A

Admission: Most bingo halls or parlors have a minimum number of cards that you must purchase as the price of "admission." Typically you must purchase an "admission packet." The packet usually contains three to six card for every regular game. Packets also usually contain some special games. Exactly what is part of the admission packet varies widely from hall to hall. 

A Duck And A Flea: Bingo call meaning 23.

A Flea In Heaven: Bingo call meaning 37.

After Game(s): The game(s) played after the end of a regular "session" of play. 

Any Way Up: Bingo call meaning 69.

Ask For More: Bingo call meaning 34.

At The Beginning: Bingo call meaning 1.

B

Bakers Bun: Bingo call meaning 61.

Ball Gate: The one-way metal flap at the top of the ball runway which the ball passes under to enter the main playfield area. 

Ball Lifter: The mechanism used to raise the ball from beneath the playfield to the ball shooter tip. Manual: A plunger below the ball shooter can be pushed in at any time to raise a ball for play. Automatic: A motor raises the ball when appropriate. On most games, a ball is raised as soon as the current ball leaves the ball gate. Some later games actually detect when a ball has fallen into a hole, and raise the next ball then. 

Ball Runway: The channel along the right side where the ball is launched up by the ball shooter to enter the main playfield area. 

Ball Shooter: The spring loaded plunger with a rubber tip used to launch the ball into the playfield area. The rubber tip should be replaced if torn, as pitted balls will damage the playfield quickly. The rubber tip and springs are cheap and and easy to get. 

Bang On The Drum: Bingo call meaning 71.

Barrier: A barrier, in bingo terms, is a box section that contains playing consoles and coin slots, usually on both sides. Inside, there is a conveyor belt which moves money taken at the coin slots to a cash-box at one end of the barrier. Players sit facing each other across the barriers. 

Beano: A game played with bingo cards in which the players cover squares when objects similarly numbered and lettered are randomly drawn to complete lines or other patterns. Also Bingo. 

Between The Sticks: Bingo call meaning 86.

Bingo: A game played with bingo cards in which the players cover squares when objects similarly numbered and lettered are randomly drawn to complete lines or other patterns. Also Beano.|When a player has all the numbers required for the game or "pattern" being played. This is when you shout "BINGO!"|Airforce: Minimum fuel for a comfortable and safe return to base. Aircraft can fly and fight past bingo fuel in combat situations, but at considerable peril. 

Bingo Board: A display board, usually electronic that "lights up" showing each number as it is called. There are 75 numbers and a "free space" in the game of bingo. 

Bingo Booklets: A specific number of different colored bingo sheets all containing the same number of faces (ON's) bound together to be played one for each game at a bingo session. They are bound in the order in which they will be played. 

Bingo Card: A flat card made of cardboard or non-reusable paper which contains 25 squares arranged in five vertical and five horizontal rows. The letters B, I, N, G, O are pre-printed above the five vertical columns, with one letter appearing above each column. The center space is marked "free." The printed numbers on the card correspond to the following arrangement: 1 to 15 in the B column; 16 to 30 in the I column; 31 to 45 in the N column; 46 to 60 in the G column and 61 to 75 in the O column. 

Bingo Marker: A crayon or ink dauber that is used to cover the numbers on a bingo game card. 

Blackout: A variation of the game of bingo in which the object is to cover all the 25 spaces on your card. Usually 50 to 60 of the 75 bingo numbers have to be called to cover all the numbers on a card. But blackouts in as few as 42 or 43 numbers have been recorded in the Seattle area in the past five years. Blackouts in 48 or 49 numbers, while not frequent, are not uncommon. 

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 aside. There is an additional fee to play this game, usually $1. The countdown begins at 48 numbers or less and go up one number per week to 52 numbers or until won. The amount of the jackpot is determined by card sales for that game. 

Book: A Ticket. 

Blower: A forced-air device that mixes the bingo balls and dispenses them to the "caller" who announces the number and displays it on a "bingo board." 

Breakopen: A multi-ply card, made completely from paper or paper products, with perforated breakopen 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. 

Brighton Line: Bingo call meaning 59.

Buckle My Shoe: Bingo call meaning 32.

C

Caller: The person who calls out the numbers as they are drawn; machines are normally used to randomly generate these numbers. Most clubs use two callers; the job of the main stage bingo caller tends to involve more showmanship than a prize or parti bingo caller's. 

Candy Store: Bingo call meaning 74.

Card: Your playing card. 

Cash Ball: A progressive jackpot that pays off with a bingo on the called number (number is drawn before the session begins). Validation is required to win the jackpot. 

Cash-In-Prize: A form of bingo where the prize is a cash payout. This is taken from the money paid in, and must be a minimum of 50% of the available stake. 

Casino 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 conducted include: Pulltabs, bingo, roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, gin rummy, five card stud poker, and merchandise wheels. Also Vegas Night. 

Christmas Cake: Bingo call meaning 38.

Clean The Floor: Bingo call meaning 54.

Clicketty Click: Bingo call meaning 66.

Coin Door: The front door that can be opened for access to the cash box. Early machines used a wooden door, while later games used metal. The condition of this door can tell you a lot about how the game was operated. If the coin door has extra metal, locking bars, or gouges from attempts to pry it open, the machine has had a hard life. 

Colors: The color of each sheet in your collated bingo book. 

Coming Of Age: Bingo call meaning 18.

Consolation(s): The prize or prizes offered on some "special" or "flimsy" games if there is no winner in a predetermined number of calls. 

Coverall: This is a pattern where you must cover all numbers on the card to win. 

Cup Of Tea: Bingo call meaning 3.

Cut: Indicates the direction in which a sheet of faces will be cut from the master sheet. (square, horizontal, or vertical). 

D

Daber: Bingo daber is a bottle of ink that has a foam top on it, when you touch the bingo card with the foam tip it marks the square. 

Dancing Queen: Bingo call meaning 17.

Danny La Rue: Bingo call meaning 52.

Dauber: An ink marker sold in a small plastic bottle for the purpose of marking off numbers on "flimsy" sheets. See definition of flimsy. 

Devil's Number: Bingo call meaning 13.

Dirty Gertie: Bingo call meaning 30.

Dirty Knee: Bingo call meaning 33.

Dispensing Device: A mechanical or electro-mechanical device with one or more stacking columns that dispenses a charity game tickets after the player inserts the appropriate amount of coin or currency. 

Distributor: Any person who purchases or obtains charity gaming equipment and sells, offers to sell, or otherwise provides charity gaming equipment to a charitable organization. Synonym: Supplier 

Doctors Orders: Bingo call meaning 9.

Down On Your Knees: Bingo call meaning 43.

Drag Arms: The drag arms are a couple of metal bars leaning up against cams on the front of the control unit. They periodically stop a couple of the cams from rotating briefly, and in the process alter the positions of the cam lobes between themselves and the rest of the control unit. The net affect is to randomize the timing of certain events during the cycling of the game, such as the amount of time the spotting wipers turn. 

Droopy Drawers: Bingo call meaning 44.

Duck And Dive: Bingo call meaning 25.

E

Early Bird Game: A bingo game played before the start of a "session." But sometimes the Early Bird game is merely the first game of the session. The first game of a session is more commonly known as a Warm Up. 

Eight And Blank: Bingo call meaning 80.

Either Way Up: Bingo call meaning 69.

F

Face: Is the individual bingo sheet containing 24 numbers plus the free space in the middle. 

Five Dozen: Bingo call meaning 60.

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, or 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. 

Foot Rail: The wood or metal covered bar across the bottom of the game that holds in the playfield glass and often has feature control buttons/knobs on it. 

Four Dozen: Bingo call meaning 48.

Four And Seven: Bingo call meaning 47.

Free Space: The space in the center of a bingo card. It does not have a number assigned to it. It is always "wild." Cover it on all your bingo cards when you start a new game. 

G

Game Board: An electronic display board, usually attached next to the "Bingo Board" that looks like a bingo card and shows what variation of bingo you are playing on that particular game on the program. For example, "Four Corners," "Chevron," "Regular," "Blackout," etc. See diagrams below for more examples of bingo patterns. 

Game Family: The sum of all games of the same ticket type and same name. 

Game Room: Some online games divide the players into game rooms. 

Garden Gate: Bingo call meaning 8.

Gateway To Heaven: Bingo call meaning 27.

Get Up And Run: Bingo call meaning 31.

Goodbye-Teens: Bingo call meaning 19.

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. 

H

Half A Century: Bingo call meaning 50.

Halfway There: Bingo call meaning 45.

Hard Card: A bingo card printed on heavy cardboard material usually with shutters to cover each number as it is called. A bingo card contains 24 numbered spaces and one "free space." The numbers are arranged in five rows or columns of five numbers each. The numbers in the "B" row contain five numbers between 1 and 15, picked at random. The numbers in the "I" row contain five numbers between 16 and 30. The numbers in the "N" row contain four numbers between 31 and 45 and the "free space." The numbers in the "G" row contain five numbers between 46 and 60. The numbers in the "O" row contain five numbers between 61 and 75. Players have thousands of unduplicated cards to pick from. Some manufacturers print unduplicated series of 6,000 cards. There are also series of 9,000 cards available. Hard cards and "flimsy" cards have a series number printed on them. Card number 1252, for example, will always have the same numbers in the same spaces. Hard cards are fast becoming a thing of the past. Soon they may even be collector's items!

Hardway Bingo: Bingo in a straight line without the use of the free space. 

Heavens Gate: Bingo call meaning 78.

Heinz Varieties: Bingo call meaning 57.

I

Inlaid Card: A pre-printed number card, usually in 4x4 format. It is usually laid into a table, and black discs are used to cover the numbers as they are called out 

Instant Bingo: A breakopen ticket which contains only the letters B, I, N, G, O; bingo card faces; bingo numbers; and no other symbols. Winning tickets may incorporate letters spelling the word B-I-N-G-O, or contain a complete, pre-designated bingo pattern, i.e., vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line.

J

Jackpot: The prize offered on a "flimsy" game or "special" game. Sometimes the jackpot is progressive and grows every day or every week. Often the numbers needed to win are progressive, too. As numbers are added, the pot becomes easier to win.. 

Jump And Jive: Bingo call meaning 35.

K

Kellys Eye: Bingo call meaning 1.

Key Of The Door: Bingo call meaning 21.

Knock At The Door: Bingo call meaning 4.

L

Late Night Bingo: "Session" of bingo that starts late at night, usually about 10:00 pm. Also Moonlight Bingo. 

Legs Eleven: Bingo call meaning 11.

Lucky:
7 

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. There is no lucky number in play on "special" throw-away games. 

M

Made In Heaven: Bingo call meaning 67.

Main Stage Bingo: The "main event" of a session of bingo, and the one said to draw the most customers. Players purchase a page (or book) of pre-printed bingo tickets to use as game boards. 

Make Them Wait: Bingo call meaning 58.

Man Alive: Bingo call meaning 5.

Minimum Buy-In: The least amount you must spend to be eligible for prizes. 

Mixers: Much more complex than the reflex unit, the mixers are used to do "proportioning" during the current game. From a players point of view, proportioning simply means that the higher your scores/features go, the less likely it is that the game will give you extra balls or increase the scores/features even more. 

Money Ball: A number drawn before the game that will double a player's winnings if bingo is hit on that number. 

Moonlight Bingo: "Session" of bingo that starts late at night, usually about 10:00 pm. Also Late Night Bingo. 

More Than Eleven: Bingo call meaning 37.

Multiple Winners: If two or more players bingo at the same time, the cash prize is divided among them. For example, if there are five winners on a $500 game, they each receive $100. 

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. 

Mystery Intervals: This was bally marketing speak for the idea that something may or may not happen when a credit is played or a coin is deposited. The not-happening is what makes the games gambling devices in many jurisdictions. generally, something would improve initially as each coin/credit was played, but as the scores/features got better, it became more likely that cycling the machine flashes the lights but nothing else happens. 

N

Naughty Forty: Bingo call meaning 40.

Nearly There: Bingo call meaning 89.

Nine-Pack: Nine numbers in a block on one card. 

Number Of Booklets Per Set: 9000 divided by ON's. (The number of faces per page.) 

O

Old Age Pension: Bingo call meaning 65.

On: A player is said to be "on" when one or more cards they are playing lacks only one number for a "bingo." 

On's: Refers to the number of bingo faces per sheet. A 6 ON would have 6 faces per sheet. 

One Dozen: Bingo call meaning 12.

One Little Duck: Bingo call meaning 2.

One Little Flea: Bingo call meaning 3.

One More Time: Bingo call meaning 79

One Score: Bingo call meaning 20.

On The Way: Or "games on the way." The bingo game(s) played on a blackout game prior to the blackout and on the same card. First the preliminary game(s) are played and then more numbers are called until there is a blackout. 

Open Two Doors: Bingo call meaning 44.

Over Weight: Bingo call meaning 28.

P

Parti: Short for participation bingo, a type of slot bingo or cash bingo where the prize is cash (and depends on the number of players, since it is at least 50% of the money paid in). The most common boards used for parti bingo are inlaid cards and hand-held shutter boards. 

Pattern: The shape you need to cover on your card with called out numbers, usually it is a straight line 

Payout: The side of a breakopen ticket which may display the game name, form number, graphics, winning symbols, letters or numerals, prize amounts, number of winners at each level, and price per card. This side of the ticket is also referred to as the "Face".|The value assigned to individual winning combinations of symbols and/or the collective value of all prizes to be awarded in a single game. 

P.C.: Bingo call meaning 49.

Pod Top: This is the unit which sits on top of the barrier and contains the mechanisms used in the game - typically the coin mechanisms, valid & credit displays, and claim buttons. Most pod tops have the equipment for 4-6 playing positions. Also Saddle. 

Prize Bingo: Until recently, this game was only played for a set prize or vouchers. Recent changes in UK law mean that the prize may be cash of up to �15. 

Profit Slip: A sheet of paper included in each set of game tickets detailing the selling price per ticket to players, number of tickets, ideal gross receipts, payout/profit information, prize breakdown by denomination, and sometimes, game play instructions. 

Progressive: A jackpot prize that builds 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. Different variations of progressive games add dollars or numbers, or both, to the jackpot. 

Progressive Game: A seal card -style game with a designated jackpot that, if not won, is carried forward and added to the jackpot of the subsequent sets of the game until won. Here's how a progressive game works 

Pull Tab: A game similar to the Washington State lottery game. Tickets sell for 25 cents or 50 cents or even more and typically offer prizes ranging from free tickets to $500. Each ticket has perforated windows which open revealing symbols similar to those found on slot machines or some lottery games. 

Punch Board: Another lottery-type game. The player "punches" out a slot on a board for a chance to win a merchandise prize. Punch boards offering cash prizes are also common. 

Q

Queen B: Bingo call meaning 73.

R

Rainbow Pack: A paper pack that allows players to play for three or four different prize denominations at once. 

R-Button: A button on the foot rail with a single letter R on it. In order to score your wins, you need to push the R-button. On games where you could rearrange winning combinations via things like the magic screen, you need to push the R-button for every winning combination you set. The main reason for the R-button was to have more control over when scoring happened, and it had the nice side effect of reducing wear in the game, as the search disc was held stationary until the R-button was pushed. On earlier games where the search disc was rotating constantly, the contacts on the search disc and the search relays would wear away. 

Rebound Rubber: The rubber disk mounted at the top left of the playfield that the ball bounces off if you shoot the ball hard enough. 

Red Raw: Bingo call meaning 64.

Reflex Unit: A simple mechanism in the game which stepped up when credits were won and stepped down when credits/coins were played. As it stepped up/down, electrical circuits in the game were broken/made. The circuits were used when playing for increasing the scores/features or extra balls. Bally marketing speak referred to the reflex unit as "proportioning the game". What that really meansis that as credits are awarded, the game is less likely to give you extra balls or increase the scores/features. As credits are played off/coins deposited, the game gets more generous. The reflex unit does not reset between games, so if you win big, leave the game and let someone else loosen it up with their money! 

Register: The series of blank lines preceded by a numeral, letter, or symbol combination that appears on a coin board, seal card, or tipboard and is the place where players holding a ticket with the corresponding numeral, letter, or symbol combination sign their names. 

Reno Night: An evening of casino games like blackjack and roulette. These are sometimes held in bingo hall Is but more often in restaurants and hotels, Eagles & Elks clubs and other fraternal organizations. 

Reno Trip: A blackout played for a Reno Trip for Two as the prize. The trip usually includes air fare, hotel accommodations, and ground transportation. Winners have a choice of taking the trip or a cash alternative, usually about $250 to $300. 

R

Replay Counter: A mechanical unit inside the machine that keeps track of how many credits the player has been awarded for various wins. In early games, there is one of these units. If, for example, you win 12 credits for a 3-in-line, the counter will step up as the credits are added to the replay register. When the counter reaches the 12-level, payout stops. If you then pot another ball to give you a 4-in-line, the counter starts stepping up from where it left off until you reach the 4-in-line level. Later games have multiple replay counters, so they can pay wins independently. For example, games with triple deck advancing odds/scores have three replay counters, one each for the red/yellow/green winners. 

Replay Register: The three or four digit unit that shows the player the number of credits they have. Not to be confused (much) with a replay counter. 

Rise And Shine: Bingo call meaning 29.

RNG: Random Number Generator; the machine used to pick the numbers for a game of bingo. Most are electronic.