Glossary of Bingo Terms

All pastimes have their own language, and bingo is no different. Here's our glossary of bingo terms to help you get to grips with all the "bingo lingo" you're ever likely to come across when playing online…

Admission
The fee charged by traditional bingo halls before you are allowed in. Admission to online bingo sites is free - you only pay to play!

Auto
Short for automatic. For example, an Auto Purchase option in some online bingo rooms will automatically buy you bingo cards for the next game.

Balls
Another word for "numbers", stemming from the traditional offline bingo practice of randomly drawing numbers painted on balls.

Blackout
The terms blackout, coverall and house all mean the same thing - to mark every number on any given bingo card.

Card
A bingo card (also referred to as a "bingo ticket") is a grid containing a unique set of random numbers. The player who is first to mark the numbers on their own card according the rules of the game is the winner.

Caller
A person who announces the numbers selected randomly during a game of bingo.

Chat Room
A virtual "room" in which online bingo players can "chat" to each other by typing messages using the computer keyboard and viewing replies on their screen. Many online bingo sites have several chat rooms to cater for different interests.

Coverall
The terms coverall, blackout and housel all mean the same thing - to mark every number on any given bingo card.

Dauber
A special bingo marker used to mark called numbers which, in the real world, is a large flat-tipped felt pen. Most online bingo sites offer an "auto daub" feature which marks your card automatically for you as the numbers are called.

Early Bird
The name sometimes given to the first bingo game of a session.

Eyes Down
The traditional prompt for players to get ready for the first number to be called, as in: "Eyes down for your first number…" The term can now be used to refer to the start of a game, as in: "Three minutes to go until eyes down."

Four Corner
A particular pattern which requires you to mark all four corner numbers on a card.

Game Board
A display board used to provide a visual record of all the numbers called during a bingo game. A virtual board is displayed in most online bingo rooms. The board may also show the pattern required to win in a game of pattern bingo.

Game Room
Some online bingo sites offer a number of different game rooms so that players can chat in smaller groups or choose to play a particular type of bingo game.

House
The terms house, blackout and coverall all mean the same thing - to mark every number on any given bingo card. The word house can also be used to refer to the bingo establishment itself.

Instant Win
A type of mini-game found at some online bingo sites (for example, a virtual scratch card) which gives the player the chance to win a cash prize instantly.

Jackpot
The main prize on offer in a particular game. All games have a standard jackpot, and some have a progressive jackpot, which is defined under the term Progressive.

Line
A line of numbers on a bingo card.

Lingo
A common term for bingo jargon, as in "bingo lingo"

Pattern
Pattern bingo requires you to daub the numbers on your ticket which cover a certain shape. This could be a simple Line or Four Corners, or something more complicated, such as a latter of the alphabet.

Payout
The amount of money that is paid out by a bingo site.

Pre-Purchase
To buy bingo cards in advance.

Progressive Jackpot
A jackpot which can only be won under certain conditions - for example, by creating a winning pattern before 35 balls have been called. If this is not achieved then the progressive jackpot is "rolled over" to the next qualifying game. Because progressive jackpots get progressively bigger, they can reach very high levels before being won.

RNG
An abbreviation for Random Number Generator which is used to select numbers at random. Traditionally these were physical machines using numbers painted on balls, but in the world of online bingo the RNG is a special piece of software code.

Session
The term used to describe a series of bingo games. For example, the "evening session" or "afternoon session" in a bingo club.

Shape
Another way to refer to the pattern required by pattern bingo.

Split Pot
If two or more players win a single bingo game on the same number, the prize money is split between them equally. In this situation the prize money pot is referred to as a "split pot".

Tickets
Another word for bingo cards.

Wrap
A word sometimes used to refer to the final game of a bingo session.