How to Play Bingo

Bingo in the UK is played as a 90-number game, unlike the smaller 75-number game played in North America.

Tickets

Bingo is played with a card (also known as a ticket) with 3 rows and 9 columns, with each row containing 5 numbers and 4 blank spaces. In this way, each ticket shows 15 of the possible 90 numbers.

Players purchase strips of tickets at the start of each game. It is possible to buy a book of 6 tickets for a game, which will contain all 90 numbers.

Patterns

The game is played with three patterns and each of the patterns has a prize associated with it. The patterns are:

• Single Line Across (Line)
• Two Lines Across (Two Lines)
• All Thee Lines - Full House (House)

Playing the Game

When the caller starts the game, they will announce the type of pattern you should be looking for.

Random numbers from 1 to 90 are then called, which you should mark off on your bingo card. The numbers are arranged in columns: 1-9 in the first column, 10-19 in the second column and so on, so they should be easy to find.

As soon as you have correctly completed the pattern for that game, shout out loud before the caller starts the next number in order to win your prize.

Simultaneous Gaming

Bingo was revolutionised in 1985 by an amendment to the 1968 Gaming Act, which permitted a single game of bingo to be played at the same time in different clubs across the country, thus creating a National Bingo Game. Approximately 550 bingo clubs link up almost every night of the year to play, with weekly prize money in excess of £1m.

Over 3 million people regularly play bingo in the UK.