Bingo, Housey Housey (former name in United Kingdom) or Housie (New Zealand and Australia) is a gambling game of unknown origin.^[1] Players mark off numbers on a ticket as they are randomly called out, in order to achieve a winning combination.

It is not to be confused with the similar American version of Bingo, as the tickets and the calling are slightly different.

[edit] Description of the game

A typical housie/Bingo ticket

A typical bingo ticket is shown to the right. It contains twenty-seven spaces, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains either one, two, or very rarely three, numbers:

• The first column contains numbers from 1 to 9,
• The second column numbers from 10 to 19,
• The third 20 to 29 and so on up until the last column, which contains numbers from 80 to 90 (the 90 being placed in this column as well).

The game is presided over by a caller, whose job it is to call out the numbers and validate winning tickets. S/he will announce the prize or prizes for each game before starting. The caller will then usually say "Eyes down" to indicate that he is about to start. S/he then begins to call numbers as they are randomly selected, either by an electronic Random Number Generator (RNG), by drawing counters from a bag or by using balls in a mechanical draw machine. Calling may take the format of simple repetition in the framework, "Both the fives, fifty five", or "Two and three, twenty three", but some numbers have special calls due to their significance.

A typical "dabber" or "dauber", used for both U.S. and U.K. bingo tickets

The different winning combinations are:

• Line — covering a horizontal line of five numbers on the ticket.
• Two Lines — covering any two lines on the same ticket.
• Full House — covering all fifteen numbers on the ticket.
  • In New Zealand in bonus (Super Housie) games, often three lines may be claimed - top, middle and bottom, usually with much larger prizes, are also played at various times throughout the session.
  • In the UK, however, it is most common for a line game to be followed directly by a two line game and a full house game, or just by a full house game.
  • In the UK's National Bingo Game only a full house game is ever played. The record payout for the national bingo game was £950,000.
  • In all cases, the last number called must be in the winning sequence. If a player does not stop the game in time and the caller calls out the next number the player's winning claim is often invalidated.

When players first come to the venue (often a church hall, rugby club or other place with sufficient tables and chairs, including in the UK many specifically designed bingo clubs) they can buy a book of tickets. Players generally play between one and six books. In New Zealand a book usually contains fifty tickets which are played over the course of the night. In UK bingo clubs, playing is divided into sessions with different books, each with a designated number of pages. Players in the UK usually prefer to buy books of six tickets containing all possible numbers in different combinations.

As each number is called, players check to see if that number appears on their tickets. If it does, they will mark it with a special marker called a "dabber" or a "dauber", shown here. When all the numbers required to win a prize have been marked off, the player shouts in order to attract the caller's attention. There are no formal rules as to what can be shouted, but most players will shout "Yes" or "Bingo". Some players may also choose to shout "Line" or "House" depending on the prize, whilst others choose to shout "house" for any win (including a line or two lines), players may use any other call to attract the callers attention (should they wish). An official or member of staff will then come and check the claim:

• In the UK with the increasing computerization of bingo systems, an Auto-Validate system is often used in large clubs where a 1 to 8 digit security code is read out by a member of staff and checked against the entry for that ticket on the system. This saves the club from the time-consuming exercise of reading out every number on the ticket.
• In smaller clubs, however, each number in the winning combination must be read out. The caller will check to see if each number has been called, and if it has, he will say something similar to "House correct - please pay out".

There will often be an interval halfway through the game. In Australia and New Zealand Super Housie tickets are played and raffles (if there are any) are drawn. In UK bingo halls it is most common for Mechanised Cash Bingo to be played (see below).

[edit] Business aspect

In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fund raiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.

Bingo, which used to be known as Housey Housey in the United Kingdom, is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers' money. It too is often organised by churches, charities and social and sports clubs as a way to raise funds.

The three largest companies with bingo halls in the United Kingdom are:

• Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)
• Gala Bingo (Gala Coral Group Ltd.)

In Northern Ireland, one of the largest bingo club groups is the Planet Bingo Group, with seven clubs in the following towns/cities:

• Antrim
• Carrickfergus
• Belfast
• Newtownards
• Portadown

Online Bingo is also becoming increasingly popular with many different companies launching sites including Ladbrokes, The Sun, and Bingolive365 which is the first online bingo company in the world to offer live and interactive "in-vision" callers.

As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo [Parti Bingo] (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical "take" of fifty percent of the stake.

Mechanised cash bingo differs from paper bingo, because it is played on a plastic bingo board, that is 4x4 square, and split up into four columns of colours. The customer chooses when they want to play, and insert a credit into a coin slot. The company involved will then use a computer (called a stage rig controller) to automatically take a "participation fee" which is set by the operator (usually between 40% and 60%). The rest of the credit is then put into the prize pool to be played for. There are only 80 numbers in play. The numbers are called a lot faster by the caller (usually around 1.5 seconds a number) and when a customer has a winning combination they press a claim button to stop the game. This is profitable for the operator as the games are so fast, and a huge parfee can be made in a few minutes. Winning combinations are usually any line down, across, diagonal, four corners or four centre squares.

In Northern Ireland bingo clubs, where the laws governing bingo games are different from in England, Scotland and Wales, it is common, when playing "parti bingo" for the caller to announce that a position or "card" has won, and ending the game, without the participation of the person playing. This enables the customer to play more positions in hope of a better chance of winning.

[edit] Calling nicknames

[edit] Usage of Bingo nicknames in the UK

Since the introduction of the electronic Random Number Generator (RNG) in Bingo Halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames above in mainstream Bingo has dramatically decreased. Bingo with an electronic RNG is much less time consuming and it has been discovered that replacing the nicknames with a simple repetition (in the pattern "All the fives, fifty five" or "Two and four, twenty four"), has allowed bingo halls to focus on the more lucrative business of Mechanised Cash Bingo (MCB), known in Gala Bingo Clubs as Party Bingo, Mecca Bingo Clubs as Cashline & most independent clubs refer to it as either the two previously mentioned names or 'table top' (relating to the fact that the boards are usually built into the table in front of the player) or 'Mini Cash Bingo'.

It is perhaps nostalgic to note that the usage of these nicknames tends to be greater where the focus of playing bingo is upon fun rather than big business; this includes British holiday resort chains such as Haven, British Holidays and Pontins, and also church halls, social clubs etc.

Bingo originates from the Italian lottery, Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia. From Italy, the game spread to France and was known as Le Lotto, played by the French aristocracy. Bingo as we know it today was used in 19th century Germany as an educational tool to teach children multiplication tables, spelling and even history.

[edit] See also

• Federation of European Bingo Associations

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Photos taken in a British Bingo Hall from the 1980s
• Online UK Bingo card generator
• UK Bingo Monitoring and Bingo Review Website