Rules for Playing Bingo Games on the Internet

This page covers basic rules for bingo games. You should also read the rules at your site.

Playing bingo games on the Internet is similar to playing at your favorite bingo parlor. Nearly all bingo sites also have live chatrooms, where you can request help from the site's customer service department and/or chat live with other players. Playing bingo on the Internet is fun and easy, and you can play free bingo games or cash games 24 hours a day at many of the sites listed in our guide.

The rules for playing bingo are fairly simple. The caller randomly pulls numbered bingo balls, #1 through #75, places the number up on the bingo board, and calls out the number. You are normally given a few seconds to locate the number on your bingo cards and mark them off. Online bingo games commonly use auto-daubers, which automatically mark your card for you.

Typical bingo cards have five rows and columns with a random selection of numbers. The "B" column contains random numbers between #1 and #15, "I" has #16 to #30, "N" has #31 to #45 (containing a free space in the center), "G" has #46 to #59, and "O" has #60 to #75. If you are the first to complete the numbers in a pattern according to the rules of the particular game, you yell "Bingo!" and win the prize for the game. There are many common Bingo patterns that may be used, so pay close attention to the pattern in effect for your game.

When playing bingo on the Internet, your bingo cards are randomly selected for you by the computer. Most bingo sites allow you to choose the number of cards you would like to play for each game of bingo. The game pattern is also displayed on your screen, so you know which bingo pattern you must complete to win the game. Some patterns are easy to complete, which will make for a very short game. Others are more difficult and will take many calls to complete. The most common bingo patterns are straight lines in a horizontal, vertical or diagonal direction.