Two Types of Bingo Cards
Some people say there are two kinds of bingo cards: physical bingo cards and virtual bingo cards. Physical bingo cards are used in traditional old-fashioned bingo games and are made of cardboard. Virtual bingo cards are used in
online bingo games and are made of pixels.
Another, and more useful, point of view is to say there are two kinds of bingo cards: 90-ball bingo cards and 75-ball bingo cards. These are the types of bingo cards that will be discussed here.
90-Ball Bingo Cards
90-ball bingo is the bingo game most popular in the UK and Australia, and it is the
bingo game played in the All Slots Bingo Room. A 90-ball bingo card has fifteen numbers arranged in three rows, called "lines." Each line has nine spaces, of which five have numbers printed in them and four are blank.
The nine vertical columns of the bingo card are arranged so that the numbers 1 to 9 appear in the first column, 10 to 19 in the second, 20 to 29 in the third, and so on. The numbers 80 to 90 appear in the last column.
| 1 |
|
24 |
34 |
|
53 |
|
86 |
| |
|
28 |
|
42 |
54 |
71 |
87 |
| 6 |
13 |
|
35 |
43 |
|
65 |
|
Every time the bingo caller calls out a number, the player must search for that number on his bingo card and, if he finds it, mark it. Many
bingo players use a special marker called a Bingo Dauber for that purpose. If you
play bingo on line, you can click the Auto Daub icon and the computer will mark your card for you when one of your numbers is called.
There are three winning combinations in 90-ball bingo. A Line means all five numbers on one of your lines has been marked. Two Lines means any two lines on your bingo card have been fully marked. Full House means all 15 numbers have been marked on your bingo card. The biggest bingo jackpots are for Full House winners.
75-Ball Bingo Cards
75-ball bingo is played mostly in the US and Canada. A 75-ball bingo card consists of a matrix with five rows and five columns. The five vertical columns are labeled B-I-N-G-O.
The "B" column on a 75-ball bingo card has numbers from 1 to 15, the "I" column has 16 to 30, the "N" column has 31 to 45, the "G" column has 46 to 60, and the "O" column has 61 to 75. The middle square in the matrix is always a free space, which means it is considered marked and can contribute to a
winning bingo pattern.
| B |
I |
N |
G |
O |
| 11 |
27 |
43 |
49 |
73 |
| 5 |
20 |
33 |
60 |
62 |
| 2 |
17 |
Free
Space |
46 |
63 |
| 15 |
22 |
38 |
51 |
66 |
| 14 |
25 |
44 |
53 |
72 |
The layout of the 75-ball bingo card allows for more variation in the winning patterns. The caller will always announce the winning pattern before the bingo game begins. One bingo game might require a horizontal row, another might require a vertical column, and a third might require that the entire card be marked.
Unusual and entertaining patterns can also be found in 75-ball bingo. The winning pattern in a particular game could be a smiley face. (In the illustration above, the 27 and 49 would make the eyes, the free space is the nose, and 2-22-44-51-63 make up the smile in the winning smiley-face pattern). That is part of the fun of 75-ball bingo.
