Your Beginner’s Guide to Bingo Glossary and Terminology!
To a newcomer just starting out playing Bingo there might be some confusion when it comes to Bingo terminology and glossary. To get an idea of the jargon used in Bingo read the list below!
- Bet – The amount of money wagered in any one game by a player.
- Cage – holds the Bingo balls before they are drawn.
- Call – The actual act of calling the Bingo numbers as they are drawn, usually over an intercom.
- Caller – The casino employee who calls out the numbers as they are drawn.
- Catch – when one of your numbers is drawn. ‘Catch 3’ means 3 of your numbers have been drawn.
- Combination Ticket – A single ticket with several different Bingo wagers on it.
- Computer Ticket – A Bingo ticket generated by a computer from the player’s handwritten ticket.
- Draw – When the 20 winning numbers are pulled out at random.
- Draw Sheet – A sheet produced by the casino showing the numbers drawn from the previous game. Has holes punched in it to make it easy to check your ticket.
- Group – Set of numbers that the player has circled to show they are to be seen as an individual way on the ticket (see ‘Way’).
- Hit – When a drawn number matches one of your numbers.
- House – The casino, or whoever else is running the game.
- House Edge – The percent of all wagers the house expects to win over time.
- Jackpot – The prize paid in a progressive game (see ‘Progressive’)
- Bingo Balls – Numbered 1-80, used to make the draw. Similar to bingo balls or ping pong balls.
- Bingo Board – The electronic displays that show the numbers as they are drawn.
- Bingo Counter – The counter where players place their bets and collect their winnings.
- Bingo Lounge – The area in a casino devoted to Bingo.
- Bingo Runners – staff who go throughout the casino collecting Bingo wagers, and paying winners.
- Bingo Writers – The Bingo counter staff who take bets, produce tickets, and pay the winners.
- Limit – maximum amount a casino will pay out to all the winners in total during any one game.
- Live Bingo – Bingo with live draws played by multiple players, ie not video Bingo.
- Net Win – The player’s winnings after deducting the cost of the ticket.
- Odds – The mathematical probability of an outcome.
- Payout Table or Schedule – The chart showing what each type of win pays.
- Progressive – A Bingo game where the top prize (the Jackpot) increases until it is won.
- Quick Pick – A ticket with numbers chosen at random for the player by a Bingo computer.
- Race – A single Bingo game.
- Random Number Generator – A computer program used to randomly select numbers for a Bingo game. Rate – The price paid for each separate wager on a ticket.
- Split Ticket – Two or more groups of numbers played as separate wagers on the same ticket.
- Spots – the numbers chosen by a player.
- Straight Ticket – The standard or basic ticket sold by a casino.
- Ticket – The Bingo ticket with a grid of 80 numbers where the player marks their selections.
- Video Bingo – Bingo played by an individual player on a computerized machine.
- Wager – The amount of money bet.
- Way – One of the bets on a bingo ticket that shows more than one bet.
- Way Ticket – A bingo ticket with more than one bet on the same game.
- Winning Numbers – The 20 numbers drawn in the Bingo game.
And there you have it! A complete list of the most used Bingo glossary and jargon. Use this guide list everytime you see a new word when you are playing Bingo!