Hardly anybody has not heard of bingo and its traditional version called 90 ball bingo. There are multiple reasons why the game has become so widespread and liked worldwide. We are about to cover the main ones in this article. What is more important to start with has to do with the top 3 things to check before you start playing online. Although a lot of people believe they truly need to be crystal clear about the rules of the game in the first place, this might not necessarily be the most crucial factor.
Whether you agree or not, it is much more relevant to make sure you choose a good site to play at. Why? Well, some of the most critical aspects associated with playing bingo are related to how many jackpots are offered, how much the tickets cost, as well as what kind of wagering requirements need to be met to receive a bonus. And all of these three dimensions vary from operator to operator.
Furthermore, it is worth paying attention to the winning chances. Last, but not least you cannot afford the luxury of not knowing what you can do so that you can increase your chances of winning one of the three prizes.
What to Keep in Mind – Rules, Winning Patterns and Tickets
What helps to understand how to play 90 ball bingo is to get familiar with the ticket itself, as well as how the numbers are distributed. When it comes to the bingo ticket, it consists of 9 columns and 3 lines (or rows), each of which includes 5 numbers and 4 blank spaces.
Regarding the columns, have in mind that each of them covers different numbers. For instance, the 1st one includes the numbers from 1 to 9, whereas the 2nd one contains the numbers between 10 and 19. Blank and numbered boxes get distributed on a random basis. Therefore, it makes no sense to put effort into trying to figure out a particular pattern.
As far as rows are concerned, there are 5 numbers per row (15 in total). To make a strip, you need 6 tickets containing all the numbers (90 in total).
Having in mind how easier it is to daub a strip manually, it was not uncommon for players to buy whole strips when they played in brick-and-mortar halls. After all, having a strip enabled them to easier find each number and to be sure it is practically impossible not to daub any. On the other hand, when you play online 90 ball bingo, numbers get daubed automatically. So, it is up to you and your preferences whether you would choose to buy your tickets one by one or in strips.
Here is how playing 90 ball bingo works. As soon as the numbers get announced, the auto-daub function will start crossing off each number that was called out. If it is possible to daub numbers manually, you will also be free to do so by yourself. The first prize you will be competing for is the 1-line. This means that it is necessary to match all the 5 numbers on any given ticket line so that you can win.
As you can probably guess, you are likely to daub more than 5 numbers before the winner is announced. As a result of this, even if you have not won 1-line, you might need fewer numbers to daub when you start playing for the 2-line win. Regardless which particular 2 lines you end up matching, you will be given the prize.
Naturally enough, if you are the one who won in the 1-line round, chances of winning will be even bigger. However tempting it might seem to be a 1-line or 2-line winner, do not forget that it is the Full House winner who grabs the biggest prize. To be the one, you will need to be the first one to cover 100% of your numbers. Fortunately, unlike brick-and-mortar halls, it is not possible to miss bingo since the win gets claimed by a computer automatically when playing online.
Which Bingo Operators to Choose?
The first operator we would like to recommend if you are interested in playing 90 ball bingo is the website of Wink Bingo. There you can choose from 8 amazing rooms especially dedicated to this game. Although you will need to invest £1 or £2 to be capable of competing for the big jackpots, there are also tickets that cost 5p.
Regarding the availability of the rooms, we can say that it varies. For instance, the Yummy Mummies and the Bunny Club can be joined around noon time whereas Mixed Balls and Wild Winkers are not open until the late afternoon. As far as rooms that are accessible 24/7 are concerned, these are High 5, The Strip, Get Lucky and Naughty Numbers.
All in all, we can conclude that whether you have spare time in the morning, during the day or in the evening, it makes no difference. There will always be a new room you can benefit from. Also, it is nice to know that all games provide you with the opportunity to win a progressive jackpot. As long as you daub all your numbers in maximum 37 calls, you can be the winner.
Having in mind the fact that progressive jackpots happen to be accumulated over time, so do not be a surprise if they amount to a 5-figure number. In addition to this, such jackpots do not start building up from £0 when someone has won them, but from £100 or £500. As far as the welcome bonus at Wink is concerned, it equals £55.
Bet365, Mecca and 888Ladies also offer attractive welcome promos. Regarding the prices and the amount of 90 ball bingo rooms available, there are differences. At Wink, you can play 90 ball bingo at 12 rooms. As far as 888 Ladies are concerned, their ten rooms for playing 90 ball bingo are divided into four categories. The 1st one is free; the 2nd one requires an investment of around 1p, the 3rd one can be accessed at a minimum price of 5p, and the joining the 4th one costs at least 10p.
In addition to the ten traditional rooms for 90 ball bingo that you can come across when playing at Gala, you are capable of enjoying DOND, Coronation Street, Lucky Numbers and WWTBAM.
This is How it all Started Out
When it comes to the origins of 90 ball bingo, there are multiple hypotheses. The 1st one has to do with the medieval lottery game “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia” (“The Clearance of The Lot of Italy”). When bingo was introduced to France in the 18th century, it was called “Le Lotto,” but the ticket that was used was the same as the contemporary one for playing 90 ball bingo.
In addition to this, one century after that an adapted version of this game came in handy for educational purposes, this time in Germany. It enabled children to learn how to calculate and spell.
The 2nd hypothesis claims that back in the 19th-century women were not allowed to take part in gambling, so they managed to invent bingo as an alternative that did not have to do anything with dice. A game called Housey-Housey was quite popular among the British soldiers during the World War II.
Once the War was over, the game was brought back to the United Kingdom and was renamed to Tombola as a result of the instigation of the church. This is how people tried to stop giving out cash and to use prizes as a form of a win to dissociate this particular game from gambling. Having in mind the noble goal, even the church took the initiative to support the fundraising.
Once social gaming became legal in 1960 (Gambling Act) the very first brick-and-mortar clubs were established. Due to the popularity of modern television, there were not a lot of people going to the cinema, so such spaces were more and more used for playing the game. Even if later on people started using the US name BINGO, there were no changes introduced to the ticket or the rules of the game.
Real Life Examples of Record-Breaking Winners
Whether we talk about 90 ball bingo or any other type of game, it makes no difference. There are people who play on a continuous basis without ever winning a significant prize. And on the other hand, there are also players like Daryl Howe from Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire who won a jackpot amounting to £18,000 the very first time he ever tried out 90 ball bingo. C’est la vie.
What Daryl did included just opening an account at William Hill. He did so because he was bored and wanted to play bingo to entertain himself. However, he did not even wait to see how the game would finish. So, it is no wonder that he ended up being extremely surprised when he learned his ticket had won him a jackpot. 23 calls – this was some of calls it took him to win.
To illustrate how limited the chances of winning so fast are, William Hill had added some analogies on their site. They say that it is as likely to win in 23 calls as it is for the Natural History Museum to announce that dinosaurs died out due to their addiction to cigarettes – 93,400,706,414 to 1. Whether it was really about a beginner’s luck as Daryl Howe believes, or not, we will never know for sure.
Famous Variations 101
In addition to the standard rooms for playing 90 ball bingo, you can also come across bingo sites that provide access to branded rooms. Even though games such as Million Pound Drop, Coronation Street, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Lucky Numbers, Britain’s Got Talent and Deal or No Deal, use the standard rules of 90 ball bingo, they offer a special feature or a bonus round, too.
If you happen to be interested in Coronation Street, you will be delighted to learn that there are 3 bonus rounds. Their themes are based both on the popular show (The Rovers Return (1TG), Streetcars (BOGOF), and Weatherfield (2TG) and on other archived videos. Furthermore, Fred Elliot and Reg Holdsworth are the ones calling out the numbers.
On top of that, the rooms are designed in a way that enables you to feel what it is to be on the set of the soap opera. On the other hand, if you prefer Deal or No Deal Bingo (DOND), playing will provide you with the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the hit TV-show. Chris Tarrant calls out the numbers, and you can win four types of prizes.
In addition to the 1 Line, 2 Lines and Full House prizes, there is a special one which is associated with the bonus round. The person who succeeds in winning the Full House automatically qualifies for an extra game. This extra game includes answering to the ultimate question posed by the banker.
90 Ball Bingo Probabilities Formula Explained
For those of you who might be willing to gain clarity about their chances of winning each of the three types of prizes (Full House, 1 Line or 2 Lines) in a specific amount of marks, let us share the following function:
combin(15,m)*combin(75,c-m)/combin(90,m).Using the Microsoft Excel COMBIN function allows us to estimate mathematically what amount of luck we can objectively hope for. It gives back the amount of combinations associated with a certain number of items.
Let us compare how the situation looks like when we have daubed 5 numbers and when we have daubed 13 numbers. In the first case, it is practically almost impossible to end up covering a line since these 5 numbers might be distributed on 2 or 3 of the rows. On the other hand, when it comes to the case in which 13 numbers are covered, chances of winning are dramatically higher.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it possible to use to same ticket and numbers when playing all games?
It is not. Due to safety reasons, it is not possible to keep the same ticket or choose the numbers related to the next session. There are no two tickets that are the same. And this is good because in this way fair and random results are guaranteed.
Still, there is the possibility to pre-purchase tickets that will enable you to join the big games and compete for the jackpots. Having in mind that in most cases card can be pre-bought one week before the game, it is not even necessary to be at your computer during the game to end up winning.
Is it ok to ask the Chat Host to explain to me specifics about the rules in the cases I do not know why I did or did not win?
Yes, it is completely fine. This is what the Chat Host is about – to assist in whatever way necessary. Also, do not hesitate to interrupt the conversation in the chat. Even if everyone seems to know each other, we can ensure that nobody will be irritated. It happens all the time. In fact, it is not uncommon for roomies to support each other in the process of clarifying questions. Playing 90 Ball bingo, in general, goes hand in hand with being part of a supportive community.
What happens if I have already purchased a ticket but cannot stay until the end of the game?
As we shared in one of the previous sections when we told you the story about Daryl Howe, it makes no difference whether you are online or not during the game. Even if you are absent, you will still have the same chances of winning as everyone else. As soon as you log in after the game, you will be clear about the result of the game by checking out your cash balance.
If all the sites offer the same 90 ball bingo game, what is the reason for offering so various rooms?
While it might be true that playing 90 ball bingo is quite the same whatever site you go for, there are differences related to the prices of the tickets and some other features. For example, there are rooms especially designed to host BOGOF games or games for 1 TG winners (players who need 1 number to win). As a result of this, the different rooms contribute to having a wider range of options to choose from.
90 Ball Conclusion
To sum up this 90 ball bingo article, we would like to remind you that it is not a coincidence how many people from all over the globe enjoy playing 90 ball bingo a lot. As long as you manage to pick up a good operator (make sure to check the top 4 sites listed above) and inform yourself about the specifics like tickets, prices, and wagering requirements, it should not take you a lot of effort to start.
There are so many room variations to choose from, and you do not even need to be online while the game is taking place in order to end up winning. So, we encourage you to allow yourself to experience the joy of playing 90 ball bingo at least once.
Other Types
If you are not into mainstream things, 90-ball bingo may not be for you. Check one of the other varieties:
