A single BINGO game proceeds like this:Each player has a number of BINGO cards (players can usually playany number of cards). Each BINGO card has 5 rows and 5 columns thusproviding 25 spaces.
The columns are labeled from left to right with the letters:'B', 'I', 'N', 'G', 'O'.With one exception(the center space is "free")the spaces in the card are assigned values as follows:
- Each space in the 'B' column contains a number from 1 - 15.
- Each space in the 'I' column contains a number from 16 - 30.
- Each space in the 'N' column contains a number from 31 - 45.
- Each space in the 'G' column contains a number from 46 - 60.
- Each space in the 'O' column contains a number from 61 - 75.
Here's a sample BINGO card:
| B | I | N | G | O |
| 10 | 17 | 39 | 49 | 64 |
| 12 | 21 | 36 | 55 | 62 |
| 14 | 25 | FREE SPACE | 52 | 70 |
| 7 | 19 | 32 | 56 | 68 |
| 5 | 24 | 34 | 54 | 71 |
The number of unique BINGO cards is very largeand can be calculated with this equation:
While perhaps interesting to a statistician,the number of possible BINGO cards has nothing todo with player's chances of winning.// the B, I, G, and O columns * the N column(15 * 14 * 13 * 12 * 11) ^ 4 * (15 * 14 * 13 * 12)
You will note that there are 75 possible BINGO numbers:
Each of these numbers is represented by a ball in a large rotating bin.Each ball is painted with its unique BINGO number.An announcer spins the bin, reaches in a selects a ball, and a announces it to the room.The players check all of their cards to see if that number appears on their card.If it is, they mark it.B1, B2, B3, ... B15, I16, I17, I18, ... I30, N31, N32, ... O74, O75.
When a player has a BINGO (5 in a row, column, or diagonal), he or shecalls out BINGO. The game pauses while the card is verified. Ifindeed a winner, the game stops and a new game begins.If the card wasn't a winner, the game proceeds where it left off.Each BINGO game proceeds until someone wins (there's always a winner).
