| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Admission | Entrance fee at brick and mortar bingo halls. Admission to online bingo sites is often free of charge. |
| Admission Packet | The minimum number of cards that you must buy to gain admission to a bingo hall. The admission packet usually contains between three and eight cards for a regular game. |
| After game | A game played after a session. |
| Auto, Auto-purchase | Online bingo sites often have automatic features such as purchasing more cards for another game. |
| Balls | The bingo numbers, this is a reference to the traditional bingo method of drawing numbers painted on balls. |
| Basket Bingo | A special bingo game in which prizes in a basket are given away instead of cash. |
| Bingo book, bingo booklet | A selection of bingo cards for each game in a session bound together in the order of play. |
| Bingo card | A card divided into 24 numbered spaces and one blank used to play bingo. |
| Blackout | To mark every number on a given bingo card. The same as coverall and house all |
| Bonanza Bingo | A special progressive bingo game with a prize that increases weekly until won. |
| Breakopen | A paper bingo card with perforated tabs concealing the numbers or letters. |
| Buy-in | Money used to pay admission or for buying an admission packet so that you can participate in a bingo game. |
| Card | A bingo card also referred to as a bingo ticket. This is the card of random numbers that must be filled to win the game. |
| Caller | The person who announces the numbers drawn during a game. |
| Cash-in-prize | A game of bingo with a cash-payout prize. |
| Casino night, Vegas night | A bingo event at which casino style games are also played, such as poker, bingo, blackjack and craps. |
| Consolation prize | Prizes allotted in some games if there are no winners. |
| Coverall | To mark every number on a bingo card. The same as blackout and house all. |
| Dauber | A large flat-tipped felt pen used to mark a bingo card. Some online bingo sites offer an "auto daub" feature that marks your card automatically as the numbers are called. |
| Early Bird | The first game in a bingo session. |
| Eyes Down | The traditional prompt before the first number is called. The term is also means the start of game as in: "Five minutes to go until eyes down." |
| Face | The whole bingo sheet, including the blank space in the middle. |
| Flimsy, flimsies | Bingo cards printed on thin sheets of paper. A flimsy usually has three bingo cards on it but other formats are also used. |
| Flyer | A bingo card with only one bingo game on it. |
| Four Corner | A particular pattern that means to mark all the four corner numbers on a card. |
| Free space | The blank center square on a bingo card, plays as a joker or wild card. |
| Game Board | A display board of all the numbers called during a bingo game. Online bingo games display a virtual. |
| GTI, TED | An electronic dauber that enables playing several packs simultaneously. These can be rented and each player is only allowed one. |
| Hard card | A bingo card printed on thick card with shutters to cover called numbers. |
| Hardway Bingo | Bingo played without the free space in the middle of the card. |
| House (houseall) | To mark every number on a bingo card. The same as blackout and coverall. |
| Inlaid card | A printed bingo card laid into a table- top. Discs are used to cover the called numbers. Often used for Parti bingo |
| Instant Bingo | A scratch card or break open card that contains bingo numbers or letters. Players must uncover the correct letters and numbers to win a prize. |
| Jackpot | The main prize in a game. |
| Line | A line of numbers on a bingo card. |
| Lucky jar | A cash prize in a container that is won if a player hits bingo on the lucky number. The lucky number is called is usually the first number called in a session. Money is added to the lucky jar every time the luck number is called until it is won. |
| Market Bingo | Bingo played for items or voucher prizes instead of cash |
| Money ball | A special number drawn before a game that doubles the winning if a player hits bingo on that number. |
| Mushroom | A bingo setup where six to eight players sit around a mushroom shaped display and play a game together. |
| On | A player is on when one or more card they are playing is missing only one number for bingo. |
| On The Way | The preliminary game played before continuing on to a blackout game. |
| Parti Bingo | A type of mechanized bingo played on a 4x4 board. Game play is faster than regular bingo. |
| Pattern bingo | Pattern bingo demands marking the numbers on your ticket in a certain pattern. The pattern can be a simple Line or Four Corners, or more complex such as a letter of the alphabet. |
| Payout | The percentage of the admission fees paid out as prize money by the Bingo Room. Usually around 75%. |
| Pre-Purchase | To buy bingo cards in advance. |
| Prize Bingo | Bingo played for prizes rather than cash. |
| Progressive Jackpot | An accumulating jackpot that is carried over to the next game if no player wins it during the current game. |
| Quickie | A game in which numbers are called rapidly and the object is to fill the bingo card. |
| RNG | Random Number Generator. A machine that generates the random numbers in bingo. |
| Session | A series of bingo games over the course of a day or evening. |
| Shape | The pattern required in a game of pattern bingo. |
| Speed Bingo | Bingo number s are called very fast and bingo can be achieved with much simpler patterns. |
| Speed game | A game of bingo coverall played very quickly. |
| Split Pot | Prize money divided equally between two or more players who all win on the same single number. |
| Table Board Bingo | A bingo lottery game played on special cards with a Table Board Bingo machine. Often held alongside regular bingo events. |
| Texas Blackout | A variation of bingo where the first number called defines whether the even or odd numbers are to be played. The object is then to cover all of the played numbers. |
| Tickets | Bingo cards. |
| Validation | The procedure of checking your card after you call bingo to verify that your bingo call is correct. This done by the bingo caller or by the computer in online bingo. |
| Wrap, wrap-up | The final game in a bingo session. |
