Bingo Terminology

Every specialized area of human life tends to carry its own distinct set of terms be it from sports to science to games such as Bingo. Bingo has its own number of specific terms which are commonly used and which you will inevitably encounter so it’s better to have an idea of what people may be talking about, here’s a short list of the most common ones.

“One player” means that a player has to mark only one more number in order to win.

“Buy in/minimum buy in” refers to a minimum number of cards that one needs in order to be qualified as a player in said game. Implicitly it refers to the least amount of money that one will have to spend in order to enter the game and have a chance at the prize.

The “caller” is a very important person in the game even though he or she doesn’t play. This is the person who calls out the numbers as they are drawn, as well as verifies the cards after “BINGO” is called.

“Coverall” or “Blackout” is a type of Bingo game in which in order to win the players have to cover all the numbers on their bingo cards, it’s not a very common type of Bingo but the term comes up. Usually fifty to sixty of the seventy-five bingo numbers have to be called in order to cover all the numbers on a card.

The “dauber” is an ink-filled bottle/pen with a foam tip on it used to mark called numbers. When you touch the bingo card with the foam tip it marks the entire square.

“Six-pack” and “nine-pack” refer to the number of numbers on a bingo card during a game.

“Wrap up” usually means ending the game.

It’s also worth mentioning the fact that Bingo is played at many times of day and this has lead to specific terms given to each type of game for example: Moonlight Bingo starts when the moon can be seen and Early Bird Bingo starts very early in the morning.

As it happens with any other game, in order to be a respected Bingo player you’ll need to know all of these terms, however thankfully Bingo terminology is easy to understand and to pick up. However don’t forget the main reason that you’re doing it is to have fun and to get to know other people and socialize.