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Playing B-I-N-G-O down the time

You typically play bingo in a session consisting of several games. One great feature of bingo is that every game has a winner! An individual game may only last ten minutes or so, but the entire bingo session typically lasts a few hours. The following steps show how you play bingo:

1. Before the start of a bingo session, purchase bingo cards, usually sold
in packets of three to six cards, or sheets (which have a fixed number
printed on them).

The purchase of your bingo cards is your admission charge to the ses­sion. In many bingo casinos and halls, you must buy a minimum number of cards. An average price is 25« to 50« per card, but games can go for as little as a nickel or dime and as high as $1. You can’t bring in your own bingo cards or unused cards from another session.

2. The bingo game starts when the caller yells “Eyes down.”

3. The balls start popping, and the caller begins selecting and announcing the letter-number combinations.

4. With each call, you check your cards to see whether you have the called letter-number combination and, if so, you mark it on your card or do the punch-out on the sheets.

The object of the game is to cover a specified pattern on a card before any other player. The most familiar pattern is the line, with five numbers in a row, running in one of the following directions:

• Diagonally

• Horizontally

• Vertically

5. When you find you have a winning pattern, you shout “Bingo!” to
alert the caller to stop the play.

Typically, most wins occur within 12 to 14 calls.

6. A checker rushes to your side and reads off the letter-number combos
in your winning pattern to verify that you’re a winner.

If another player calls bingo at the same time, you both win, and you split the prize money.

To stop the game, you must loudly call out “Bingo” as soon as your last number comes up. If you don’t attract the attention of the checker and the play continues with the next ball called, your bingo won’t be hon­ored. For example, if the caller announces 1-19 and then B-12,1-19 is no longer a winning number! The 1-19 is a sleeper and isn’t a valid bingo. So be extra alert if you’re playing multiple cards - or limit yourself to one card until you pick up some speed. After the game is over, a new game begins with everyone keeping their same cards or sheets, but starting over (a clean slate).