“Bingo cards” (CC BY-ND 2.0) by sarae

As online bingo and iGaming in general garners more attention and grows in popularity – doubling its revenue since 2009 – more variations of the game are being created. Of course, not all of us can keep up, especially if you’re new to the game, so we thought we’d make a quick list of a few popular variation as well as the most frequently played base games so you know how to play:

Base Games

“BINGO!” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by sjsharktank

90-Ball Bingo

As bingo is particularly well liked throughout the United Kingdom, it’s no surprise that their version of bingo – known as 90-ball bingo – remains incredibly popular. For instance, online casino operator bgo have lots of bingo games on offer such as Need For Speed, Golden Galaxy and Peggy’s Palace, most of which are based on the 90-ball model. In some of the 90-ball bgo rooms, daily treats are added to the games to make them more attractive – for instance BOGOF games award an extra ticket for every ticket purchased. While playing this form of bingo, players will receive a virtual card depicting three rows, each with five numbers and four blanks. In total, there will be 90 balls with numbers on and the players who manage to get one line, two lines or a full house first receive prizes.

80-Ball Bingo

As we’re sure you’ve guessed, this form of bingo has a collection of 80 numbered balls that can be called throughout the game. However, the cards in this game are far smaller and only feature sixteen numbers, which go up to the number 80 when added together. While this game may be a bit more difficult than its counterparts, rewards are delegated similarly, for example when a player gets a line or full house.

75-Ball Bingo

Here in the States bingo has its own rich history and we tend to play bingo using 75 balls, which is why popular American sites such as Bingo Billy tend to have several variants of this type of game. Usually, players will receive a square, 5×5 grid card featuring 24 numbers and one blank in the middle. Like 90-ball bingo, the aim is to finish lines or get a full house, but online sites occasionally add patterns in as well.

30-Ball Bingo

With the smallest grid card of all, 30-ball bingo is still considered by many as rare as it does not appear on all online sites. It is available at Tea Time Bingo though, where you can purchase 3×3 grid cards packed with nine numbers between one and thirty. This game goes by pretty quickly and is often referred to as speed bingo, but you must get a full house to win the prize money.

Popular Variations

“Bingo” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by chidorian

Bingo Bonanza

During this variation on traditional bingo games, 43 numbers are drawn. These numbers are either all odd, all even or are completely random depending upon the host’s decision. If no one has all the numbers that are chosen, more balls are picked and the jackpot continues to either rise or fall until someone wins.

Bingo U-Pick ‘Em

This form of bingo is quite similar to lotto games as it enables players to pick the numbers themselves. This is also why Bingo U-Pick ‘Em is also often compared to the Chinese game Keno and why it has become so popular at a variety of online bingo sites.

Death Bingo

Finally, we thought we’d include Death Bingo as it’s pretty much the opposite of traditional bingo games. When a player calls bingo, they are immediately eliminated from the game and this continues until finally there is just one player left standing. They are named the winner, so if you’re particularly unlucky this may be the bingo game for you.