The Game of Bingo

Who hasn’t heard of the game called Bingo?  We played it at parties, at casinos and at church functions.  This is a very common game and a game of chance.  For those who are not familiar with this game, it is played like this.  Everyone playing has a card with the word Bingo across the top and columns of number below each letter.  

Numbers are printed on ping pong balls and are taken from a drum where each player matches that number to those on their card.  The goal in this game is to achieve a  pattern using the numbers drawn as in vertically, horizontally or diagonally.  The winner calls out the word “Bingo” when they have one of these patterns and a new game begins. 

Today’s bingo has many variations since its invention and one game calls for all the numbers to be matched  called a black out. The common bingo card contain 25 squares, five horizontal rows and five vertical rows. Sometimes there is a “free” space, usually the middle square. How the numbers are called can vary in many way.  Whatever method is used, they all generate a random flow of numbers.