So, What is 75 Ball Bingo Then?
If you Love to Play Bingo then you will probably be aware that 75 Ball bingo is the most popular version of bingo in the United States and Canada. Although if you play online, you will get both versions, you will typical see 75 ball bingo played at your local bingo hall if you live in one of these countries.
The game gets its name because of the amount of balls used in play, 75 balls, each with a number on them ranging from 1 – 75. No number is ever repeated.
The Bingo Card
The bingo card itself consists of a 5×5 bingo grid like card. The card itself consists of 24 spaces made up of random number with 1 free space in the centre of the card with no number allocated to it. Usually the word “free space” is written instead. This space is not used in play.
The card has the word “BINGO” written above the top it and each number corresponds to a column.
Column B – numbers 1 to 15
Column I – numbers 16 to 30
Column N – numbers 31 to 45
Column G – numbers 46 to 60
Column O – numbers 61 to 75
How The Game is Played
A machine is used to pick out 1 of the 75 balls available at random (each ball has a number written on them ranging from 1 – 75). After a number has been picked, a bingo caller will shout this number out to everyone who is playing the game. The players then mark this number of their card using a bingo dauber (a special bingo pen) if they have that number. The caller will shout out the letter above the column where that number would be, if your card has it. E.g. B2, G46, etc. See the following image for reference.
The object of the game is to be the first person to make the allocated pattern specified before the game with the winning numbers. If you succeed to do this first before anyone else you would shout “bingo”. The bingo caller would then check to see if you were cheating by checking the numbers that came out. You would then win the game if approved by the bingo caller. After this the game repeats.
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Bingo Patterns
The great advantage in playing the 75 ball version of bingo is the amount of bingo patterns that can be used. Before each game a different pattern will be specified
Here are a few names for the patterns that are used: Picture Frame, The Diamond, Corner Blocks, etc. There is then also a pattern for different numbers and letters, where the pattern will look like a number or a letter.
The most common pattern that is used is called “coverall,” where all the numbers on your bingo card has to be covered for you to win. This bingo pattern usually makes the game last longer and bigger jackpots are available for such versions.