OBJECTIVE OF CARD BINGO: Be the first player to make a Bingo! by having all cards turned face down.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-10 players
NUMBER OF CARDS: 2 standard 52-card decks
TYPE OF GAME: Bingo
AUDIENCE: All ages
OVERVIEW OF CARD BINGO
Bingo is a popular game in which players have cards with random numbers and letters ( from B-I-N-G-O) on it. A caller calls out letter/number combinations and the first player to fill up a row, column, or diagonal wins by calling Bingo! This game can also be played with two decks of cards.
BASICS OF BINGO
There can be up to 10 players and a caller, however, the caller may also be a player (but this is not preferred).
From one of the decks, each player is given five cards face-up. In games with 8 or fewer player, six cards or more may be dealt. From a second shuffled deck, the caller picks cards one at a time from the top and calls them out. For example, a caller may say “10 of Hearts,” and if a player has a 10 of hearts in their set-up they flip that cards over so that it is face down. The first player whose cards are all face-down is the winner, however, they must yell Bingo! (or Bango! or Hoy!, depending on what players refer to the game as) before all other players to win.
If playing for prizes or cash, have the caller check the supposed winner’s cards to ensure they are not cheating.
VARIATIONS
Thirteen Card Bingo
Adding more decks to the game allows for larger setups (or bingo cards) and/or more players.
Bingo with Bets
In this version of card bingo, cards are ranked in a similar fashion as in Blackjack (and suits are ignored):
Face cards: 10 points
Aces: 11 points, 15 points, or 1 point
2-10 (number cards): face value
To start, players pay an ante. Players are all dealt five cards, face-down, and five are dealt to the table. The five cards on the table are revealed one at a time with betting rounds in between- these are the “common cards.”
The dealer then flips over the first common card and any card in a player’s hand that matches the common card is discarded. The first player to discard all their cards wins the pot. If this does not occur, the winner is determined by totaling the sum of cards left in their hands according to the scheme described above.
This can be played high hand wins, low hand wins, or Hi/Lo, where the highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot.
No Suit Bingo
Suits may be ignored in basic card bingo. The caller can just call out, “King,” for example. This variation speeds the game up and can be useful in games with a small number of players. It is more common in this variation to have simultaneous winners.
Online Bingo
Don’t have time to head to the Bingo hall? No worries! You can play Bingo online from the comfort of your home. There are tons of different online Bingo providers that offer a huge variety of different games. Here are a few solid online Bingo sites.
Jackpot Bingo
This variation is also played with two decks, with up to 4 players, and suits are ignored.
Prior to each deal, players place a single stake to the main pot and a double stake to the jackpot.
After shuffling the decks together, the dealer deals each player 6 cards, face-down, and 12 cards face-down to the jackpot pile. These cards are dealt one at a time (two at a time to the jackpot pile) with betting rounds in between.
The dealer exposes cards from the jackpot pile one at a time, calling out their rank. Like most variations of card bingo, players discard cards of equal rank as the card called. If a player is able to discard all their cards and call “Bingo!”, they receive the main pot and the jackpot.
If the jackpot is dry and no one has won, the dealer continues calling cards from the stock. Players discard cards of equal rank as before. If a player discards all their cards and calls “Bingo!” they only win the main pot. The jackpot remains and continues to grow until it is won.
In the event the pack runs dry and there is no bingo, both pots remain and a new hand is dealt.
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