Bingo is a game of matching numbers with corresponding numbers on a card. The card usually consists of 25 boxes (5×5) to be marked off.
In order to win a game of bingo a person must make a designated pattern. Generally the caller in the bingo hall will tell the players what pattern they are trying to make before the game begins. There are a plethora of patterns but only 3 major rules of patterns.
Static
A static pattern is one that cannot be changed or moved around the card. For instance, if a the pattern is the letter C (top 5 boxes across, bottom 5 across, and the left most vertical row) and it’s static then if a person makes a letter U (which would be the C pattern rotated 90 degrees, then they do not win). Only the designated static pattern can be a winner.
Crazy
Crazy is exactly what static is not. The pattern can be rotated 90, 180, or 270 degrees to form the winning pattern.
Wild
This type of pattern retains a certain shape but can be anywhere on the bingo card. For instance, a simple line can be formed in 5 rows across, and 5 columns vertically. It’s not necessarily restricted to a certain row unless the caller deems it to be.
There are literally hundreds of pattern ranging from the letter C, to the letter Y, to crosses, to four corners, to clocks, to a block of 9 squares, to every square but one, to every square.
The pattern of every square on the board is sometimes called “blackout” and is usually a jackpot game. Meaning that the winner of this game will win the jackpot prize, whatever that may be. The game is usually played in a certain number of calls. If a winner hasn’t been found after the call number, most likely 49, then there’s not winner. In progressive jackpot games the jackpot increases each game a winner is not found.
Patterns are the most important part of the game of bingo. They determine how each game should be won and can vary wildly. This keeps the game fun and interesting.
