Whoever has tried out bingo at least once, knows how amazingly exciting the playing experience at 80 ball bingo can be. After all, it is not a coincidence why so many people worldwide are not only familiar with the game but honestly love it. While 90 ball bingo and 75 ball bingo might be much more popular variations, it is a type of bingo that manages to add what is missing in both of them and provide access to even more an incredible design and opportunities to win.
Introduction to 80 Ball Bingo
What is specific about this bingo is that this version of bingo was developed particularly based on the reality of online bingo rooms. Despite the fact that the United Kingdom was the first country where the game became available, it is now accessible across more and more locations. Having in mind this type of bingo combines elements from the previous two versions it is not surprising that it does not take a significant effort to be able to start playing.
Also, from time to time some players tend to call it shutter-board because it used to be played on boards which had small windows with shutters that were closed whenever the numbers were called.
80 ball bingo has a little bit more numbers compared to the 75 ball version. At the same time, they are less than the 90 ball game. When it comes to the ways of winning, there are differences. However, similar to the 75 ball version patterns are still used on the card.
The only thing that is slightly different is the play card’s design. The cards are in the form of a 4×4 rectangular, and all the columns are coloured differently – in red, blue, silver or yellow).
As far as the numbers that can be called are concerned, they vary between 1 and 80. What is specific about the patterns is that they might be printed onto the cards and can differ from one another. For instance, possible patterns include the classic X, any letter of the alphabet, four corners, and lines (horizontal, vertical or diagonal).
On top of that, the patterns can also be the Full House or Coverall. Regarding the latter what players need to do is mark off all the numbers on the ticket. If you happen to be the first one to do so, you can hope for incredibly attractive prizes. Thanks to the newly added elements like more numbers, unique patterns, as well as card differences, it is not only potentially more lucrative to choose this type of bingo, but it is more enjoyable, too.
Most Suitable Bingo Sites
Later on, in this 80 ball bingo article, we will also take a closer look at the places that are most suitable for you if you are willing to try out this version of the game. Still, we can encourage you even here to check out:
- The 80 Ballroom at Crown is open between 9h and 21h on a daily basis and provides two amazing super jackpots. Assuming that you succeed in winning a full house in maximum 36 calls, you can receive the £250 Bingo Booster jackpot. Given the fact that you manage to do so in maximum 32 calls, there is an exclusive progressive Gold Rush jackpot to benefit from, which has once reached £10,000. It so nice that this jackpot starts growing again whenever anybody wins it, isn’t it?
- In addition to Crown, we can also recommend Gala 1980 Club. What is interesting about this place is that it is particularly dedicated to bingo. Regarding availability, you can play every day from 9h to 21h. We can highlight that you can take part in the Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) ticket games and also benefit from attractive prizes as long as you manage to fill in four middle squares or 100% of the corner numbers on any given ticket.
- Last, but not least make sure you have a look at William Hill Bingo, too. Not only is this site truly respected, but it also provides you with the opportunity to play the 80 ball game in its so-called Party Room on any given day between 16h and 20h. On top of that, you will be able to enjoy one-hour BOGOF game at 19h, and the tickets cost just 5p.
So, all in all, 80 ball bingo is preferred by a lot of players because it is much speedier and at the same time, you can enjoy higher chances of winning. As a result of the fact that there are no two columns on the ticket which are coloured the same way, it is also not easy to make a mistake regarding the number that has been called.
This makes it possible to say “red sixteen” instead of “one and six-sixteen.” This is the main reason why traditional calling requires around 1.5 seconds more compared to 80 ball bingo.
Regarding Rules, Winning Patterns and Tickets
When it comes to the tickets, it is worth having in mind that in spite of the 4 columns and 4 rows you will not come across any free boxes. This means that each and every one of them is numbered (16 numbers in total per ticket). It takes 5 tickets to have a strip (5 x 16 = 80 numbers). What is specific about the strip is that it is not possible to have any of the numbers from 1 to 80 more than once.
As far as columns are concerned, we already shared that it is not difficult to find the numbers thanks to the different colours of each column (1st – red, 2nd – yellow, 3rd – blue, 4th – white/silver). Also, each column is designed to cover a specific range of numbers (1st – from 1 to 20, 2nd – from 21 to 40, 3rd – from 41 to 60, 4th – from 61 to 80).
Regarding winning patterns, it is good to know that there are multiple opportunities to win when you play 80 ball bingo. First, similar to the 90 ball variation you can go for 1,2,3 horizontal, diagonal or vertical lines, as well as a coverall. Second, following the logic of the 75 ball version you can also strive for covering a specific pattern based on the operator and the room you happen to be playing at. It is quite often to get rewarded for covering either 4 middle squares or 4 corners.
In addition to this, take into consideration that there are operators that provide awards only for one particular type of the winning combinations whereas others might have all the types. In any case, you can find out in advance what the situation is by checking out the patterns that will be shown next to the prizes.
The Beginning
There are many people who are curious to learn more about the origin of 80 ball bingo. In fact, this type of bingo used to be one of the shutter board games and brick-and-mortar casinos.
What happened was that players needed to close a slide instead of daubing or marking the numbers that were called out. This contributed to boxes getting greyed out to imitate the sliding of the shutters also when it comes to contemporary online bingo.
As a result of being more fast-paced, in most cases, the interval 80 ball bingo games were played before the beginning of the main session. For instance, usually, it takes between 3 and 4 minutes to complete an average 90-ball bingo game at Gala Bingo while 80 ball gaming sessions require 2 to 2 and a half minutes.
About the Very First Online Bingo Millionaire
The news about bingo winners spread quickly. The first person who became a millionaire as a result of playing bingo is Pauline Clarke who won £1,000,000 at the age of 62 by benefiting from the KerChingo promotion of Gala Bingo in 2007.
Despite preferring brick-and-mortar clubs, Pauline made up her mind to give online bingo a try. She made an initial deposit of £5 and another one two months later. Interestingly enough, it was when there were only 60p left that she chose to purchase a ticket that allowed her to join a qualifying game for the KerChingo jackpot.
What made the game dramatic had to do with the fact that one more player called bingo at the same time. Therefore they needed to take part in one more game even though both of them had won. On the finals, she succeeded in being the first one to call a line, and this is how she ended up winning £1,000,000.
As you can imagine, this was an extremely shocking and moving experience for Pauline who needed to beat the remarkable amount of 15,000 players so that she could win.
Which Sites to Choose?
When it comes to the best sites for playing 80 ball bingo, we can share that the game is available on sites that are running on various software – Gamesys, Virtue Fusion, and Cozy Games. Virtue Fusion is the ones that have invested additional time and efforts in creating and providing incredibly diverse winning combination and options.
However, you can try out an alternative to the popular land-based interval game also when you go to the other two providers. Regarding Gamesys software, you will come across multiple well-known operators that are run on it (including bingo with progressive jackpots, Sun and Heart or Fabulous). As far as Cozy Games are concerned, sites powered by them are Comfy, Scrummy, Bobs and Little Miss.
Top Choice Bingo Room
After we have checked the top sites for playing 80 ball bingo, it is worth recommending one particular bingo room we consider the best of the best. This is the bingo room at Mecca Bingo – Cashline.
What makes it so appealing, has to do with the opportunity to play it as a mini game even while you take part in a game in another bingo room.
If you decide to give it a try, have a look at the top left corners where you can see the selection of the so-called mini games. The room is available every day between 8h and 1h. You can buy and pre-buy up to 30 tickets. And as a result of the 7 types of games, there are also multiple winning combinations.
- The 1st type of game gives you the opportunity to compete for a House and win the one and only prize.
- The 2nd type is called the special game. When you play it, you do not need to fill all the boxes to end up winning, but there is still just one prize.
- The 3rd type of game is a mixture of the previous two. Therefore, there is the possibility of winning 2 prizes (for a special pattern or a house).
- When it comes to the 4th type of game, it goes hand in hand with 4 prizes based on some of the columns you daub when gaming.
- Regarding the 5th type, it is the so-called single line game as a result of which 1 prize is given whenever there is a diagonal, vertical or horizontal line.
- What is specific about the 6th type of game is that in addition to this it also offers a prize for a Full House.
- And last, but not least the 7th type of game provides chances of winning 4 prizes associated with a single line, 2 or 3 columns, as well as a Full House. On top of that, any player who manages to bingo in maximum 40 calls can enjoy the Windfall jackpot that amounts to £500.
What about Playing on Yahoo
There are more and more players who ask themselves what makes 80 ball bingo on Yahoo different from the other variations if there is a significant difference in the first place. What we can share is that the bingo provided by Playsino and available for users of Yahoo, Facebook, Kindle, and mobiles, in general, is not considered to be a gambling game. Instead, it is a funny game you play for free.
Even if you happen to make a deposit, it will result in you having access to more virtual features. So, you cannot expect any winnings when you play this type of bingo at Yahoo.
Conclusion
At the end of our article, we would like to once again encourage you to try out 80 ball bingo. Not only are tickets more than affordable, but there are fantastic prizes, and the games are truly fast-paced. As we shared above, choosing one of the top 4 bingo sites on our list is going to ensure you have a qualitative experience while benefitting from the possibility of winning lucrative prizes.
Until we meet again in one of our next articles, we wish you good luck and a lot of fun playing 80 ball bingo!
Other Types
In this section, you can view the rest of the most famous games in the world of bingo.