Glossery to Bingo

Admission
To be suitable to enter a bingo hall and participate in a bingo game.
Admission Packet
A minimum number of cards that you must purchase as the price of admission. Typically an Admission Packet contains three to six card for every regular game, and sometimes for special games.
After Game
The game played at the end of a regular session of play.
Ball Gate
It is a part of the ball dispensing machine - the one-way flap at the top of the 'ball runway' under which the ball passe to enter the main play area.
Ball Lifter
The mechanism used to raise the ball from under the playfield to the 'ball shooter' tip.
Ball Runway
The channel where the ball is launched by the ball shooter to enter the main play area.
Ball Shooter
The spring loaded plunger with a rubber tip used to launch the ball into the playfield area.
Basket Bingo
Bingo game where "basket" prizes are given.
Bingo Board
An electronic display board that lights up to show each number as it is called.
Bingo Books / Booklets
A number of different colored bingo sheets/cards bound together to form a book/booklet to be played one for each game at a bingo session. They are usually bound in the order in which they will be played.
Bingo Card
A card containing 24 numbered spaces and one free space, with which you play BINGO. The numbers are assigned at random on each card and are arranged in five columns of five numbers each by five rows - 25 in all. The numbers in the B column are between 1 and 15, in the I column between 16 and 30, in the N column (containing four numbers and the free space) between 31 and 45, in the G column between 46 and 60, and in the O column between 61 and 75. Players have thousands of unique (unduplicated) cards to choose from. Some manufacturers print unduplicated series of 6,000 cards and some 9000. Hard cards and Flimsy cards have a series number printed on them. For example, card number 1252 will always have the same numbers in the same spaces.
Bingo Marker
A crayon or ink dauber that is used to mark or cancel out the numbers on a bingo game card.
Blackout
(Also, Coverall) A pattern where you must cover the whole card to win.
Blower
A forced-air device that mixes the bingo balls and dispenses them to the caller who announces the number and displays it How to play Bingo on a bingo board.
Bonanza Bingo
A progressive coverall Jackpot that is usually played as the 13th game of the session. Forty-five numbers are drawn before the session and players mark them on separate cards and set them aside. The countdown begins at 48 numbers or less and goes up one number per week to 52 numbers or until won. The amount of the jackpot is determined by card sales for that game. There is an additional fee to play this game, usually $1.
Break open
A multi-ply card, made completely from paper or paper products, with perforated break open tab or tabs. The game play area of the card is covered to conceal a number(s), letter(s) and/or symbol(s); some of which have been designated in advance as prize winners.
Buy-in
Buying bingo cards or an Admission Packet.
Caller
The person who calls out the bingo numbers as they are drawn.
Cash-In-Prize
A form of bingo where the prize is a cash payout.This is taken from the money put in.
Casino Night (Also, Vegas Night)
An event held for a specific period of time (generally beginning in the afternoon and ending by midnight) during which a qualified organization is entitled to hold casino-style gaming events. Games include: Pulltabs, bingo, roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, gin rummy, five card stud poker, and merchandise wheels.
Chat Room
A handy monitor or screen where you can read and exchange instant electronic messages with other players.
Consolation Prize
The prize or prizes offered on some special games if there is no winner in a predetermined number of calls.
Coverall
(Also Blackout) A pattern where you must cover the whole card to win.
Dauber
Bingo dauber is 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 square.
Early Bird Game
A bingo game that starts earlier than another regularly scheduled game. But sometimes the Early Bird game is merely the first game of the session and is also commonly known as a Warm Up.
Face
Is the individual bingo sheet containing 24 numbers plus the free space in the middle.
Flimsy, Flimsies
Bingo cards printed on thin sheets of paper.There are usually three cards printed on a single sheet but flimsies are also printed in one, two, four, six or 9-card formats. Typically a flimsy sheet costs one or two dollars and a win on a flimsy on a special game usually pays quite a bit more than a win on a regular game. Also called 'Throwaways' in some areas.
Four Corners
A pattern where you must cover 4 corner numbers of the card. If you get those four numbers, you win.
Free Space
The center square of the card, which does not have a number assigned to it. It's like a Joker or a Wild square. You get it free every game and it counts towards your winning pattern.
Game Board
An electronic display that is attached to the bingo board to show the pattern needed to win that particular game.
Game Room
Some online games divide the players into game rooms.
G.T.I., T.E.D.
An electronic dauber system used to play multiple packs at once. These usually require a rental fee and only one is allowed per player.
Hard Card
A bingo card printed on heavy cardboard material usually with shutters to cover each number as it is called out.
Hard way Bingo
Bingo in a straight line without the use of the free space.
House
A casino or gambling center. Also the property owners or the operators of a gambling game.
Inlaid Card
A pre-printed card, usually in 4x4 format laid into a table. Black discs are used to cover the numbers as they are called out.
Instant Bingo
A break open ticket which contains the letters B I N G O, bingo card faces, bingo numbers, and no other symbols.
Jackpot
A big prize usually awarded for achieving a difficult pattern, such as a blackout, within a specified number of balls.
Late Night Bingo (Also, Moonlight Bingo)
Session of bingo that starts late at night, usually about 10:00 pm.
Lucky Jar (or Cookie Jar)
A container with cash. You win the contents of the lucky jar if you bingo on the lucky number. The lucky number is usually the first number called at the beginning of a session. Money is added to the jar every time the lucky number is called or if the caller makes a mistake in announcing the game. Usually you can win the lucky jar only on regular games.
Main Stage Bingo
The main event of a session of bingo, and the one that attracts most customers.
Minimum Buy-in
The least amount you must spend to be eligible for prizes.
Moonlight Bingo
Session of bingo that starts late at night,usually about 10:00 pm.
Money Ball
A number drawn before the game that will double a player's winnings if bingo is hit on that number.
Multiple Winners
Two or more players bingo (win) at the same time. When this happens, the cash prize is divided among them.
Mushroom
A group of bingo displays which takes its name from its shape - it has a narrow tubular base and a wider head with the machinery used to play the game and collect money from players. Customers sit around the mushroom to play, and there are usually 6 to 8 positions at each.
On
A player is said to be 'On' when one or more cards they are playing has only one number missing for a bingo.
On The Way
The game played on the way or prior to the blackout game on the same card.
Pattern
The shape you need to cover on your card with called out numbers, usually it is in a straight line; horizontal, vertical and diagonal.
Parti
Short for participation bingo, a type of slot bingo or cash bingo where the prize is cash. It depends on the number of players since the cash prize is at least 50% of the money paid in.
Payout
The percentage of sales paid out by the House. The average payout among all bingo halls is approximately 75 percent.
Postage Stamp Pattern
Matching four numbers to form a postage stamp (a 2 x 2 grid) in any of the four corners.
Prize Bingo
Until recently this game was only played for a set prize or vouchers. Recent changes in UK law mean that now the prize may be cash of up to £15.
Progressive Jackpot
A Jackpot that gets bigger until it is won. It keeps building daily, weekly, or monthly if it is not won in a specific number of calls. If there is no winner in X number of calls,consolation prize(s) of lesser dollar amounts are paid.
Quickie
Numbers are called as quickly as possible and the card must be completed fully to win Bingo.
Rainbow Pack
A paper pack that allows players to play for three or four different prize denominations at once.
Reno Night
An evening of casino games like blackjack and roulette. These are sometimes held in bingo halls but more often in restaurants, hotels, Eagles & Elks clubs and other fraternal organizations.
RNG
Random Number Generator; the electronic machine used to pick the numbers randomly for a game of bingo.
Serial Number
The minimum five-character number printed by a manufacturer on each set of charity game tickets/cards. Each ticket in a set contains the same serial number.
Series
Indicates the number of unique faces that a single set will contain. For example: a 9000 Series has 9000 unique faces.
Session
An entire evening or daytime program of bingo consisting of regular games usually played on hard cards and special games played on throwaways, flimsies or paper sheets.
Shutter Board
A hand-held re-usable plastic board with pre-printed numbers, usually in a 4x4 format. These numbers are marked off by closing shutters over them.
Six-pack, Nine-pack
Six or nine numbers in a block on one card.
Special
Games that usually are played with a different set of cards than the pack purchased at admission.
Speed Bingo
A variation of regular bingo. Numbers are called very quickly and you can bingo in as few as three numbers.
Speed Game
A coverall that is called very quickly. It is sold as a special game one card at a time.
Split Pot
A bingo game in which the winner splits the sales of the game (the pot) with the bingo hall or House.
Table Board Bingo
Table Board Bingo is a lottery scheme where players purchase the Table Board card and win prizes by being the first to complete specified arrangements or patterns of numbers on the Table Board Bingo device from numbers selected at random.
T.E.D., G.T.I.
An electronic dauber system used to play multiple packs at once. These usually require a rental fee and only one is allowed per player.
Texas Blackout
A variation of bingo. The first number called will be either odd or even. If the first number called is Even then all the even numbers on all your cards are Wild (Jokers). Cover all the even numbers. So also for odd numbers. The game then proceeds to a blackout.
Throwaways
Same as Flimsies.
Tickets
These are printed pages on which the main stage bingo is played. They are laid out in grids and normally come in books. Some tickets have bar-codes which describe the numbers on them and are used to help check claims.
Validation
Eligibility required to win additional jackpot amounts. Price varies by number of cards played.
Vegas Night
Same as Casino Night
VFW or V.F.W.
Veterans of Foreign Wars (re: Bingo Halls)
Wild Number
Usually played on a double bingo that leads into a triple bingo. The first number out of the hopper determines the wild number; for example, if 42 is drawn, all numbers ending in 2 should be marked off.
Wrap Up
The name of the last game of a session.