Variants Of Online Bingo
Online bingo is one of the most rapidly growing ways for people to spend their leisure time online, the global gross yield doubled between 2006 and 2010 from $500m to $1bn annually and there are no signs that this rapid growth in popularity is slowing.
It is important to note however that there are, broadly speaking, two different variants of online bingo that are played widely across the globe today. We shall take a closer look at each of these games and how they are played below.
90-ball bingo
90-ball bingo is played on a card that is three rows deep by 9 columns across. Each card is marked with 15 numbers between 1 and 90, with a roughly even spread of numbers throughout that range.
Players can play one or more bingo cards in a single game, though the more cards you choose to play, then the more you will spend.
A random bingo number generator will then call out numbers as they are called and either you, or an automatic number marking service, will mark the numbers off your cards as they are called.
To win in 90-ball bingo you must either achieve a line (by marking off all five numbers on either of the three rows) or a full house (by marking off all 15 numbers on your card) both before any other player has achieved the feat.
It is a convention that once a ‘line’ has been won on a game, the players they recommence playing in order to win the “house”. Therefore, two prizes (or sometimes three, if the game is allowing different wins on two different lines each game) are usually up for grabs in each 90-ball game.
Once a house has been won, the game is over and players can now use a new bingo card to play the next game.
75-ball bingo
75-ball bingo differs from 90 ball in several ways. Firstly, the card is designed in a square grid of 5 squares by 5. The centre square in this grid is usually blacked out for each player and the remaining 24 squares are filled with numbers between 1 and 75.
Unlike 90-ball bingo, the aim of 75-ball bingo is to mark off a certain, predefined pattern on your card. What this pattern is can be entirely arbitrary. It may be an ‘X’ shape created by marking off the central square, the four squares diagonally off the centre square and then finally each corner square of the grid. Other games can use letters, numbers or any other pattern to decide the winner.
The game progresses in 75-ball bingo in the same way that 90-ball bingo is played in that numbers are drawn and players mark the numbers from their cards. The first player who matches the winning pattern on their card, is declared the winner.
Usually, there is only one prize in a 75-ball bingo game and once the desired pattern has been achieved players move on to a new game.
