How to Win at Bingo

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Bingo is an engaging game where you can win simply by having a good time with your friends. At bingo halls, food and snacks are allowed, which enhances even a 1-hour game. To boot, it’s easy to increase your chances of winning, as the game depends on how many cards you’re playing. Interested? Then continue reading for tips on how to win at bingo!

Bingo Rules

In bingo, you need to match the numbers on a card with randomly drawn numbers. Each card has a 5 by 5 grid of numbers, BINGO is printed at the top of the card. The winning patterns are usually five in a row, four corners, diagonals and blackout. Some bingo hosts, to have more fun with the game, make their own winning schemes in different forms and letters.

The host draws numbered balls, one by one. If you see the drawn number on your card, you mark it with a highlighter. And when you’ve got the winning pattern, you yell “bingo!” The host will check your card, and if everything’s right, you win! The game stops when one or a few players have gotten the winning combination. Usually, these rules apply to 75-ball bingo; 80-ball bingo has a 4 by 4 setup and in 90-ball bingo, cards have a 9 by 3 grid, each with 15 numbers on them and the rest of the squares are blank. Prizes are awarded for making one line, two lines or a blackout.

The latest trend that actually breathed new life into the game was online bingo. You can play this game at an online casino with dozens of cards each time. In some games, you’re the only player, while others are played with multiple players and the jackpot is calculated in accordance with the total number of players.

Learn How To Win at Bingo

Every bingo player has his/her own tips and tricks. Some manage to play many cards at once, while others assess the probability of winning right at the point of buying the card. So, let’s dive deeper into strategies of winning at bingo that really work!

Play With More Cards

The most popular strategy of winning at bingo is buying multiple cards; the more cards you buy, the more chances of winning. Remember, though…there’s still no guarantee of winning no matter how many cards you have. So, multiple cards can mean losing money.

Another question you may have is should you buy more expensive cards or cheaper ones? There are different views on this subject. Some players prefer more expensive cards; they believe they have a higher chance of winning. If they win, they get more valuable prizes. Meanwhile, others prefer to buy cheaper cards in bulk, thus drastically increasing the probability of winning and fun. In online bingo, you can buy up to 250 cards a game! The same goes for the announcement of winnings, which is why more and more players consider online bingo more fun.

Fewer Players – More Chances to Win

An alternative way of increasing your chances of winning is to reduce the competition. If you play with 100 other players, you’ve got 100 more chances that someone else will have the winning pattern. So, for sure, what you need to do is have as little competition as possible, as this gives you more chances to win.

With that said, longer games are more advantageous because more balls are drawn for the same number of cards that you already bought, which increases the possibility of winning one or even a few of the lines. And if you want to play longer games, you must choose a less crowded chat room or bingo hall. Divide the number of cards in total by the number of people who participate in the current game and you’ll get the odds of winning in that game. But keep in mind that some bingo halls give out jackpots based on how many cards were bought for the game. This, in turn, implies that small competition brings small rewards.

Use the Strategy

The two most renowned bingo strategies in the world are Tippett and Granville. Each requires choosing certain numbers in cards that you buy, so you must choose the bingo halls or online chat rooms where you have the option of choosing your cards or exchanging the ones that you’ve got. To successfully use the strategies described below, you’ll have to learn to scan through the cards and, instead of just getting away with random numbers, pick combinations of ones which have better odds in 30, 50, 75, 80 or 90-ball bingo games. Want to equip yourself with something more than pure luck? Then try these strategies and see how they work for you!

Granville’s Strategy

Thanks to the intellectual efforts of the renowned stock market expert Joseph Granville, now you can use a sophisticated strategy for predicting random number occurrence at bingo. It’s almost as hard to predict as sudden price deviations on the stock exchange. So Granville designed a strategy of how you can increase your chances of hitting the right number. So, let’s get to it!

You need to scan through the numbers on the card and:

• Pick odd and even numbers equally
• Make sure the number of big and small numbers is even
• Choose as many variations of numbers as possible

With that said, you’ve probably guessed that cards with a lot of similar numbers (like 9, 19, 39, 29, etc.) is not the best to pick if you want to win at bingo.

Tippett’s Theory

Statistics are not so boring when we’re talking about bingo wins! Did you know that the biggest jackpot in bingo was more than $6 million? Quite exciting and makes you want to mark off some numbers, right? But what do statistics have to do with bingo? Turns out that the British statistician Leonard H.C. Tippett created his own theory of winning at bingo! Here’s what it’s all about.

The key parameter for Tippett is the time. For example, the longer the game, the higher the probability of getting numbers closer to the middle of the sequence (let’s say with 75-ball bingo, those would be numbers around 37-38). On the contrary, for shorter games, it is better to choose cards with numbers closer to either 1 or 75.

But how can you possibly predict whether the game is going to be on the longer or on the shorter side? Basically, it turns out that special patterns, which are difficult to collect, or bingo games that require that only the “full house” wins, are surely going to be longer, while other games, in which it’s enough to collect a line of crossed out numbers, might be shorter.

US Style vs. UK Style Bingo

The difference between the US and UK style of play is simple. It’s the same as if you compare 75-ball bingo to the 90-ball version.

So, as you may have already noticed, the 75-ball game uses a card with a 5 by 5 number grid the word BINGO running across the top. It’s also worth mentioning that numbers are not chosen in a completely random fashion, and every column may contain only numbers in a certain range. A more detailed explanation is in the table below.

Meanwhile, with UK-style bingo, you would play with 90 numbers on 9 by 3 numbered card. Each column contains only a certain range of numbers, as well, with a 10 number range per one (1 to 10, 11 to 20 and so on). Cards are printed in 6-card strips, which in total make 90 numbers. So, anytime you’ve got such a strip, you’re getting them all and what’s left is to depend on your good luck!

Many players admit that it’s easier to win while playing US-style bingo, because it allows more winning patterns. What’s more, a leader might announce a few winners. Meanwhile, UK style bingo might bring a significantly bigger bank to win. Either way, it’s up to you to choose. One sure way to pick a good game is to remember to play for your own fun, not just for winning money!

Use Bonuses at Online Bingo

Doing a little research before playing bingo never hurts. You can find many types of bingo, but which one works the best for you? Which one is the best for you as a player? Read some articles about strategies and specialties of each type of bingo and you’ll understand more about how you can please yourself with real winnings. Moreover, it’s advantageous to use the bonuses offered to you by the casino. Sign up to regular email updates on special offers and increase your odds even more! Also, some bingo hosts offer discounts for buying cards in bulk, which is an awesome offer for those who would like to play with more cards.

With online bingo, jackpot games are announced before they take place, and you can even buy cards in advance. What’s more, you don’t have to be present in a particular chat room when it happens. So, one day you could just log into your account and see that you won a jackpot! Of course, the competition for such games is big, but the big money sounds like a sweet advantage, as well!

FAQs

• What if I’ve got a winning number on a few cards at the same time?

It depends on the rules of the particular bingo host or website. Some split the prize among all the numbers that won because a few players and even more numbers may win with one number at the same time. Even so, if you get a winning pattern again on another number, you’ll get a bigger portion of the prize. And if the prize amount is paid regardless of the competition, you’ll get your reward multiplied by the number of winning combos.

• What happens when you’ve got a winning pattern but don’t notice it until later, after other numbers have been drawn?

Unfortunately, most live Bingo halls don’t award prizes when it’s too late. Instead, they would keep drawing numbers until the next winning pattern appears on any of the cards. However, in online bingo, you don’t have to worry about that because as soon as you get a winning pattern, you’re automatically awarded a prize.

• Are there other ways to play bingo other than US and UK styles?

It depends on the host. There might be countless ways to play bingo. You can make your own themed bingo game for a party with friends and play either for a prize or just for fun. Some of the popular these kind of bingo games are Hawaiian, CSI, American Football and Spongebob Squarepants. You can also make a bingo game in Microsoft Excel.

• What is the history of bingo?

The origins of bingo go back to 1500s and the Italian lotto game.

• Can I try bingo without spending real money?

Yes! To play Bingo for free, you need to look for special occasions, like themed parties or bingo lovers’ clubs, where people can play for fun. Another option is to find an online bingo website that offers the free of charge mode, often called “play for fun.”