Bingo Glossary
Bingo has a lot of terms associated with it that new players may not be familiar with. This list will cover some of the most important terms.
Most games require you to purchase a certain number of cards before you can join. The price of cards varies, although it is usually relatively inexpensive to get started – online bingo games sometimes offer cards for as little as 10p each.
An electronic display board that lights up each number as it is called, allowing you to check that you have crossed off the right numbers even if you miss one as it is called.
Each card you purchase will have some rows and columns of numbers, and you must cross these off as they are called out. Depending on the kind of bingo game you are playing, the numbers will be arranged differently, and different patterns will be required to win. In 90 number bingo, for example, your card will have three rows of 9 columns.
A bingo marker is a small marker pen that you use to mark numbers as they are called out. In online games, you can click on the numbers to mark them off, or use the 'auto dab' function that most online bingo companies offer.
The person who announces the numbers as they come out. In online games, callers often serve as chat moderators, and run chat games between games of bingo.
In online bingo, there are often chat games running alongside the main bingo game. These games vary from site to site, but include games where you guess whether the last number the winner will need is even or odd, or where the person above and below the next winner will also get a prize.
A bingo rule variation where you aim to cover all the numbers on your card, instead of just a certain line or pattern. If a player wins a normal game by covering all their numbers, this is known as a 'full house'
The jackpot is the main cash prize, typically offered for getting a hard to attain pattern within a certain number of balls.
A ball drawn at the start of a session, and will offer double winnings for a player who gets 'bingo' on that number.
The progressive jackpot is a jackpot that is typically awarded to a person achieving bingo in a very small number of balls. If the progressive jackpot is not won in one game, it is rolled over to the next game, and the jackpot prize increases each time this roll over occurs.
RNG stands for 'Random Number Generator', and is used by online bingo sites to select the numbers to be crossed off instead of the ball machines seen at traditional bingo houses.
In some games, a wild number is drawn at the start. All numbers ending in the same last digit as the wild number can be crossed off – so if the wild number is 27, then anyone with 17,37, etc... can cross those numbers off their cards.
