90 Ball Bingo

Bingo is one of the oldest and certainly most popular games of chance played today and the fact that, in most cases, it is still essentially being played in its original form is testament to the games longevity. The modern game in its commercial form is represented by four major variations namely 90, 75, 80 and 30 ball bingo. Although one can find examples of each being played just about anywhere in the world, each is particularly popular in a specific global region. For example the subject of this article, 90 ball bingo, is traditionally more popular in the UK while 75 ball bingo is synonymous with the USA bingo scene. 90 ball bingo is the slowest of all bingo varieties and is considered by many to return the most value in terms of play time and win potential.

90 ball bingo, or Housie as it is also known, is played with cards marked with 3 horizontal rows and 9 vertical columns. The spaces formed by these divisions are randomly marked with numbers from 1 – 90. Each row is marked with 5 numbers and 4 blank spaces. The first column is reserved for numbers between 1 and 9, the second 10 to 19 and so forth. Each card will thus have only 15 numbers marked on it and may be bought in a “Strip” of 6 tickets which will then contain all 90 numbers.

These numbers are marked of on the cards as they are called by the “caller”. Traditionally these calls were made as balls numbered from 1 to 90 were drawn from a barrel which was rotated by hand between each draw. Later as these devices became increasingly sophisticated the draw process was automated with a random ball being pushed up a chute by compressed air. Today the draws are done electronically using a random number generator and the results are displayed on a LCD display.

So as each number is drawn it is marked or “daubed” off on the cards with a special marker known as a dauber. The object of the game is to be the first player to mark off either one or two entire rows or a “fullhouse” or entire cards numbers. The prize rankings are 1 line – third prize, 2 lines – second prize and fullhouse – first prize. This means that there are three winners in a 90 ball game and it is quite possible for one player to win more than one level.

Online bingo has additional features such as “auto daub” which automatically marks the numbers off on your cards as they are called. Although 90 ball bingo is the most popular UK, Australian and New Zealand bingo game it is played elsewhere and features regularly in US bingo site games stables. It is a lot slower to play and tends to build far more anticipation than the quicker games and is also the version that is the closest in play to the original bingo games dating from the turn of the 19th century. Where ever you are from though, 90 ball bingo remains one of the most enduring and popular forms of this great old game and will, no doubt, be with us for a long time to come.