Bingo Rules: How to Play, Call, and Check a Bingo

What are the basic rules of bingo?

Bingo is a game of chance with one caller and any number of players. Every version follows the same five steps:

1. Hand out cards. Every player gets a card, and every card is different.
2. Announce the pattern. Before the first call, the caller says what counts as a win, such as any line, four corners, or a full card.
3. Call at random. The caller draws one number (or word) at a time, announces it clearly, and never calls the same one twice.
4. Mark matches. Players mark any square that matches the call. The free space counts as already marked.
5. Call "Bingo!" The first player to complete the pattern calls out, the caller checks the card, and a valid bingo wins.

That's the whole game. Everything else, like how to handle ties or late calls, is a house rule that the caller should explain before starting.

How is a bingo card set up?

The standard American bingo card, used for 75-ball bingo, is a 5 × 5 grid with the letters B-I-N-G-O across the top. Each column draws from its own block of 15 numbers, so players can scan one column instead of the whole card when a number is called. The center square is a free space, which leaves 24 numbers on each card.

Because a column's numbers can appear in any order, the number of possible cards is enormous. Party versions follow the same layout with words, pictures, or prompts in place of numbers. On word cards, the free space still sits in the middle and still counts as marked.

Smaller grids are common for kids and quick games. A 4 × 4 card has no center square, so it has no free space. A 3 × 3 card does have a center square.

How do you call bingo numbers?

In 75-ball bingo, the caller announces each number with its column letter, like "B-7" or "O-68." The letter tells players which column to check. A good caller:

• Draws at random from a full set of numbers, using balls, slips of paper, or a random number tool, with no repeats.
• Says each call twice and pauses long enough for everyone to check their card.
• Keeps a record of every call on a master board or checklist, since that record is used to check winners.
• Keeps a steady pace. Slower is better for young children, older guests, and players with several cards.

For word bingo, the caller reads each word from a shuffled list or draws slips from a hat. Our free bingo card maker creates a caller sheet with every item and a checkbox beside it, plus optional cut-apart slips for drawing from a hat.

How do you win at bingo?

You win by being the first to complete the pattern the caller announced before the game. The most common patterns are:

• Any line: five in a row across, down, or diagonally. A line through the center only needs four calls because the free space counts.
• Four corners: the four corner squares.
• Blackout (coverall): every square on the card.

There are dozens of other patterns, from the letter X to the postage stamp and picture frame. See every pattern with diagrams, plus how many calls each one usually takes, in our bingo patterns guide.

Players should only mark numbers that were actually called. A marked square that wasn't called doesn't count toward a win.

How do you check a bingo?

When a player calls "Bingo!", pause the game and check the card before anyone clears their marks:

1. Ask the player to read out the numbers (or words) that make up their pattern.
2. Compare each one against your record of calls, not against memory.
3. Confirm the pattern matches the one announced for this game, and that the free space is the only uncalled square used.
4. If every square checks out, announce the winner. If not, it's a false call and the game continues.

In licensed bingo halls, this check is a formal requirement. For example, Michigan's bingo rules make the balls on the master board the official record and require a stop for verification whenever a player calls bingo.

What happens if two people get bingo at the same time?

If two or more players complete the pattern on the same call, they are all winners. Bingo halls usually split the prize evenly. At a party, you can give each winner a prize, let them pick from a prize table in order of who called first, or play a quick tiebreaker round such as four corners.

What if someone calls bingo by mistake?

A bingo that doesn't check out is often called a false call. There's no penalty in a friendly game: the caller simply confirms it isn't a winner and keeps calling. Players keep their marks and stay in the game.

What if someone misses their bingo?

Many bingo halls only accept a bingo claimed before the next number is called, and some also require the winning pattern to include the last number called. A player who completes a pattern but doesn't notice until later may lose that win. The New York State Gaming Commission's sample house rules describe several of these options for licensed games. For a party, decide in advance whether you'll accept a late bingo. Auto-marking cards and a patient caller make missed bingos much less likely.

House rules to agree on before a party game

Most bingo arguments come from rules nobody announced. Settle these before the first call:

• The pattern for each round.
• How to claim: call out "Bingo!", raise a hand, or both.
• Late bingos: accepted any time, or only before the next call.
• Ties: everyone wins, split the prize, or a tiebreaker.
• Multiple cards: how many cards one player can hold.
• Multiple wins: whether one player can win more than one round.
• Prizes: what winners get. Small, non-cash prizes keep it a party game.

For ideas that suit every budget and crowd, see our bingo prize ideas.

How does 90-ball bingo work?

90-ball bingo is the most common format in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia, and it's sometimes called housie. It uses numbers 1 to 90 and a different card, called a ticket.

• The ticket has 3 rows and 9 columns (27 squares). Each row holds 5 numbers and 4 blank squares, for 15 numbers per ticket. There is no free space.
• Columns are grouped by tens. The first column usually holds the single-digit numbers and the last column holds the 80s plus 90, though exact ranges vary slightly between ticket printers.
• A strip is a set of 6 tickets that together contain every number from 1 to 90 exactly once.

Instead of one pattern, each 90-ball game has three wins in order:

The game keeps going after the one-line and two-line winners, until someone gets a full house. You can make free printable tickets with our 90-ball bingo ticket generator.

Other bingo formats

• 80-ball bingo uses a 4 × 4 card with 16 numbers.
• 30-ball bingo (speed bingo) uses a 3 × 3 card with 9 numbers and pays for a full house only.
• Word bingo replaces numbers with words, which suits showers, holidays, and classrooms. A 5 × 5 word card with a free space needs at least 24 words.
• Watch-along bingo has no caller at all. Players mark squares when things happen, like "the dog steals a treat" during a family dinner or a toast at a wedding.
• Find someone who bingo is an icebreaker where each square describes a person, and players collect a different name for each square.
• Blank fill-in bingo has players write their own squares. At showers, guests predict gifts and mark them as they're opened.

What is tombola?

"Tombola" means two different things depending on where you are.

In Italy, tombola is a bingo-style family game, traditionally played at Christmas and New Year's. Numbers 1 to 90 are drawn and marked on cards with 15 numbers in three rows of five. Instead of a single win, prizes go in order to the first player with two numbers in a row (ambo), three (terno), four (quaterna), five (cinquina), and finally the whole card (tombola). In Naples, callers traditionally add a nickname from the smorfia tradition, such as "the fear" for 90.

In the UK, a tombola is a prize stall at school fairs and fetes. Players draw folded tickets from a drum, and tickets with winning numbers, traditionally those ending in 0 or 5, win a prize from the table. Because players pay for tickets, a UK tombola is a type of lottery covered by gambling law rules for events, so organizers should check the rules that apply to them.

What are bingo calls?

Bingo calls are traditional nicknames a caller says alongside the number, mostly in UK 90-ball bingo. The caller still says the number itself, so nobody needs to know the nicknames to play. A few of the best known:

Some modern hosts skip or update older nicknames, or simply call the numbers. For a party, plain calls are always fine.

Bingo by the numbers

How many different bingo cards are there?

For standard 75-ball cards, where each column picks its numbers from its own range of 15, there are 111,007,923,832,370,565 possible cards when you only count which numbers are in each column (3,003 choices for each of the B, I, G, and O columns, and 1,365 for the N column). If the order of numbers within a column also counts, the total is about 5.5 × 10²⁶. We calculated both figures directly from the column rules.

How long does a game of bingo last?

It depends on the pattern and how many cards are in play. In our simulation of 20,000 games of 75-ball bingo, a game with 25 cards took a median of 22 calls to reach the first single-line bingo, 33 calls for four corners, and 67 calls for a blackout. The bingo patterns guide has the full table for 1, 10, 25, and 50 cards.

Where did bingo come from?

Bingo's roots are usually traced to Italy's national lottery, Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia, which began around 1530. Lotto-style games spread to France in the 1700s, and a card version later reached North America, where it was played at fairs as "Beano," with dried beans used as markers.

The name "bingo" is credited to Edwin S. Lowe, a New York toy salesman who saw Beano at a carnival in 1929. As the story goes, an excited player shouted "Bingo!" by mistake, and Lowe kept the name. He is also said to have hired Columbia University mathematics professor Carl Leffler to create thousands of different cards, reportedly 6,000, so large games wouldn't have duplicate winners.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• New York State Gaming Commission, Sample Bingo House Rules (claiming a bingo, last number called, multiple wins).
• Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, Rules of Play: Bingo (announcing patterns, verifying winners, miscalled numbers).
• Michigan Administrative Code, R. 432.21322, Verification.
• Parentkind, How to run a tombola (UK tombola stalls).
• PlaySmart (Ontario Lottery and Gaming), History of Bingo.
• Card counts: calculated by Bingo Card Maker Free from the 75-ball column ranges. Game lengths: our simulation of 20,000 games (method in the patterns guide).