First of all, bingo’s a globally popular game as it’s simple and fun. It brings hours of entertainment to the young and old alike, and sometimes, you may just walk away with a nice cash prize – click and play.
However, bingo is strictly a game of luck and it’s impossible to come up with a definitive strategy to win. This is because the numbers are picked by a RNG (random number generator) if you’re playing online, or drawn by a machine if you’re playing in-house.
However, even though you can’t guarantee victory every time, there are factors you can control to improve your chances.
Set a financial limit
Although this may not be the most glamorous plan, it’s an important factor to consider before you playing. Not knowing your financial limits will make it harder to gauge what you’re spending in one sitting which can lead to bigger problems.
Bingo can be addictive, and the lure of playing ‘just one more game’ is strong. If you set yourself a cap, you’ll know when the time comes to call it a day.
Choose your times carefully
If it’s feasible for you to do so, choose to play between 8am and 4pm, between Monday and Friday. There are fewer people in the bingo rooms as most people have work commitments. With fewer competitors, your chances of winning evidently increase.
However, if you’re looking to scoop the really big prizes, this may not appeal to you. The bingo sites usually reduce the amount of money that can be won during “off-peak” times. Even so, if you’re looking to win a prize of any kind, play during the day and see if you can sweep the board!
Know which game to play
Evidently, different people enjoy different styles of bingo. There’s no style which is easier to win, or more likely to improve your odds. However, knowing which game suits you best could still give you an advantage.
There are lots of different variations of bingo out there, but the two main ones in the UK are 90 ball and 75 ball.
To win at 75 ball bingo, players must complete a pre-determined pattern by marking all of the numbers on the card to create the pattern. In its purest version, known as Single Line Bingo, players need only to complete a single line either down, diagonally or across in order to win the game.
A 90 ball bingo card comprises three rows of 9 squares each, that is, 27 squares. Fifteen of them contain random numbers and the rest are blank. You only need to cover the numbered squares to win.
Each game of 90 ball bingo has three winning patterns, thus giving you three chances of winning. This is done by single, double of triple horizontal lines. Three horizontal lines bring a “full house”, but each of the winning patterns gives its own specific prize.
Once the first line is won, the game continues until a player gets two lines, then three lines for the major prize.
The difference between 75 ball bingo and 90 ball bingo is that 90 ball is not letter specified and has three winners in a single game. Another benefit with the 90 ball bingo is that you can choose to buy a single ticket or a strip of six tickets that have all the 90 numbers represented on it.
As a result, experienced players suggest that the 90 ball game is the future of online bingo as it leads to bigger prizes.
Increase your odds!
You don’t need to be a Mathematician to know that the more numbers you have in front of you, the more probable it is that you win. Simply, you have more combinations that could lead to the jackpot.
Therefore, buying more tickets or even numerous strips is a good way of sitting on top of the probability pile.
What’s more, for many people, seeking out lower cost bingo rooms is a good idea, so that they can buy more strips. This means that they can win their money back more frequently. However, these rooms always have the most players in them.
Sometimes, it is actually more cost-effective to play in the higher cost bingo rooms with fewer tickets, as there are fewer players too. Therefore, there’s not so much competition and your chances of winning are higher overall.
Be random
Although the numbers are called out entirely randomly, statistically, you’ll almost never get a sequence of ordered numbers, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If five numbers are called out, they’re far more likely to be a sequence of completely random numbers. But why is this?
British mathematical analyst Joseph E. Granville hypothesised that there will always be a totally even distribution of odd and even numbers, as well as high and low numbers.
Therefore, the best way of winning is to buy scorecards that have an equal distribution of odds and evens, high and low numbers, and numbers ending in each of the single digits 0-9.
Then, over the course of the game, as it’s likely that there’ll be a random spread of numbers called, it makes sense to have a varied distribution of numbers on all your cards.