card.
Blackout - (Also, Coverall) A pattern where you
must cover the whole card to win. Usually 50 to
60 of the 75 bingo numbers have to be called to
cover all the numbers on a card. But blackouts
in as few as 43 numbers have been recorded.
Blower - A forced-air device that mixes the
bingo balls and dispenses them to the caller who
announces the number and displays it on a bingo
board.
Bonanza Bingo - A progressive coverall Jackpot
that is usually played as the 13th game of the
session. Forty-five numbers are drawn before the
session and players mark them on separate cards
and set aside. There is an additional fee to
play this game, usually $1. The countdown begins
at 48 numbers or less and go up one number per
week to 52 numbers or until won. The amount of
the jackpot is determined by card sales for that
game.
Breakopen - A multi-ply card, made completely
from paper or paper products, with perforated
breakopen tab or tabs. The game play area of the
card is covered to conceal a number(s),
letter(s) and/or symbol(s); some of which have
been designated in advance as prize winners.
Buy-in - Buying bingo cards or an Admission
Packet (see above). Converting cash into bingo
cards.
Caller - The person who calls out the bingo
numbers as they are drawn.
Cash-In-Prize - A form of bingo where the prize
is a cash payout. This is taken from the money
paid in.
Casino Night (Also, Vegas Night) - An event held
for a specific period of time (generally
beginning in the afternoon and ending by
midnight) during which a qualified organization
is entitled to hold casino-style gaming events.
Games conducted include: Pulltabs, bingo,
roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, gin rummy,
five card stud poker, and merchandise wheels.
Chat Room - A handy monitor or screen where you
can read and exchange messages with other
players.
Consolation Prize - The prize or prizes offered
on some special games if there is no winner in a
predetermined number of calls.
Coverall - (Also Blackout) A pattern where you
must cover the whole card to win.
Dauber - Bingo dauber is ink-filled bottle/pen
with a foam tip on it used to mark called
numbers. When you touch the bingo card with the
foam tip it marks the square. (See picture
above)
Early Bird Game - A bingo game that starts
earlier than another regularly scheduled game.
But sometimes the Early Bird game is merely the
first game of the session. The first game of a
session is more commonly known as a Warm Up.
Face - Is the individual bingo sheet containing
24 numbers plus the free space in the middle.
Flimsy, Flimsies - Bingo cards printed on thin
sheets of paper. There are usually three cards
printed on a single sheet but flimsies are also
printed in one, two, four, six or 9-card
formats. Typically a flimsy sheet costs one or
two dollars and a win on a flimsy on a special
game usually pays quite a bit more than a win on
a regular game. Also called 'Throwaways' in some
areas.
Four Corners - A pattern where you must cover
the corner numbers of the card. If you get those
four numbers, you win.
Free Space - The center square of the card,
which does not have a number assigned to it.
It's like a Joker or a Wild square. You get it
free every game and it counts towards your
winning pattern.
Game Board, Gameboard - An electronic display
that is attached to the bingo board to show the
pattern needed to win that particular game. It
looks like a bingo card and shows what variation
of bingo you are playing on that particular game
on the program. For example: four corners,
chevron, regular, blackout, etc.
Game Room - Some online games divide the players
into game rooms.
G.T.I., T.E.D. - An electronic dauber system
used to play multiple packs at once. These
usually require a rental fee and only one is
allowed per player.
Hard Card - A bingo card printed on heavy
cardboard material usually with shutters to
cover each number as it is called out.
Hardway Bingo (Hard-way Bingo) - Bingo in a
straight line without the use of the free space.
House - A casino or gambling center/centre or a
gambling hall/property. Also the property owners
or the operators of a gambling game, such as
Bingo.
Inlaid Card - A pre-printed card, usually in 4x4
format laid into a table, and black discs are
used to cover the numbers as they are called
out.
Instant Bingo - A breakopen ticket which
contains the letters B I N G O, bingo card
faces, bingo numbers, and no other symbols.
Winning tickets may incorporate letters spelling
the word B-I-N-G-O, or contain a complete
pre-designated bingo pattern, i.e., vertical,
horizontal, or diagonal line.
Jackpot - A big prize usually awarded for
achieving a difficult pattern, such as a
blackout, within a specified number of balls.
Late Night Bingo (Also, Moonlight Bingo)
-
Session of bingo that starts late at night,
usually about 10:00 pm.
Lucky Jar (or Cookie Jar) - A container with
cash. You win the contents of the lucky jar if
you bingo on the lucky number. The lucky number
is usually the first number called at the
beginning of a session. Money is added to the
jar every time the lucky number is called or if
the caller makes a mistake in announcing the
game. Usually you can win the lucky jar only on
regular games. There is no lucky number in play
on special throw-away games.
Main Stage Bingo - The main event of a session
of bingo, and the one said to draw the most
customers.
Minimum Buy-in - The least amount you must spend
to be eligible for prizes.
Moonlight Bingo - Session of bingo that starts
late at night, usually about 10:00 pm.
Money Ball - A number drawn before the game that
will double a player's winnings if bingo is hit
on that number.
Multiple Winners - Two or more players bingo at
the same time. When this happens, the cash prize
is divided among them. For example, if there are
five winners on a $500 game, they each receive
$100.
Mushroom - A group of bingo displays which takes
its name from its shape - it has a narrow
tubular base, and a wider head with the
machinery used to play the game and collect
money from players. Customers sit around the
mushroom to play, and there are usually 6 to 8
positions at each.
On - A player is said to be On when one or more
cards they are playing lacks only one number for
a bingo.
On The Way - The game played on the way to the
blackout game. It is played prior to the
blackout on the same card. First the preliminary
game(s) are played and then more numbers are
called until there is a blackout.
Pattern - The shape you need to cover on your
card with called out numbers, usually it is in a
straight line; horizontal, vertical and
diagonal. See here examples of bingo patterns
(link opens new window).
Parti - Short for participation bingo, a type of
slot bingo or cash bingo where the prize is cash
and depends on the number of players, since the
cash prize is at least 50% of the money paid in.
The most common boards used for parti bingo are
inlaid cards and hand-held shutter boards.
Payout - The percentage of sales paid out by the
House. The average payout among all bingo halls
is approximately 75 percent. This compares with
a payout of approximately 45 percent on state
lottery games.
Postage Stamp Pattern - Matching four numbers to
form a postage stamp (a 2 x 2 grid) in any of
the four corners.
Prize Bingo - Until recently, this game was only
played for a set prize or vouchers. Recent
changes in UK law mean that now the prize may be
cash of up to £15.
Progressive Jackpot - A Jackpot that gets bigger
until it is won. It builds daily, weekly, or
monthly if it is not won in a specific number of
calls. If there is no winner in X number of
calls, consolation prize(s) of lesser dollar
amounts are paid. Different variations of
progressive games add dollars or numbers, or
both, to the jackpot. There is usually a
separate buy-in for Progressive Jackpot games.
Quickie - Numbers are called as quickly as
possible & the card must be full to win Bingo.
Rainbow Pack - A paper pack that allows players
to play for three or four different prize
denominations at once.
Reno Night - An evening of casino games like
blackjack and roulette. These are sometimes held
in bingo halls but more often in restaurants and
hotels, Eagles & Elks clubs and other fraternal
organizations.
RNG - Random Number Generator; the machine used
to pick the numbers for a game of bingo. Most
are electronic.
Serial Number - The minimum five-character
number printed by a manufacturer on each set of
charity game tickets/cards. Each ticket in a set
contains the same serial number.
Series - Indicates the number of unique faces
that a single set will contain. For example: a
9000 Series has 9000 unique faces.
Session - An entire evening or daytime program
of bingo consisting of regular games usually
played on hard cards and special games played on
throwaways, flimsies or paper sheets. A session
usually lasts somewhere between two and a half
hours and three hours and 15 minutes.
Shutter Board - A hand-held re-usable plastic
board with pre-printed numbers, usually in a 4x4
format. These numbers are marked off by closing
shutters over them.
Six-pack, Nine-pack - Six or nine numbers in a
block on one card.
Special - Games that usually are played with a
different set of cards than the pack purchased
at admission.
Speed Bingo - A variation of regular bingo.
Numbers are called very quickly and you can
bingo in as few as three numbers. Usually played
before or after a regular session.
Speedgame, Speed Game - A coverall that is
called very quickly. It is sold as a special
game one card at a time.
Split Pot - A bingo game in which the winner
splits the sales of the game (the pot) with the
bingo hall or House. For example, the winner
might get 60 percent of the sales and the house
would keep forty percent.
Table Board Bingo - Table Board Bingo is a
lottery scheme where players purchase the Table
Board card and win prizes by being the first to
complete specified arrangements or patterns of
numbers on the Table Board Bingo device from
numbers selected at random. A Table Board Bingo
event can be held in conjunction with a Regular
Bingo event and where the Table Board Bingo
prizes are in addition to the maximum Regular
Bingo prize board.
Throwaways - See Flimsies above.
Tickets - These are printed pages on which the
main stage bingo is played. They are laid out in
grids, and normally come in books. Some tickets
have bar-codes which describe the numbers on
them and are used to help check claims.
Validation - Eligibility required to win
additional jackpot amounts. Price varies by
number of cards played.
Vegas Night - See Casino Night, above.
VFW or V.F.W. - Veterans of Foreign Wars (re:
Bingo Halls)
Wild Number - Usually played on a double bingo
that leads into a triple bingo. The first number
out of the hopper determines the wild number;
for example, if 42 is drawn, all numbers ending
in 2 should be marked off.
Wrap Up - The name of the last game of a
session.
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