To start playing Bingo online for real money a player will have to create an account and make an initial deposit with an online Bingo site. An extensive list of online Bingo sites can be found in the menu here.
Games start every few minutes depending on the Bingo host and time of day. Internet Bingo games commonly use auto-daubers, which automatically mark your cards for you. This is much more convenient, compared to live Bingo, where the drawn numbers are called out and it is up to you to find those numbers on your cards and mark them. This feature allows you to buy far more cards in online Bingo than in live Bingo. Also, while the computer is allocating the markings for you, the cards are sorted into the order by which they are progressing. This way, you can easily see which card is progressing best and you can 'cheer it on'. Both improvements of online Bingo versus live Bingo mean that the Bingo player has a lot more time on her/his hands. This time can be spent in the Chat Room, where the CM's (Chat Monitors) keep things interesting and run chat games with additional prizes.
The jackpot is often linked to the 'Coverall' games where you would need to get all the numbers on your card within a short space of time (e.g. in less than 50 calls). These jackpots constantly increase in value if they are not won and can get up to really healthy amounts ($10,000 or more!). Play continues until one or more players have completed the Bingo pattern. If there is more than one simultaneous winner, the winners split the prize or jackpot.
At most Bingo sites, the current game pattern name is displayed in the top left corner of the screen. Then there will be more game information such as the current Progressive Jackpot, the prize for each part of the game (One Line, Two Lines and Full House for 90 ball Bingo or a selected pattern in 75 ball Bingo), your balance and the number of players having bought tickets for this pattern. All this information is Bingo Site specific and might vary depending on where you are playing.
All Bingo numbers, (either 1-90 or 1-75), are displayed on the Call Board which normally can be found on the right-hand side of the screen. The current Bingo number being called is shown as a large figure, probably in the top right corner. The last few Bingo calls and the number of Bingo calls are displayed in this area as well. All numbers that already have been called will show up highlighted on the Call Board.
As the numbers are called, the caller will repeat them, like "Three and Five, Thirtyfive". The Online Bingo callers do not use the old fashioned Bingo Calls anymore (Thirtyfive, Jump and Jive!) as there can't be any confusion about which number was called: the numbers are highlighted on your card automatically. If the number is below, the caller will say "On it's own, number three". As the numbers are called, they will light up on the Call Board so all players can check the numbers already being called.
In every game, you may select any number of cards, normally up to 48. You are given about 2 minutes to buy so you have some time to think carefully which which strips or tickets you want to choose. When you have decided, click on the strip or ticket desired and they will be highlighted. If you wish to de-select a strip or ticket, simply click on it again and it will no longer be highlighted. To buy them, click on the BUY (or purchase) button. ALl the selected tickets will be bought and when the game starts, only the purchased tickets will be shown.
The Best Card Sorting feature arranges the tickets in order of performance as the game is in progress. If the player is playing many tickets at once, those that are the closest to winning will be automatically moved at the beginning. If a ticket has all but one number daubed in a pattern, it will be placed before a ticket that has all but two numbers daubed. To make it really easy for the players, the tickets also change colour if you are getting low in the numbers needed to win. All tickets will be displayed as "1 to go!, "2 to go", and "3 to go" accordingly, letting players easily identify tickets that are close to a win.
A computer voice will automatically call all the numbers. Unfortunately the old fashioned bingo calls are no longer used. You can choose to enable or disable this option.
This option enables to buy set of 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42 or MAX (48) cards or tickets. Simply choose the number and the system will select the cards for you.
The progressive jackpot is an important part of the Bingo game. The idea is to give out a bigger prize to a lucky winner. Winning the progressive jackpot is not easy. That is why the prize can be as big as $10,000 or over. The jackpot can only be hit when the game patterns is a Full House (Coverall, Blackout). To win the jackpot the Full House must be completed before or at the number of calls the House has set up. If the number of calls has been set at 42, all Full Houses completed in or under that call will win the jackpot. When the game patterns is not a Full House, the jackpot will be "not in play".
The Chat room is an integral part of any online Bingo game, although a player can choose to enter the chat room or not. It allows players to communicate with the Chat Monitor, friends and other players. To join a chat room click on the Join a Chatroom button and make a selection from the list of rooms available. In the small box at the bottom of the conversation winwow you can type your message and then click 'send'. Please make sure you have read the 'chat rules', 'Netiquette' or sometimes called 'Chatiquette' All Chatrooms use chat acronyms to speed up commonly used terms.