75 Ball Bingo

75 Ball Bingo – From Our Brothers and Sisters Across the Big Pond

75 Ball Bingo Game

75 ball bingo is the version of this game, and there are many, which is most preferred by our brother and sister bingo players from across the Big Pond in the USA. It is also preferred version for Canadian players' and in a few other countries too. In the UK we like 90 ball bingo the most – but, we are living in a global community and 75 ball bingo has quite successfully transitioned into the online bingo space. It appears to have cemented a place for itself popularly with UK players, and this is hardly surprising because it is just as easy to play. Some players prefer the game as it allows for more variety, so let's have a brief look at how it is played.

Like many games, bingo has its early roots in Europe and when it was brought to the USA and played in country fairs, the game developed into a 'racier' version of the traditional UK variant. If you think about it logically, many things become racier when they are re-invented in the USA!

Besides only being played with 75 balls, the major difference in this game is the bingo card. The card or ticket, depending on what you like to call it; is laid out in a 5 x 5 column and row grid. This makes this game conducive to creating patterns, although 80 ball bingo is also played in a pattern format. The 75 ball bingo card has centre square which is a free space in every game that is played. The top horizontal column is not surprisingly marked "B I N G O"; and the first horizontal column falls into the "B" space. This is reserved for the numbers from 1 – 15, the second column 16 – 30, third 31 – 45 and so on, where the last column is for numbers 61 – 75. This basically helps players to know where to look for the random numbers on the card when they are called.

Many standard patterns are used, such as four corners for speed bingo (when only 30 balls are used), crosses, diagonals, bowties, champagne glasses, Christmas trees, Easter eggs and so on. There are hundreds of these patterns - obviously many are seasonal. Then there is the coverall pattern, this is one of the hardest games to win, also often with the biggest prizes.

We often see 75 ball bingo game played in the coverall format for massive money prizes, even up to £1 million! What makes these prizes so hard to win is the fact that the coverall must be completed in a minimum number of calls. Firstly the coverall pattern is self explanatory, it means every square on the grid contains a number and all must be marked off as they are called. If the minimum calls to win the maximum prize is 24 calls, winning is not completely impossible, but is almost impossible. Certainly there is no harm trying to win, and this makes the game more exciting.