Glossery

Admission Packet
A minimum number have to be purchased as the price of admission, in order to enter a bingo hall or game. For a standard game, you have to buy an Admission Packet, which usually includes three to six cards. Sometimes special games are also included. The Admission Packet can be different in the different halls.

Bingo Board
This is an electronic display board, where the numbers light up as they are called.

Blackout
In this kind of bingo game you have to cover all the numbers on your card to win, usually about 50 – 60 out of the 75 bingo numbers have to be called to cover all your numbers.

Bonanza Bingo
Bonanza Bingo is played at the end of a session, as a bonus game. 45 numbers are drawn before the regular session begins and players mark them on separate bingo cards and put them aside. Typically, players pay an additional charge of $1 to play this game. The countdown starts at 48 numbers (or even less) and increase by one number every week to 52 numbers or until someone wins. The Bonanza coverall jackpot depends on card sales for that game.

Buy-In
Bingo cards purchasing.

Card
This is the card you play Bingo with. It contains 24 squares with numbers and one blank square. Each card is unique with randomly chosen numbers that are arranged in five columns (B, I, N, G and O), each by five rows, which makes 25 squares in total (including the blank one). ‘B’ column includes numbers between 1 and 15, ‘I’ column – between 16 and 30, ‘N’ column – between 31 and 45 (here the squares are 4 plus the blank one), ‘G’ column – between 46 and 60 and ‘O’ column – between 61 and 75. Players can choose from thousands of bingo cards, available in series of 6.000 or even of 9.000 cards. Some kinds of bingo cards, such as Hard cards and Flimsy cards have a series number. For instance, a card with number 1252 will always contain the same numbers in the same quarters.

Consolation Prize
Some special games provide a prize (or more) if no one wins in a predetermined number of calls.

Coverall
Coverall is a pattern, similar to Blackout, where you have to cover all the numbers on your bingo card to win. In general, up to 50-60 of the all 75 bingo numbers have to be called to cover all the numbers on your card.

Dauber
This is a foam-tipped bottle or pen that is filled with ink and used to mark drawn numbers. You simply touch your bingo card with its foam tip and the square will be marked.

Early bird game
This is an early starting bingo game, before another scheduled one.

Flimsy, Flimsies
Flimsies are also known as ‘Throwaways’. These bingo cards are typically printed on thin paper sheets. Usually, Flimsies include three cards that are printed on a single paper sheet, but they can also come in one, two, four, six or nine-card formats. Their usual cost is $1 or $2 and flimsies pay off much better than the regular bingo games.

Free Space
This is the centre square of the bingo card, with no number on it. It is also called a Wild square or a Joker. It is free of charge for every game and it is added to your winning pattern.

G.T.I.; T.E.D.
This is an electronic dauber system that allows you to play several bingo packs at the same time. Usually there is a rental fee for using it and each player can only use one at a time.

Game Board
This is an electronic display, attached to the bingo board and showing the needed pattern to win the game in question. The Game Board resembles a bingo card and shows your played bingo variation on that game. For instance four corners, chevron, regular, blackout etc.

Game room
Sometimes the bingo players can be divided into game rooms. The smaller groups make more controllable chat rooms.

Hard Card
A regular bingo card, but printed on heavy cardboard material, with shutters that cover each of the called out numbers.

Hardway Bingo
Bingo in a straight line, excluding the use of the free space.

Jackpot
A huge prize, typically given when a difficult pattern (like a blackout) is achieved within a defined number of balls.

Lucky Jar, Cookie Jar
This is a cash container. If you bingo on “the lucky number”, which is the first drawn number at the beginning of a session, you win the cash of the Lucky Jar. Every time “the lucky number” is called or the caller makes a mistake when announcing the game, more money is added to the Lucky Jar. Typically, players can win the contents of the Lucky Jar only on regular games. Special throw-away games do not include “a lucky number”.

Minimum Buy-In
The minimum amount of money you have to spend to be entitled for prizes.

Money Ball
It is a number drawn before the bingo game begins and if a bingo is hit on that number, the player gets double prize.

Moonlight Bingo
This is a bingo session, starting late at night, around 10:00 pm.

Multiple Winners
If more than one player bingo at the same time, they divide the cash prize among equally. For instance, if five players bingo on a $500 game, each of them gets $100.

Nicknames
The drawn Bingo numbers can be announced or repeated by using different nicknames. In a crowded and noisy Bingo hall, this is a humorous way of confirming the drawn numbers. Before air-blown balls were completely replaced by the faster computer draws, British Bingo halls used this way of announcing to add more fun to the bingo experience.

On
When a player is On, it means that he/she is missing only one number for a bingo on their one or more bingo cards.

On The Way
A ‘Game On the Way’ is played on a blackout game prior to the blackout and on the same bingo card. The preliminary games are first played and then more numbers are drawn until there is a blackout.

Pattern
This is the design you need to cover on your bingo card with drawn numbers. The drawn numbers should match the numbers, forming the pattern in order to win the game. The most common patterns are horizontal, vertical or diagonal straight lines. Another popular pattern is the ‘blackout’ (or also known as ‘coverall’), where you have to cover all the numbers on your card to win the game.

Payout
All Bingo halls pay out a certain percentage of sales. The average payout in all Bingo halls is around 75%, unlike state lottery games, where the average payout is approximately 45%.

Postage Stamp Pattern
This pattern requires matching four numbers and forming a postage stamp (a 2 x 2 grid) in one of the four corners.

Progressive Jackpot
This is a Jackpot that accrues until it is won. Progressive Jackpot grows every day, week or month, if there is no winner in a specified number of calls. If it is not won in X number of calls, the Bingo hall pays out consolation prize(s) or other smaller amount of money. Some kinds of progressive games add money or numbers (sometimes both) to the jackpot. Usually, players have to make separate buy-in to qualify for Progressive Jackpot games.

Rainbow Pack
A packet of coloured bingo cards, allowing players to play for more than one prize denomination at once.

Reno Night
Usually held in restaurants, hotels and Eagles & Elks clubs and sometimes in Bingo halls, a Reno night is an evening of casino games such as blackjack and roulette.

Session
A Bingo program that can be held either during the day or night and includes regular Bingo games, played on hard cards and special games, played on throwaways, flimsies or paper sheets. A session can last either two and a half hours or three hours and 15 minutes.

Six-pack, Nine-pack
A block of six or nine numbers on one bingo card.

Special
Bingo games, played with set of cards, different from the purchased admission pack.

Speed Bingo
A regular bingo variation, with numbers called so quickly that you can bingo in only three numbers. Typically, it is played before or after a regular bingo session.

Split Pot
In this bingo game, the winner splits the sales of the game (the pot) with the House (or bingo hall). For instance, the winner can get 60% of the sales and the house would keep 40%.

Texas Blackout
Another variation of bingo, where the first called number is always either odd or even. If the number is Even, all even numbers on your bingo card(s) are Wild (Jokers). If that number is Odd, then all odd numbers on your card(s) are covered. After that the game proceeds to a blackout.

Throwaways
Also known as Flimsy or Flimsies, these bingo cards are typically printed on thin paper sheets. Usually, throwaways include three cards that are printed on a single paper sheet, but flimsies can also come in one, two, four, six or nine-card formats. Their usual cost is $1 or $2 and flimsies pay off much better than the regular bingo games.

Validation
Players’ eligibility, required for winning the jackpot award. The price depends on the number of played cards.

Wild Number
Typically played on a double bingo, which leads into a triple bingo. The wild number is determined by the first drawn number. For instance, if the first drawn number is 42, all numbers that end in 2 should be daubed on all bingo cards.

Wrap Up
This is how the last session game is called.