Bingo Basics
Bingo is a very popular game in the UK and is sometimes known as housey housey. The game can be played between players at home, between players in a bingo house with an official calling out the numbers, or even online nowadays. Bingo is a gambling game and its origin is unknown.
In bingo players have cards or tickets that are laid out in three lines of nine squares each, with each row containing five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains one, two or in some rare cases three numbers.
The first column contains any combination of the numbers one-nine, the second column from ten-nineteen, the third 20-29 and so on till the last column with numbers eighty-ninety. The caller calls out numbers and checks the winning tickets, the prize or prizes for each game are usually announced at the beginning, players either call out when they have a line of numbers, two lines, or all fifteen numbers which is a full house, which is where the name housey housey comes from.
The order varies from country to country; in the UK it is one line, 2 and then full house, in New Zealand it is quite common to claim for three lines. In the UK there is a National Bingo Game, where it is only a full house that wins.
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