Play Bingo and Win

Americans sure love their Bingo! Every day you can find people playing Bingo at clubs and at churches. Bingo has been a popular game since it was invented in 1929 by a traveling salesman named Edwin Lowe.

If you're one of these people, or, you want to be, you'll want to learn how to play Bingo and win!

The game of Bingo is played using numbered score cards, markers, a set of numbered/lettered balls, and a caller's cage. Each of the numbered score cards has the word "BINGO" printed across its top. Below each letter is a row of five random numbers. Each Bingo card has twenty-four number spaces and one free space on it. To play Bingo and win, you need to mark five number spaces under the letters. These spaces can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal.

However, before you can mark any numbers under the letters, you have to wait on the caller. You see, inside the caller's cage are many balls. Each ball has a number and a letter on it that corresponds to the number and the letter on each of the cards. The caller mixes the balls up, then pulls them out, one at a time. He/she calls out the letter and the number.

Now, here is where you can play Bingo and win. The cards you'll be playing with in a Bingo game are numbered and lettered. The "B" column contains only numbers from one to fifteen; the "I" column only contains numbers from sixteen to thirty; the "N" column only contains four numbers from thirty-one to forty-five; in the middle of this column is the "free space".;the "G" column contains only numbers from forty-six to sixty. And lastly, the "O" column contains only numbers from sixty-one to seventy-five.

As the Bingo caller announces each letter and number, you'll need to check your card. If you have the letter/number combination on your card, you then mark the square. The game continues on in this fashion until one or more of the players have five spaces marked. To play Bingo and win, once a player has five space marked, he or she yells out, "Bingo!"

At that time, an official of the Bingo game will check all of the winning cards. If they do indeed match the numbers that the caller announced, the players wins a cash prize. Usually, if more than one person wins, the prize money is divided up among the winners.

Just like Poker, Craps, and Black Jack, you probably think the game of Bingo is simply a game of chance. Mainly it is. But you can actually improve your chances of winning a little by doing just two things:

1. Pay Close Attention
As the caller announces each letter/number combination, pay close attention. Check your cards twice, and keep them marked.

2. More Cards, More Chances
It's obvious that the more cards you play, the more chances you have to play Bingo and win. If you can watch more than one card at a time, then play several.