Talk:Bingo (U.S.)

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Bingo (U.S.) article.
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It has been proposed the this article be merged with Housie in Bingo. Please discuss here. (Please avoid confusing discussion by making comments about the merger only at Talk:Bingo (disambiguation). Madeinsane 00:52, 13 December 2006 (UTC)


Contents

[edit] Rules

These bingo rules are not the same as the bingo rules I am familiar with. Where I come from:

  • The card bears a five-by-five array of numbers (or several such arrays), except for the middle cell, which is a "free space".
  • The numbers range from 1 to 75. The left-hand column of the card has numbers in the range 1 to 15; the second column from the left has numbers in the range 16 to 30, etc. Above the columns are the letters B-I-N-G-O.
  • Numbers are called as "I-18", "O-71", etc.
  • The "canonical" win is any row, column, or diagonal. However, variations are common.

The rules listed above appear to be the most common rules in the United States.

I added something about what I called North American rules, but which are really the rules in southern Ontario, which are the only rules I know, so if anyone knows better than me about American rules, please fix that part up. Trontonian 17:49, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I changed North American to Canadian and American. I have no idea what Mexican bingo is like. Trontonian

Mexican bingo is referred to as chalupa, and uses the same basic rules as for American bingo. However, the playing card is a 4X4 array, with images of simple items used instead of numbers. Images are such as "El Catrin" (The Gentleman), La Botella (The Bottle), El Alacran (The Scorpion), etc. Images are called from a deck of card which contains 56 different images. This simpler set of possibilities allows for a quicker pace. Typically the winner of the round has the option of calling the cards for the next round.

I think you're talking about Loteria. ~ trialsanderrors 22:11, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mechanised bingo, and basic rules

I've added a little about mechanised bingo and more about the rules of bingo. It would take a readjustment of the page to include all the major rules for bingo. Also I am only adding what I know from Working in the Bingo industry as a main stage caller, so all of my info is from UK bingo. If you want to know more or have any articles about bingo you want adding to just let me know.

Arlechinio 00:10, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

For Bingo calls, I seem to recall one '__ dozen'. Obviously if I could recal how many dozen, I would know which number...


[edit] Politically correct bingo sayings..?

Has the kill-joy PC brigade in the UK banned sayings, like "two fat ladies" for the number 88?

No, they still say it. Where did you get that from?--Jcvamp 19:03, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
They don't say it in most commercial bingo halls in the UK, such as those owned by Gala Bingo, but this is mainly because of time efficiency, rather than political correctness. When it is played in church halls, social clubs and other similar settings, the nicknames are retained. There is a link between the use of an electronic RNG to generate numbers, and not using the nicknames. Madeinsane 19:58, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Some of the caller slang doesn't quite seem right

Does anyone ever call "Legs eleven, eleven"? In my experience, it's always just "Legs eleven", in which case the list should give simply "Legs" for consistency. Similarly, what about "Sweet" and "Blind"?

And why have the generic calls (All the fours, etc.) been given alongside a few of them, but not others?

The generic call for all the single figures is "On its own, number". Is the word "number" sometimes omitted only in the case of 1?

But then again, I've never played in a bingo hall, only in informal games for small prizes, so I don't know how much difference that would make.... -- Smjg 16:51, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

I've added a few more calls based on this list. Should we add them all? Would that be too much? Should Caller Slang get its own page? -- FeldBum 17:55, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Housie slang?

I realize that they are similar games, but should "housie" slang be in the housie article instead?

It seems to me that all variants probably ought to be in the same article, as they're not that different. — sjorford (talk) 15:28, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
I would support the articles being recombined. The differences are too minor to justify separate articles. 2005 20:10, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
There is a more extensive discussion on the talk:Bingo (disambiguation) page. Madeinsane 20:00, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Online bingo

Is there online bingo in the U. S. or Canada? I left the bit about it in because I don;t know. I removed the references to Scandinavian games, though, because they're obviously not relevant. John FitzGerald 01:32, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Online bingo in the US does currently exist but soon may not. The online gambling industry worldwide has taken a big blow since the amendments to the Safe Port Act, passed by the US Congress in Fall 2006 and subsequently signed into law by the President. See this link and the main Online bingo and Online gambling articles. Madeinsane 15:01, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] History

Where and when did it originate?Andycjp 08:58, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

is it useful to have an etymology for the term? I came to this article to check if my hunch was correct. I mean, I have no sources or anything, but it seems to me that "bingo" comes from the Latin vinco, "I win". seems that Bs and Vs are pretty similar.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.251.230.51 (talk) 16:28, 12 December 2007 (UTC)