Bingo Glossary

Admission: To be qualified to enter a bingo hall and/or participate in a bingo game.
Admission Packet: As a price of admission there is a minimum number of cards that you must purchase. It usually contains three to six cards for every regular game, and may also contain some special games.
After Game: The game played following the end of a regular play session.
Ball Gate: Part of the ball dispensing machine. It is a one-way flap at the top of the 'ball runway' from under which the ball passes and enters the main playfield area.
Ball Lifter: It is the lever that raises the ball from below the playfield to the 'ball shooter' tip.
Ball Runway: The conduit where the ball is launched by the ball shooter to enter the main playfield.
Ball Shooter: The spring loaded plunger with a rubber tip used to launch the ball into the playfield area.
Basket Bingo: Bingo game where "basket" prizes are given.
Bingo Board: An electronic display board that lights up to show each number as it is called.
Bingo Books/Booklets: A set of different colored bingo sheets/cards bound together to form a book/booklet to be played one for each game at a bingo session. They are usually bound in the order in which they will be played.
Bingo Card: A card containing 24 numbered spaces and one blank space with which you play BINGO. The numbers are assigned randomly on each card and are arranged in a grid of five columns of five numbers each by five rows (5 x 5 = 25 in total including the blank square). The numbers in the B column are between 1 and 15, in the I column between 16 and 30, in the N column (containing four numbers and the free space) between 31 and 45, in the G column print unduplicated series of 6,000 or 9000 cards. Hard cards and Flimsy cards have a series number printed on them. For example, card number 1252 will always have the same numbers in the same spaces.
Bingo Marker: A crayon or ink dauber that is used to mark the numbers on a bingo game card.
Blackout: It is also called Coverall and is a pattern where you must cover the whole card to win.
Blower: A forced-air device that mixes the bingo balls and dispenses them to the caller who announces the number and displays it on a bingo board.
Bonanza Bingo: A progressive coverall Jackpot that is sually played as the 13th game of the session. It has an added fee of $1. Forty-five numbers are drawn before the session and players mark them on separate cards. The countdown begins at 48 numbers or lower and goes up one number per week to 52 numbers or until somebody wins. The amount of the jackpot is determined by card sales for that game.
Breakopen: A multi-ply card, made completely from paper or paper products, with perforated break-open tabs. The game play area of the card is covered to conceal a number, letter or symbol; which has been designated in advance as prize winners.
Buy-in
Caller
Cash-In-Prize: A bingo game where the prize is cash.
Casino Night: Also called Vegas Night is an event held for a specific period of time 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: A monitor or screen where you can exchange electronic messages with other players.
Consolation Prize: The prize offered on special games if there is no winner in a predetermined number of calls.
Coverall: A pattern where you must cover the whole card to win, also called Blackout.
Dauber: A marker to mark the numbers. It is an ink-filled bottle/pen with a foam tip on it. When you touch the bingo card with the foam tip it marks the square.
Early Bird Game: A bingo game that starts earlier than a regularly scheduled game. But sometimes the Early Bird game is simply the first game of the session and is also called the Warm Up.
Face: the individual bingo sheet containing 24 numbers plus the free space in the middle.
Flimsy, Flimsies: Bingo cards printed on thin sheets of paper. Flimsies are printed in one, two, four, six or 9-card formats and costs one or two dollars. A win on a flimsy on a special game usually pays more than a regular game. Also called 'Throwaways' in some areas.
Four Corners: A pattern where you must cover the corner numbers of the card. If you get those four numbers, you win.
Free Space: The center blank square of the card. It's like a Joker or a Wild square. You get it free every game and it counts towards your winning pattern.
Game Board: An electronic display that is attached to the bingo board to show the pattern needed to win that particular game. It shows what variation of bingo you are playing.
Game Room: Some online games divide the players into game rooms.
G.T.I., T.E.D.: An electronic dauber system used to play multiple packs at once. These usually require a rental fee and only one is allowed per player.
Hard Card: A bingo card printed on heavy cardboard material with shutters to cover each number as it is called out.
Hard-way Bingo: Bingo in a straight line without the use of the free space.
House: A casino or gambling hall.
Inlaid Card: A pre-printed card, in 4x4 format laid into a table with black discs used to cover the numbers as they are called out.
Instant Bingo: A break-open ticket which contains the letters B I N G O, bingo card faces, bingo numbers and no other symbols.
Jackpot: A big prize usually awarded for achieving a difficult pattern, such as a blackout, within a specified number of balls.
Late Night Bingo: or Moonlight Bingo is a session of bingo that starts late at night, about 10:00 pm.
Lucky Jar (or Cookie Jar): A container with cash. You win the contents of the lucky jar if you bingo on the 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 or if the caller makes a mistake in announcing the game.Usually you can win the lucky jar only on regular games.
Main Stage Bingo: The main and heaviest event of a session of bingo.
Minimum Buy-in: The least amount you must spend to be eligible for prizes.
Moonlight Bingo: Session of bingo that starts late at night, about 10:00 pm.
Money Ball: A number drawn before the game that will double a player's winnings if bingo is hit on that number.
Multiple Winners: Two or more players bingo at the same time and between whom the prize is then distributed equally.
Mushroom: A group of bingo displays named after its shape - it has a narrow tubular base, and a wider head with themachinery used to play the game and collect money from players. 6-8 customers sit around the mushroom to play.
On: A player is said to be On when one or more cards they are playing lacks only one number for a bingo.
On The Way: The game played prior to the blackout on the same card. First the preliminary game(s) are played and then more numbers are called until there is a blackout.
Pattern: When number being called out complete the shape on your card, usually in a straight line - horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
Parti: Short for participation bingo, a type of slot bingo or cash bingo where the prize is cash. It depends on the number of players since the cash prize is at least 50% of the money paid in.
Payout: The percentage of sales paid out by the House.
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.
Quickie: Numbers are called as quickly as possible and the card must be full to win Bingo.
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.
RNG
Serial Number: The minimum five-character number printed by a manufacturer on each set of charity game tickets/cards. Each ticket in a set contains the same serial number.
Series: shows the number of unique faces that a single set 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.
Shutter Board: A hand-held re-usable plastic board with pre-printed numbers, usually in a 4x4 format. These numbers are marked off by closing shutters over them.
Six-pack, Nine-pack: Six or nine numbers in a block on one card.; Special Games usually played with a different set of cards than the pack purchased at admission.
Speed Bingo: A variation of regular bingo. Numbers are called very quickly and you can bingo in as few as three numbers.
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 with the bingo hall or House.
Table Board Bingo: Table Board Bingo is a lottery scheme where players purchase the Table Board card and win prizes by being the first to complete specified patterns of numbers on the Table Board Bingo device from numbers selected at random.
T.E.D., G.T.I.: An electronic dauber system used to play multiple packs at once. These usually require a rental fee and only one is allowed per player.
Texas Blackout: A variation of bingo. The first number called will be either odd or even. If the first number called is Even then all the even numbers on all your cards are Wild (Jokers). Cover all the even numbers. Similarly with odd numbers. The game then proceeds to a blackout.
Throwaways: Same as Flimsies
Tickets: These are printed pages on which the main stage bingo is played. They are laid out in grids and normally come in books. Some tickets have bar-codes which describe the numbers on them and are used to help check claims.
Validation: Eligibility required to win additional jackpot amounts. Price varies by number of cards played.
Vegas Night: Same as Casino Night.
VFW or V.F.W.: Veterans of Foreign Wars (re: Bingo Halls)
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: The last game of a session.