Most players tend to think of bingo as a game played from hall to hall and from site to site, in reality there are many variations, structures and patterns explicitly designed to appeal to your more sophisticated player.
Let’s have a look at two of the most popular variations of online bingo; they are 75-ball bingo and 90-ball bingo.
- 75-Ball Bingo: This is the more popular variation for online bingo players based in the U.S. Up to seventy-five balls are nominated from five columns of fifteen balls; each column has to match up to one of the “bingo” letters. There are twenty five squares, five across and five down, with each column head marked with a bingo letter. Each card contains a set of random numbers that are valued from 1 to 75.
75-Ball Bingo’s objective is for players to be the first to match the game pattern on their card with the balls called. Patterns normally appear in different formats-as many as 6,000 combinations and include static, variable, corners and coverall.
- 90-Ball Bingo: This online bingo variation is very popular in the United Kingdom and Australia. 90-Ball bingo is very much the same to other forms of the game in that cards/tickets are purchased and the numbers are marked that have been called out by players. The player that completes the most suitable pattern first is the winner. 90Ball-bingo unlike other forms of bingo has three rows and nine columns. Five squares in each row that contains numbers which ranges from 1 to 90. The rest are vacant.
- Additional rules apply:
- Patterns that are winning are always identical.
- In each game there are three patterns.
- Each of the three patterns within each game is associated with a prize.
- Patterns include a single line across, two lines across and full house.
In addition to the basic game variations, a number of patterns are available from game to game. It’s important that players take note of the pattern they’re playing.
Common game patterns
- Static: A standard bingo game pattern, these cannot be rotated or shifted and are only won once each highlighted cell is marked on a single bingo card.
- Variable: Better known as “Crazy patterns” these variable patterns could be rotated in 90-degree increments (90, 180, and 270) for a winning pattern match.
- Four corners: It’s essential that players cover all four corners of their card game in this pattern.
- Coverall: Often dubbed “Blackout” in a coverall game the player must get all the numbers on their board. A jackpot is normally associated with this game in the event calls are made.
- Wild: These are bingo cards that have scattered patterns that remain static, but could be anywhere on the card.
