75 Ball vs 90 Ball

In a recent online bingo room chat conversation, players were asked whether they had a preference for playing 75 ball or 90 ball bingo games. Apart from the usual comments that some preferred 75 ball because the patterns add a touch of variety to the game, and that some preferred 90 ball because it was the game they had grown up with, one player said something that we think is worth exploring.

"I play 75 ball bingo because it gives me a better chance of winning," the lady in question said.

Someone else asked what she meant, and the lady responded that her chances of winning must be higher because 75 ball bingo only uses 75 balls. According to her logic, the more balls that are used in a game, the less chance she has of winning, so naturally she preferred to play 75 ball bingo instead of 90 ball bingo.

This argument might sound logical, but it really isn't. This is because bingo is not a game played against the house, but against your fellow bingo players. And in any game of bingo, all players have exactly the same chance of winning. The only way a player can increase their odds is by purchasing more tickets than their opponents, and this applies regardless of how many balls are used in the game.

What we can say about 75 ball bingo games is that they often take less time to finish than 90 ball games, because there are 15 fewer balls that can be called. This means that players can enjoy a slightly higher number of games per hour and will therefore tend to win more frequently, but only because they are playing more frequently, and not because 75 ball bingo offers any other advantage.

The bottom line then, is that whilst you may have a preference for 75 ball or 90 ball bingo based on the game rules themselves, or the speed at which the games are played, your chance of winning are not affected by the game you choose to play. The only variables that determine the odds of you winning are the total number of cards in play and the number of cards you are playing personally. As far as probability is concerned, everything else is pretty much irrelevant.

30th January 2008