Bingo Bonuses

Like any game, bingo contains its share of specialized vocabulary and slangy expressions. The difference in bingo – online or in real-life hall – is the argot’s sheer extensiveness: After all, the game can be played with 90 balls and each of these has at least one alias to its credit! Get the know some slang before entering any online bingo hall; if not to sound cool, at least to gain an inkling of what the hell people are chatting.

First off are a few pre-game terms. The “dauber,” as the more, um, seasoned of bingo players know is that little white bottle used to mark the called numbers on your card. In the virtual version, this naturally refers to the cursor which serves the electronic function. The “game board,” not to be confused with “game card,” is a board that shows the game type (see below for examples) and pattern needed to win. Your fellow players are typically referred to as “roomies,” as in the “bingo rooms” online, and chat monitors employed by the online casinos are “CMs.”

While playing, beware the roomie who is “on” (or maybe that should be “ON,” as the expression is said to derive from the term “One Number”), because he/she is about to bingo. In blackout, all that’s needed is the “wait,” or that last remaining uncovered numbers. And if someone laments a “six-pack” or “nine-pack,” it’s not because he/she is a teetotaler, but rather that a mostly useless pattern of two or three consecutive dots running in neighboring columns or rows.

As for the games, you might play the well-known “Blackout” (or sometimes “Coverall”) in which you have to cover all numbers on the card; a derivative is the wacky “Texas Blackout,” where either all odd numbers or even numbers are covered on the first number called. “Speed Bingo” is pretty much what you’d expect, as is “Speed Blackout.” “Hardway Bingo” is nearly identical to standard bingo, except all cards are without the “free space” in the center spot.

The patterns that appear on bingo cards also have specific names, and some bingo halls even hold games based on the more popular shapes. Indeed, “Hardway bingo” was first an expression to describe scoring a bingo on any line or column without the free space. The “Letter X Bingo” speaks for itself, while the “Picnic Table Bingo” looks the same, with the top row covered as well. The “Postage Stamp” indicates all four corners daubed, while the “Jailbar Bingo” means the player has covered all numbers in the B, N, and O columns.

Then there are the numbers. Some of the pet names here are intuitive enough (“Valentine’s Day” for 14, “Hawaii five-oh” for 50, “Heinz” for 57) and others are easily learned (“The Beatles’ Number” is called when it’s 64, and the wonderful “Two fat ladies” for 88). And you gotta love the highbrow references in “Those Famous Steps” for 39 and “The Lord is my Shepherd” for 23. (Shouldn’t that be worked into “Michael Jordan”?) Those not adept at Cockney rhyming slang – via which most of the numbers were rechristened – will simply have to learn them through usage. Seriously, “chopsticks” for 6 is easy enough, but “Danny LaRue” for 52? “On your knees” for 43? “Tweak of the thumb” for 51?

When it comes to bingo number slang, here’s the advice: Google it and keep a separate window open while playing. In the meantime, remember that “Torquay in Devon” isn’t actually an invite...