Admission Packet
A minimum number of cards that you have to purchase to gain admission to a bingo game. Generally, you need to purchase three to six cards for a regular game.
After Game
The bingo game played after the end of a regular session of bingo.
Ball Gate
The flap through which each ball passes on its way out of the ball dispensing machine.
Ball Lifter
The mechanism that lifts a ball from below the playfield to the tip of the ball shooter.
Ball Shooter
The spring loaded plunger with a rubber tip used to launch the ball into the playfield area.
Basket Bingo
Games of bingo in which basket prizes are given.
Bingo Board
A display board that lights up to show each number as it’s called.
Bingo Books
Bingo sheets or cards bound together for use in one game at a bingo session. They are usually bound in the order in which they will be played.
Bingo Marker
A crayon or ink dabber that you use to mark called numbers on a bingo game card.
Blower
A device that uses forced air to mix the bingo balls and dispense them to the bingo caller.
Buy-In
Buying bingo cards or an admission packet to gain entry to a bingo game.
Caller
The person or machine that calls out the bingo numbers for players.
Casino Night (or vegas night)
An event held for a specific period (often starting in the afternoon and ending by midnight) during which a qualified organization is entitled to hold casino-style gaming events. Games conducted include pulltabs, bingo, roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, gin rummy, five card stud poker, and merchandise wheels.
Chat Room
An online bingo term, referring to a web area you can use to type in messages to other bingo players and read their responses.
Consolation Prize
The prize or prizes offered on some special bingo games if there is no winner in a predetermined number of calls.
Dabber
An ink-filled bottle or pen with a foam tip for marking called numbers. When you touch the bingo card with the foam tip, it marks the square.
Early Bird Game
A bingo game that starts before another regularly scheduled game.
Face
The individual bingo sheet containing 24 numbers plus a free space.
Flimsies
Bingo cards printed on thin sheets of paper. There are usually three cards printed on a single sheet but flimsies are also printed in one, two, four, six or nine-card formats. Also sometimes called “throwaways”.
Free Space
The middle square of a bingo card, which does not have a number assigned to it. It’s like a joker or wild square. You get it free every game and it counts towards your winning pattern.
Four Corners
A bingo term indicating a pattern where you must cover the corner numbers of the card. If you get those four numbers, you win.
G.T.I., T.E.D
An electronic dabber system that bingo players can use to play multiple packs at the same time. A rental fee is usually charged.
Game Board
An electronic display attached to the bingo board to show the pattern – for example, four corners, chevron, regular, or blackout – you need to get to win a particular game. It looks like a bingo card.
Game Room
An online area or “room” for playing bingo, used to divide online bingo players into groups. Using smaller groups makes chatrooms more manageable.
Hard Card
A bingo card printed on heavy cardboard, usually with shutters to cover each number as it is called out.
Hardway Bingo
A bingo term describing bingo in a straight line without the use of the free space typically included in the center of each bingo card.
Jackpot
A big prize usually awarded for achieving a difficult pattern, such as a blackout, within a specified number of balls.
Lucky Jar (or cookie jar)
A bingo term that refers to a container with cash that you’ll win if you bingo on a specified lucky number. The lucky number is usually the first number called at the beginning of a session. Money is added to the jar every time the lucky number is called. Usually you can win the lucky jar only during regular games.
Main Stage Bingo
The main event of a session of bingo.
Minimum Buy-In
The least amount you must pay or the least bingo cards you must buy to be eligible for prizes.
Moonlight Bingo
A session of bingo that starts late at night, usually at about 10:00 PM.
Multiple Winners
Two or more players bingo at the same time. When this happens, the cash prize is divided among them.
Mushroom
A group of bingo displays that takes its name from its shape – it has a narrow tubular base, and a wider head with the machinery used to play the game and collect money from players. Customers sit around the mushroom to play. There are usually 6 to 8 positions at each mushroom.
Nicknames
In bingo, a name assigned to each number that the caller uses to announce each number drawn. Many of the common nicknames rhyme with the numbers they identify or relate to the shapes of the numbers, as in “two fat ladies” for the number 88!
On The Way
The bingo game played on the way to the blackout game. It is played prior to the blackout on the same card. First the preliminary games are played and then more numbers are called until there is a blackout.
On
A player is said to be On when one or more cards they are playing lacks only one number for a bingo.
Parti
Short for participation bingo, a type of slot bingo or cash bingo where the prize is cash and depends on the number of players. The cash prize is at least 50% of the money paid in. The most common boards used for parti bingo are inlaid cards and hand-held shutter boards.
Pattern
The shape you need to cover on your bingo card with called out numbers. You only need the numbers that form the pattern to win the game. The most basic patterns are straight lines in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction. One popular pattern is the “blackout” or “coverall” where you have to cover the whole card to win.
Payout
The percentage of sales paid out by the House to bingo winners. The average payout among bingo halls is about 75 percent. This compares with a payout of approximately 45 percent on state lottery games.
Postage Stamp Pattern
Matching four numbers to form a postage stamp (a 2 x 2 grid) in any of the four corners.
Prize Bingo
Until recently, this game was only played for a set prize or vouchers. Recent changes in UK law mean that now the prize may be cash of up to £15.
Progressive Jackpot
A jackpot that gets bigger until it is won. It builds daily, weekly, or monthly if it is not won in a specific number of calls. If there is no winner, consolation prizes of lesser amounts are paid. Different variations of progressive games add pounds, numbers, or both to the jackpot. There is usually a separate buy-in for progressive jackpot games.
Quickie
A type of bingo in which numbers are called as quickly as possible and a card must be full for you to win.
Rainbow Pack
A paper pack that allows players to play for three or four different prize denominations at once.
Reno Night
An evening of casino games like blackjack and roulette. These are sometimes held in bingo halls but more often in restaurants and hotels.
RNG
Random number generator – the machine used to pick the numbers for a game of bingo. Most are electronic
Series
A serial number that indicates the number of unique faces that a single set of bingo cards will contain. For example: a 9000 Series has 9000 unique faces.
Session
An entire evening or daytime program of bingo, consisting of regular games usually played on hard cards and special games played on throwaways, flimsies or paper sheets. A session usually lasts somewhere between two and a half hours and three hours and 15 minutes.
Shutter Board
A hand-held re-usable plastic bingo board with pre-printed numbers, usually in a 4×4 format. These numbers are marked off by closing shutters over them.
Six-pack, Nine-Pack
Six or nine numbers in a block on one bingo card.
Special
Bingo games played with a different set of cards than the pack purchased at admission.
Speed Bingo
A variation of regular bingo in which numbers are called very quickly and you can bingo in as few as three numbers. Usually played before or after a regular session.
Speed Game
A coverall that is called very quickly. It is sold as a special game one card at a time.
Split Pot
A bingo game in which the winner splits the sales of the game (the pot) with the bingo hall. For example, the winner might get 60 percent of the sales and the house would keep forty percent.
Table Board Bingo
A lottery scheme where players purchase a table board card and win prizes by being the first to complete specified arrangements or patterns of numbers on the card from numbers selected at random. A table board bingo event can be held in conjunction with a regular bingo event.
Texas Blackout
A variation of bingo. If the first number called is even, all the even numbers on all your cards are wild (jokers). You cover all the even numbers to win. If the first number called is odd, you have to cover all the odd numbers. The game then proceeds to a blackout.
Throwaways
More commonly called “flimsies”, bingo cards printed on thin sheets of paper. There are usually three cards printed on a single sheet but flimsies are also printed in one, two, four, six or nine-card formats.
Validation
Eligibility required to win additional jackpot amounts. Price varies by number of cards played.
Wild Number
Usually played on a double bingo that leads into a triple bingo. The first number out of the hopper determines the wild number. For example, if 42 is drawn, all numbers ending in 2 should be marked off.
Wrap Up Game
The name of the last game of a session.