That bingo is only a game for old purple-haired ladies could not be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, bingo is played by men and women all over the world and of all ages, but probably for the same reason - the excitement of waiting for that one number, which will make you the Bingo winner!

How to play Bingo

It is easy to learn how to play bingo. This is how it works:

Each player has a number of bingo cards. Usually, a player can play as many cards as he or she wishes. Each bingo card has 5 rows and 5 columns hence providing 25 spaces labeled with a random selection of numbers. The columns are labeled from left to right with the letters: B, I, N, G, O, which each are assigned the values as follows:

Column	Values
B	1-15
I	16-30
N	31-45 (this column includes a free space in the center)
G	46-60
O	61-71

Note that a number can only appear once on a single card.

The numbers, 1 - 75, are pulled from a device not unlike a lottery ball container. The numbers are then called out. If you are the first to fill the numbers on your card in the pattern according to the rules of the particular game, you yell “BINGO!” and win the money.

There are several different bingo games played during a session. The games vary with bingo hall or online bingo room, but there are always so called “standard games”. In a standard game, you fill your bingo card with a straight-line bingo, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. In most standard games, four corners count as well, that is, the top and bottom spaces on column “B” and “O”.