About Tambola [Source WikiPedia]

Bingo is a game of probability in which players mark off numbers on cards as the numbers are drawn randomly by a caller, the winner being the first person to mark off all their numbers. Bingo became increasingly popular across the UK with more purpose-built bingo halls opened every year until 2005. Since 2005, Bingo Halls have seen a marked decline in revenues and the closure of many halls. The number of bingo clubs in Britain has dropped from nearly 600 in 2005 to under 400 as of January, 2014. These closures are blamed on high taxes, the smoking ban, and the rise in online gambling, amongst other things.

Bingo played in the UK (90-ball bingo) is not to be confused with bingo played in the US (75-ball bingo), as the tickets and the calling are slightly different.

In Quebec, this game is called Kinzo. In India, it is know by the name of Tambola

History

The game itself, not originally called Bingo, is thought to have had its roots in Italy in the 16th century, specifically, around 1530^[6] Bingo originates from the Italian lottery, Il Gioco del Lotto d’Italia. From Italy, the game spread to France and was known as Le Lotto, played by the French aristocracy. The game is then believed to have migrated to Great Britain, and other parts of Europe in the 18th century. Players mark off numbers on a ticket as they are randomly called out, in order to achieve a winning combination. The similar Tombola was used in nineteenth-century Germany as an educational tool to teach children multiplication tables, spelling, and even history.

The origins of the modern version of the game, and its current name of Bingo, are unclear. Early British slang records Bingo as… “A customs officers’ term, the triumphal cry being employed on a successful search”. But it definitely gained its initial surge of popularity with the first modern version of the game appearing at carnivals and fairs in the 1920s, and is attributed to a Hugh J. Ward, who for marketing reasons most probably took the name from pre-existing slang. The patent for a modern Bingo card design went to Erwin S. Lowe in 1942.

Description of the game

Strips of 6 tickets

A typical bingo ticket contains 27 spaces, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains up to three numbers, which are arranged as follows, with some variation depending on bingo companies and/or where the game is played (e.g. hall, club or online):

• The first column contains numbers from 1 to 9 or 10,
• The second column numbers from 10 to 19, or 11 to 20,
• The third, 20 to 29 or 21 to 30 and so on up until the last column, which contains numbers from 80 or 81 to 90.

Tickets are created as strips of 6, because this allows every number from 1 to 90 to appear across all 6 tickets. If they buy a full strip of six it means that players are guaranteed to mark off a number every time a number is called.

Gameplay

The game is presided over by a caller, whose job it is to call out the numbers and validate winning tickets. They will announce the prize or prizes for each game before starting. The caller will then usually say “Eyes down” to indicate that they are about to start. They then begin to call numbers as they are randomly selected, either by an electronic random number generator (RNG), by drawing counters from a bag or by using balls in a mechanical draw machine. Calling may take the format of simple repetition in the framework, “Both the fives, fifty five”, or “Two and three, twenty three”, but some numbers have special calls due to their significance. In some independent clubs, numbers ending in a zero are described as ‘blind’. So for example, thirty would be called as ‘three-o blind 30’ The use of blind numbers is generally restricted to independent bingo clubs, as it is not common practice in either of the largest chains of bingo club operators, Gala and Mecca bingo.

The different winning combinations are:

• Four corners – the leftmost and rightmost numbers on the top and bottom lines.
• Line – covering a horizontal line of five numbers on the ticket.
• Two Lines – covering any two lines on the same ticket.
• Full House – covering all fifteen numbers on the ticket.
  • In New Zealand in bonus (Super Housie) games, often three lines may be claimed – top, middle and bottom, usually with much larger prizes, are also played at various times throughout the session.
  • In the UK, however, it is most common for a four corners game or a line game to be followed directly by a two line game and a full house game, or just by a full house game.
  • In the UK’s National Bingo Game only a full house game is ever played. The record payout for the national bingo game is over £1,100,000
  • In all cases, the last number called must be in the winning sequence. If a player does not stop the game in time and the caller calls out the next number the player’s winning claim is often invalidated.

As each number is called, players check to see if it appears on their tickets. If it does, they mark it off with a special marker called a “dabber” or “dauber”, or simply cross it off with a pen or pencil, depending on the venue. When all the numbers required to win a prize have been marked off, the player shouts in order to attract the caller’s attention. There are no formal rules as to what can be shouted, but most players will shout “Yes” or “Bingo”. Some players may also choose to shout “Line” or “House” depending on the prize, whilst others choose to shout “house” for any win (including a line or two lines), players may use any other call to attract the caller’s attention (should they wish). An official or member of staff will then come and check the claim:

• In the UK with the increasing computerisation of bingo systems, an Auto-Validate system is often used in large clubs where a 1 to 8 digit security code is read out by a member of staff and checked against the entry for that ticket on the system. This saves the club from the time-consuming exercise of reading out every number on the ticket.
• It is very unusual, even in the smallest of bingo clubs, for the numbers to be checked against the numbers generated by the caller. The only circumstances when this is done is when there is a computer error in the club that means that the Serial number or perm number of the winning ticket cannot be identified.

There will often be an interval halfway through the game. In UK bingo halls it is most common for Mechanised Cash Bingo to be played

Purchasing tickets

When players first arrive at the venue they can buy a book of tickets. Players generally buy their Main Session first, followed by any flyers such as National Bingo Game tickets, Early and Late sessions and special tickets.^{[further explanation needed]}

In UK bingo clubs, all books are purchased from a book sales desk, located usually in the entrance of a club. Playing is divided into sessions with different books, each with a designated number of pages. In most UK bingo clubs, including all Gala and Mecca clubs, the first session, known as either the ‘Early Session’ (at Mecca) or the ‘First Chance’ (at Gala) or ‘Early Bird’ in some independents is a three-page book played at around 13:00 for afternoon sessions and 19:00 for evening sessions, although the actual start time can vary per club. This is followed by a break in which Mechanised Cash Bingo is played. This is followed by the main session (known as the Main Event at Gala), which consists of around 11 pages of bingo with a break in the middle of around half an hour. When players purchase their tickets, almost all players purchase tickets for the main session. Some arrive earlier and purchase books for the early session. When the main session finishes, there is another break with more Mechanised Cash Bingo followed by a late session. At Mecca, the late session consists of three pages and costs £3. At Gala, a link is played for the late session (known as the ‘Last Chance’) and consists of two pages and is free.

Bingo Lingo

In the game of bingo in the United Kingdom, callers announcing the numbers have traditionally used some nicknames to refer to particular numbers if they are drawn. The nicknames are sometimes known by the rhyming phrase ‘bingo lingo’ and there are rhymes for each number from 1 to 90, some of which date back many decades. In some clubs the ‘bingo caller’ will say the number, with the assembled players intoning the rhyme in a call and response manner, in others, the caller will say the rhyme and the players chant the number. In 2003, Butlins holiday camps introduced some more modern calls devised by a Professor of Popular Culture in an attempt to bring fresh interest to bingo.^[22][23]

Since the introduction of the electronic random number generator (RNG) in bingo halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames or bingo calls above in mainstream bingo has dramatically decreased.

Winning Combinations

123	Player win this when First number of first row, First 2 numbers of 2nd row and First 3 numbers of third row are cut.
6 Blocks	It is played with 3 tickets and the line of 40 doesn’t count i.e. 5th Column. Each ticket gets divided into 2 blocks i.e. Left and Right. Making a total of 6 blocks across 3 tickets.
Alternate	Top Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number; Middle Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number; Bottom Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number
Anda – Danda	Anda – all numbers with zero in them are strike/cut e.g. 10, 20, 30 etc. Danda (the stick) – all the numbers with 1 in them are strike/cut e.g. 1, 10 to 19, 21, 41 etc. Individual Dividend Anda, Danda can be kept or combination of both i.e. Anda & Danda
Arrow	When the first three numbers diagonally present in any ticket are cut.
Bamboo	All numbers of middle column are cut i.e. Column 5
Big Love Line	Played with a set of 3 tickets. 1st ticket- 1st Column, 2nd Ticket – 1st Column, 3rd Ticket – 1st Column and 3rd Row.
Blocks	3 Blocks separated as set of 3 columns each. Block 1 – Column 1 to 3, Block 2 – Column 4 to 6, Block 3 – Column 7 to 9.
Bottom Line	Bottom Row: All Numbes
BP	Highest and lowest numbers of the ticket
Breakfast	Numbers from 1 to 30
Center, Laddu	Middle Row: 3rd Number
CID	Alphabets C, I, D are cut individually. C – 1st Row, 3rd Row, 1st Column I – 1st Row, 3rd Row, 5th Column D – 1st Row, 3rd Row, 1st Column, 9th Column
Circle	Top Row: 3rd Number; Middle Row: 2nd, 4th Number; Bottom Row: 3rd Number
Column Complete	It could mean either a prize for every column complete from column 1 to column 9 or it could be any one column (1st or 2nd or 3rd and so on.., predecided).
Corners	Top Row: 1st and 5th Number; Bottom Row: 1st and 5th Number) Pyramid (Top Row: 3rd Number; Middle Row: 2nd, 4th Number; Bottom Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number
Corners with Star	The numbers at 4 corners & center-most numbers struck first (1st and last numbers of top and bottom rows along with center-most number of the middle row)
Cross	Top Row: 1st, 5th Number; Middle Row: 3rd Number; Bottom Row: 1st, 5th Number
Day, Devrani	All numbers from 1 upto 45 in the tambola ticket
Dinner	Numbers from 61 to 90 in the ticket
Early 5	First Five Number
Early 7	First & Number of ticket
Ellipse	Top Row: 2nd, 3rd, 4th Number; Middle Row: 1st, 5th Number; Bottom Row: 2nd, 3rd, 4th Number
Even	Top Row: 2nd, 4th Number; Middle Row: 2nd, 4th Number; Bottom Row: 2nd, 4th Number
Even Numbers	All Even Numbers
Fat Ladies	Claim for fat ladies when all the numbers with the digit 8 on your ticket have been marked. It could be 8,18,28,38,48,58,68,78,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89.
First Half	First three nos. from every row
Full House	All 15 Numbers
H	All numbers from first vertical line + all numbers from middle horizontal line + all numbers of last vertical line i.e. 1st Column, 9th Column and 2nd Row
Hockey Sticks	Claim for hockey sticks when all the numbers with the digit 7 on your ticket have been marked. It could be 7,17,27,37,47,57,67,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79,87.
I Love You 143	First number in First line/1st Row, First 4 numbers in second line/2nd Row and First 3 numbers in last line/3rd Row makes I LOVE YOU (143).
Jawani – Budhapa	Numbers from 1- 50 comes in Jawaani and numbers 51-90 comes in Budhaapa
King & Queen Corners	1st number of each row is Queen’s corner. Last number of each row is King’s corner.
L, Small Love Line	All numbers of first vertical line and all numbers of last horizontal line i.e 1st Column and 3rd Row
Last 5 numbers on your Ticket	These numbers will start from 9th row vertically upwards, then 8th row
Love at first call	Claim for love at first call, if the first number called out in the game is on your ticket. If there is no claimant for this dividend on the first number called, then the prize goes unclaimed.
Lucky 13	First Player to STRIKE OUT his/her 13 numbers
Lucky Seven	or Five or Three
Lunch	Numbers from 31 to 60
Middle Line	Middle Row: All Numbers
Miss	Combination of 2 numbers such that both are in same row or same column with a blank cell in between.
Naughty	Claim for Naughty when all the numbers with the digit 6 and 9 on your ticket have been marked. It could be 6, 9, 16, 19, 26, 29, 36, 39, 46, 49, 56, 59, 60 to 69, 76, 79, 86, 89 and 90.
Night, Jethani	All numbers from 46 upto 90
Odd Numbers	All Odd Numbers
Odds	Top Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number; Middle Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number; Bottom Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number
Pair Column	Any two adjacent Columns gets completed. e.g. 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd or 5th and 6th etc.
Pair, Kiss	All pairs in the ticket consisting of Horizontal Pairs. Where there are 2 numbers coming up togather in 2 columns. This combination can occur 2, 3, 4, 5 times in a ticket.
Paired Lines	Two rows which are togather. Either rows 1 & 2 or rows 2 & 3
Plus	Top Row: 3rd Number; Middle Row: 2nd, 3rd, 4th Number; Bottom Row: 3rd Number
Pyramid	Top Row: 3rd Number; Middle Row: 2nd, 4th Number; Bottom Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number
Railway Lines	Queen and King’s corners togather are called Railway Lines. Other dividends for it are combination of 1st & 3rd Lines; or 1st & 9th Columns; or 1st & 3rd Columns; or any combination of alternate Columns i.e. 2nd & 4th, 5th & 7th etc.
Reverse Pyramid	1st, 3rd and 5th numbers of 1st line, 2nd and 4th numbers of 2nd line, 3rd number (Middle number) of the 3rd line, while closely looking at the strike numbers they forms a shape of reverse pyramid.
Safe	When all non-border numbers are cut i.e. Numbers in 2nd Row from Column 2 to Column 9.
Second Half	Last three nos. from every row
Smallest 5	First 5 smallest numbers on your Ticket. These numbers will be starting from 1st row vertically, then 2nd row vertically and so on..
Star	Top Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number; Middle Row: All Numbers; Bottom Row: 1st, 3rd, 5th Number
Surrounding, Fence	All border numbers of any ticket are cut i.e. 1st Row, 3rd Row, 1st Column, 9th Column
T	All numbers from top horizontal line+ all numbers from third vertical line i.e. 1st Row and 5th Column
Temperature	1st and Last numbers of a ticket
Top Line	Top Row: All Numbers
Triplet Column	Any 3 adjacent columns get completed. 1st ,2nd, 3rd or 3rd, 4th, 5th etc.
Twin Column	Any 2 Columns get completed in a Ticket. E.g. 1st, 2nd or 1st, 3rd or 4th, 6th etc.
Twin Lines	Any 2 rows completed. 1st & 2nd, 2nd & 3rd, 1st & 3rd
Ugly ducklings	Claim for ugly ducklings when all numbers with the digit 2 on your ticket have been marked. It could be 2,12,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,32,42,52,62,72,82.
Unlucky 1	Player who is last in having his/her first number STRIKED