Bingo America
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| Bingo America | |
|---|---|
| Format | Game show |
| Starring | Patrick Duffy Crystal Wallasch |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 22 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | GSN |
| Original airing | March 31, 2008 - Present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | National Bingo Night, the predecessor |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bingo America is an American game show hosted by Patrick Duffy that premiered on GSN on March 31, 2008. It features two contestants who compete to win up to $100,000. Viewers can also print bingo cards at the GSN website and play along with the show to win money.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Main game
Two contestants, generally one male and one female (although both contestants can be of the same gender), compete. On each turn, a Bingo ball comes out of the giant hopper and a question is asked. Each ball has a number and a letter. If the question is answered correctly, he/she earns the letter from that ball (unless he/she already has earned that letter) and the number on the ball(1 to 75) is added in dollars to the bank, which starts each day at $500. The first player that spells out BINGO from the earned letters wins the game.
For the 2nd and 3rd weeks of the show's run, a "Quilted Northern" ball, with the logo of Quilted Northern toilet paper, acts as a wild card; the player which answers a question correctly when that ball is rolled out can choose any letter, and $100 is added to the bank. Other wild card-like balls are a red ball with the MoneyGram logo by MoneyGram and a blue ball with the Maxwell House logo by Maxwell House.
Two regular games are played; should a player win both, he/she wins the match and receives all the money in the bank. He/she then gets to play the Bingo Bonus Board.
If time runs short during a game, the remaining questions that game will have two answer possibilities given. If a player answers incorrectly at this point, credit for the question (and the given letter, if applicable) is automatically given to his/her opponent, but no money is added to the bank for that question (during the first two episodes, though, money was still added to the bank in this situation).
If the match is tied at a game apiece, a five-question tie-breaker game (ala Blockbusters) is played. The first question's answer begins with a B, the second question's answer starts with I, the third with an N and so on. The first to answer three questions correctly wins the money in the bank and plays the bonus round.
[edit] Bingo Bonus Board
The winner of the main game receives the opportunity to play the Bingo Bonus Board, which is a board consisting of 75 numbers. Behind each number is a cash amount or a prize, ranging anywhere from a junk prize (labeled as the "FUN" prize, which as of right now, could be either Pink's hot dogs or a pet rock), up to a grand prize of $100,000 cash. Every prize is repeated at least twice on the board. The player chooses a number one a time, and wins a prize when he/she chooses it twice.
Marine John Stefan was the first person to win $100,000 on April 11th, 2008, for a grand total of $101,447.
[edit] Printable bingo cards
Viewers are allowed to play along with the show by printing out bingo cards available from the GSN website. GSN characterizes the play-at-home portion as an "instant win sweepstakes".[1] After the taping of the show and all of the numbers, which are randomly drawn, have been recorded, a computer generates thousands of bingo cards, most of them losing. 100 winning cards are also created and mixed in with the rest. Viewers can then download and print the cards for the broadcast of the show a few weeks later. On the April 18, 2008 episode, members of the audience played along as well.
To win, players must mark each number on their card that is announced on the game show. The host repeats the numbers throughout the show. When a player gets a "bingo", they go to the GSN website to claim a prize.
All winning players earn $50. However, on Tax Day, and the second day of the show the prize was $100. Tax Day's $100 prizes was just a promotion by GSN, while night 2's $100 prizes was GSNs way of apologizing for being caught off-guard on the traffic Bingo Ameica would draw.
For the "Bonus Numbers" portion, home viewers mark their numbers off as the In Studio Player calls his or her "Lucky Numbers" during the Bonus Round.
GSN does not place winning numbers on its website after the airing of the episode, unlike the predecessor, National Bingo Night. Many websites, such as MyUSAPoker.com, update the numbers nightly for people who miss the show or are unable to watch the program for another reason.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- National Bingo Night, the predecessor
