12 Different Kinds of Bingo Games

Bingo might be one of the most common gambling games in the world. It’s certainly the most accepted form of gambling.

What other gambling game do you know of that’s played regularly at church events and in elementary school?

And, as with most gambling games, bingo games come in multiple categorizations.

Here are 12 different kinds of bingo games you might encounter in your gambling journey:

1- Traditional American Bingo With 75 Balls

I live in the United States, so the bingo game I’m most familiar with is traditional American bingo.

A traditional American bingo card is a grid with five rows and five columns. The columns are labeled B – I – N – G – O. Each column has five numbers in it, from one through 75. The first column has five numbers from between one and 15, the second column has five numbers from between 16 and 30, and so on.

When a player gets five numbers in a row – horizontally, vertically, or diagonally – she yells out bingo and wins the prize pool.

2- UK Bingo (Housie) With 90 Balls

Bingo is also a big deal in the United Kingdom, but instead of using 75 numbers, UK bingo uses 90 numbers. Bingo cards in the UK are called “tickets,” and they have 27 spaces instead of 25. The squares are arranged in nine columns of three rows.

A row of numbers in UK bingo has five numbers and four blank spots.

The columns of numbers in UK bingo have up to three numbers.

The numbers in the first column are one through 10, and the numbers in the second column are 11 through 20, and so on.

They print these tickets in six-ticket strips so that they can get every number between one and 90 on the tickets.

The winning combinations are different, too. You can win by getting all four corners, a horizontal line, two lines, or a full house.

3- Online Bingo With 80 Balls

80-ball bingo was created specifically for online bingo play. This bingo card is arranged in a 4 X 4 grid and has 16 numbers total on it. The first column has four numbers between one and 20, the second column has four numbers between 21 and 40, and so on.

Your goal is to get a winning pattern, which varies according to the game you’re playing.

4- Speed Bingo With 30 Balls

Like 80-ball bingo, speed bingo is more common online than in live bingo halls. You only have 30 balls, so the game goes a lot faster.

A bingo card in this variation is organized into a 3X3 grid, so there are a total of nine numbers on the card.

It should be obvious why speed bingo plays so fast. Traditionally, speed bingo only has a single winner per game, too, making the stakes higher. In many other bingo games, the prize sometimes gets split between multiple winners.

5- Blackout Bingo

Blackout bingo is traditionally played as a variation of the traditional United States version of bingo. Instead of trying to get five in a row, your goal is to get all 25 spots on your bingo card filled in before your opponents do.

A variation of blackout bingo is called 4X4 block, in which case you’re trying to black out any 4 X 4 block on the bingo card. It doesn’t matter which 4X4 block you fill in.

In fact, most people, when they think of “different bingo games,” mean different bingo patterns. Blackout bingo is just the most common of this kind of variation.

6- Fixed Jackpot Bingo

Here’s an example:

You buy a bingo ticket to a game in a traditional bingo hall for $1. The prize for that game is $200, regardless of how many people are playing.

That’s a fixed jackpot bingo game.

7- Progressive Jackpot Bingo Games

Obviously, a progressive jackpot bingo game compares with a progressive jackpot slot machine game. The word “progressive” just refers to how the size of the jackpot grows – progressively.

A better comparison, though, is a Powerball lottery. The jackpot in a Powerball lottery rolls over from one week to the next until the lottery is won.

The winning conditions for a progressive jackpot bingo game are traditionally tougher than the winning conditions for a standard game – it’s rare to win a progressive jackpot in a bingo game just by getting five numbers in a row.

8- Bingo Tournaments

A bingo tournament consists of a series of bingo games, and you get points for each game that you win. You’re competing against other players, which is traditional with any kind of tournament. In fact, in most bingo games, you ARE competing with other players anyway.

It’s the series of bingo games in a row and the scoring of points that make a bingo tournament different.

It’s not uncommon to have free or cash bingo tournaments on the internet. Sometimes the free bingo tournaments are played just for bragging rights, but, in other cases, you might have a cash prize.

Such bingo tournaments are called freerolls.

9- Bingo Slot Machines

In the United States, at many tribal casinos, traditional slot machines aren’t allowed. The results on the slot machines in those casinos must follow the same algorithm as a bingo game.

If you look closely at such machines, you’ll see that in addition to the spinning reels, there’s usually an electronic display of a bingo card.

That’s what determines what you win.

The symbols on the reels just mirror what’s happening with the bingo game.

10- Online Casino Bingo

Many real money online casinos offer bingo games that aren’t multiplayer bingo games at all. They just look like multiplayer bingo games. They have more in common with keno or lottery games, though.

For example, one prominent casino/sportsbook offers a game called Amazonia Bingo – it has a theme of an Amazon Rainforest. It also has a bingo bonus game where you look for wildlife.

You don’t compete with or interact with other players in such an online casino bingo game.

11- Novelty Bingo Games

I go to a support group for people with substance abuse problems. When you see the same four people repeatedly at such a meeting, you get used to them saying some of the same things repeatedly.

Not long ago, a friend of mine suggested we create support group bingo cards. Every time Misty says, “I’ve been dealing with some serious stuff lately,” you’d get to mark that off on your card. (This is something she says at every meeting.

Many novelty bingo games are like this – it could be a game where you watch a television show and mark off a space when something specific happens during the show.

The various kinds of novelty bingo games available with this kind of theme are staggering. They’re as wild as your imagination and sense of humor.

12- Road Trip Bingo

When I used to take my kids on road trips, we’d sometimes play road trip bingo. I’d create bingo cards with the names of states on the squares, and the kids would look out for license plates from those states. This is also called license plate bingo.

The kids loved it, and it kept them from being bored and whiney on those long road trips.

Conclusion

Bingo is popular all over the world, and every country has its own version of the beloved game. The dozen different styles of bingo listed above barely scratches the surface of the different bingo variations. To learn more about bingo, check out this guide to becoming a better bingo player.

Or, you can learn about other great casino games by reading one of these blogs.