Bingo, either online or “terrestrial” has a language all of it’s own. To help you when your playing, here are some of the terms and phrases you’re bound to come across :
Internet Bingo Terms
- Admission Packet
- The minimum number of cards you must buy as the price of admission. The Admission Packet usually contains three to six cards for every game, but this can vary from Bingo hall to hall.
- Ball Gate
- This is the one-way flap at the top of the ball dispensing machine through which the ball passes to enter the playing area.
- Ball Lifter
- The device used to raise the ball to the ball shooter tip.
- Ball Runway
- The groove where the ball is propelled by the ball shooter onto the playing area.
- Ball Shooter
- The rubber-tipped spring-loaded plunger used to propel the ball into the playing area.
- Bingo Board
- The electronic display board that lights up as each number is called.
- Bingo Books
- The coloured bingo cards forming a booklet – one card for each game.
- Bingo Card
- This your Bingo playing card which contains 24 numbered spaces and one blank or free space. The numbers are randomly positioned on each card and are arranged in 5 columns of 5 numbers each by 5 rows that’s 25 in total, including the blank space. Players have thousands of unique (unduplicated) cards to choose from.
- Blackout or Coverall
- You must cover the whole card (all the numbers on the card) to win.
- Bonanza Bingo
- This is a progressive coverall Jackpot usually played as the 13th game of the session. Forty-five numbers are drawn before the session and players mark them on separate cards and set these aside. The countdown begins at 48 numbers or less and goes up one number per week for 52 numbers or until won. The amount of the jackpot depends on card sales for that game.
- Buyin
- Converting cash into Bingo cards. In other words, buying Bingo cards or an Admission Packet.
- Early Bird Game
- A Bingo game that starts earlier than another scheduled game. Sometimes the Early Bird Game is the first game of the session which is also known as a Warm Up.
- Face
- This is the Bingo sheet containing 24 numbers plus the free space in the middle.
- Flimsy or Flimsies
- A flimsy is a Bingo card printed on thin sheets of paper. There are usually three cards but flimsies are also printed in one, two, four, six or 9-card formats. Flimsies are sometimes called Throwaways
There are some great sites out there that you can use as a reference guide for many other terms in Bingo. Rather than struggle, do visit sites that can help you with a Quick-Glance – type page that you can print off and have beside you as a Guide to Bingo Terms and Lingo and learn what’s going on as you make your way in this exciting world.
