Bingo Lingo – the complete Bingo Glossary
The following is a glossary of terms you are likely to encounter in most bingo halls. The game of bingo is famous for the sense of community it seems to inspire in its players, being more a social event than a hardcore gambling game. Like most other games, over the years it has developed its own vocabulary of terms to describe various features of the game, we supply them here for your information as many of them naturally carry over into the online bingo experience.
Admission – This typically refers to taking part in a game of bingo.
Admission Packet – An admission packet is a packet of usually 3-6 bingo cards purchased in order to gain admission into the game.
After Game - This is simply a game played after the last bingo game of the evening
Ball Gate – A bingo gate is a part of the bingo machine from which the bingo balls pass through into the playfield.
Ball Lifter – This is the part of the bingo machine that lifts balls from the playfield.
Ball Runway – A path from where bingo balls are lifted up into the ball shooter.
Ball Shooter – The mechanism in a bingo machine that pulls bingo balls into the playfield
Bingo Booklets – These are sets of different coloured bingo tickets normally attached to eachother
Bingo Marker – A marker used to label the matching numbers that have already been drawn.
Bonanza Bingo – This is a variation of bingo in which the numbers are pre-drawn before the game, the aim here is to blackout, and if no player manages to do this then more numbers are necessarily drawn until the first player reaches a blackout.
Blackout – A bingo game in which the aim is to cover every single number on the card.
Breakopen – A perforated bingo card with covered preselected numbers.
Buy-In – To buy in to a game buy purchasing an admission packet.
Caller – The person appointed to calling out the bingo numbers as they are drawn from the machine.
Cash-In-Prize – This is where the winner of a bingo game is awarded a cash prize.
Casino Night – These are special events where bingo halls are permitted to operate other casino style games such as roulette and poker. These sessions usually carry on later into the night than regular bingo nights.
Consolation Prize – Prizes awarded in special variations of bingo when no player is announced as winner.
Coverall– To cover all numbers on a bingo card or to blackout.
Dauber – The type of pens used in bingo halls to mark down numbers. Usually available for sale at bingo halls in different colours
Early Bird Game – The first game of bingo played during the evening.
Face – Another name for a bingo card..
Flimsy – Multiple bingo cards that are printed on the single sheet of paper
Free Space – The middle of a bingo ticket.
Game Board – A visual aid used in some bingo halls where all numbers are marked and made visible for all players to see
G.T.I – An electric kind of bingo marker..
Hall Ball – The first number to be called from the machine in the first game of the evening.
Hard Card- A type of stiff bingo card with flaps that can be used to cover the drawn numbers..
Hardway – Winning without using the free space.
Inside Square – A pattern where players have to cover the squares that surround the middle square.
Inlaid Card – A type of bingo card embossed on the bingo table with movable markers that are used to cover up the numbers as they are called..
Instant Bingo – A completed bingo pattern.
Jackpot – A bigger prize, awarded when having covered rarer patterns on the bingo card..
Late Night Bingo/Moonlight Bingo – Bingo sessions that commence later in the evening.
Lucky Jar – A jar packed with coins that is regularly added to throughout the session, the jar is won when the caller announces special numbers.
Money Ball – A number drawn at the beginning of the game, if a player then wins with the help of this number a special prize is given.
Multiply Winners – When more than one player share the jackpot between them.
Rainbow Cards – Bingo cards of varying colours used to play for multiple prizes at the same time. Their value also differs according to colour.
On – When a player needs to fill in just one space on their bingo card in order to win.
On The Way – A game played just before the blackout round, on the same bingo card.
Outside Square – To fill in both B and C rows as well as top and bottom ones in order to win.
Pattern – Specific patterns that need to be formed by drawn numbers in order to win prizes.
Parti – A bingo game in which half of the takings are added as a jackpot.
Payout – This is the percentage of the takings that bingo halls return back to customers in the form of prizes. In bingo halls this percentage is usually quite high, up to 75%.
Postage Stamp Pattern – If a 2 on 2 pattern is marked in the edges of the card.
Progressive Bingo - Same as progressive jackpot.
Progressive Jackpot – When a jackpot continues to grow until a player or players win it..
Quickie – A rapid fire bingo game where the numbers are quickly drawn and called without pauses.
Rainbow Pack – Coloured bingo cards that allow players to play for more than one prize during the same game.
Reno Night – Same as casino night.
RNG - Random Number Generator, or the machine that is used to draw numbers in bingo.
Session – A stretch of time, usually up to about 4 hours, in which different bingo games are played.
Shutter Cards – Same as hard cards.
Six Pack/Nine Pack– When 6-9 numbers drawn are located in close proximity on the same bingo card.
Special – Bingo games played with cards not supplied in admission packets.
Speed Bingo – A quick bingo game in which a win may be secured with only 3 numbers.
Split Pot – A game in which winnings are split between the winner and the house.
T.E.D – Same as G.T.I.
Texas Blackout – A variation of blackout where all even or odd numbers are covered if the first number drawn is even or odd respectively.
Throwaways – Same as Flimsy.
Validation – Being eligible to play for extra prizes depending on the value of the cards you have purchased.
Vegas Night – Same as Casino Night.
Wild Number– This number drawn in a game of bingo where every other number of the same last digit is also marked down.
