Bingo Cards
Online bingo articles 4
Bingo Cards
Bingo cards are the most important object in the game of bingo. There are many types of bingo cards, and they are used to play every game of bingo, including online bingo. These cards have an interesting history. Once made and numbered by hand, today these cards are made by a random number generator that ensures that any bingo cards has no advantage over another. However, when the game gained in popularity a new need arose, since suddenly many cards were needed, and all of with a different numbering and a different order.
For this purpose the manufacturer of bingo hired a mathematician to create a number of cards that would be available for mass marketing. This partnership created thousands of bingo cards. This however took a toll on the mathematician, who later spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital, since the strain of creating so many cards took a high toll on him. However, we are indebted to him for creating so many bingo cards and has helped make online bingo so popular.
There are differences in the way Bingo cards are made. In the US, cards are a 5 x 5 grid, with the center square wild, usually with a star in the middle. Inside every square is a number, and the top of the columns are each letter of the word "BINGO." This is the variant offered in our free online bingo games.
In Housie, as it is called in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, cards are in grids of 3 rows by 9 columns. The first column is 10-19, the second 20-29, on up to 81-90. Winners are declared from either clearing one row of numbers, two rows of numbers or all of the numbers, depending on which game is called.
Christian Mitchell - Journalist