From its inception in 1530, bingo has continued to be played around the world, with a large pool of players hailing from both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Although decreasing in popularity over the past couple of decades in the UK, there are still over 250 bingo halls nationwide, with the opportunity to now play online which gives bingo fans the flexibility to play the game they love from anywhere.
In this blog, we talk through the four main forms of bingo.
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90-Ball Bingo
90-Ball bingo is the most popular form of bingo in the UK. This form of bingo includes a 3×9 card grid with 15 numbers, leaving 12 spaces unoccupied. If you’re playing online bingo, it’ll be an interactive virtual card displayed on your screen. To win, players need to cover specific patterns.
These patterns include:
- One line – cover all numbers in any single row.
- Two lines – cover all numbers in any two rows on the same card.
- Full House – cover all 15 numbers on your card.
The numbers are spread across nine columns, with the first column featuring numbers one through to 10, the second column featuring numbers 11 through 20, and so on and so forth. A random bingo number generator will select and announce numbers from one to 90, and when a number on your card is called, you use a dauber or a marker to cover it.
Keep an eye out for patterns to ensure you know when you’ve won, and if you manage to cover all 15 numbers on your card, that’s when you can yell out ‘BINGO!’ and claim the big prize. To read more about 90-ball bingo, see our previous blog here.
75-Ball Bingo
This form of bingo is a variation of the traditional 90-ball bingo and is most widely played in the US. In this variant, the grid is instead a nice square 5×5 grid, with 24 spaces occupied by a number and the middle space left free.
The first column features numbers one through to 15, the second columns features numbers 16-30, and so on. There are more patterns to spot in this edition, which means the games tend to be slightly quicker than 90-ball bingo.
You can win by being the first to mark off a line either horizontally, vertically or even diagonally. The second way to win is by marking off two complete lines. The third and final way, similar to 90-ball bingo, is by marking off an entire card, known as a full house.
To read more about 75-ball bingo, see our previous blog.
80-Ball Bingo
80-ball bingo is somewhat of a fusion between that of the 90 and 75 variations with a 4×4 grid being used. As the name suggests, there are 80 numbers used in the game, with each group of 20 assigned its own colour, typically red, yellow, blue and white. In this variation, the caller will read out the colour prior to the number, so ‘blue 27’ or ‘red 73’.
The ways to win 80-ball bingo are the same as 75-ball bingo however there’s an additional way to win which is by scoring the ‘four corners’ – which is by marking all four corners on your card. Occasionally, depending on where you play, there’s also a prize should you mark the inner square of four in the middle.
To read more about 80-ball bingo, see our previous blog.
30-Ball Bingo
30-ball bingo is a way to get more games in a shorter space of time. Each ticket contains a 3×3 grid, with column one containing numbers one through 10, column two contains 11-20, and the third columns contains 21 through 30.
The difference between this game and the aforementioned three, is that the only way to win is through a full house, marking off all nine numbers on your card. The first player to win will take home the prize, unless there are multiple winners in which case the prize will be shared.
