.g    90-Number Bingo
Last Update: Feburary 23, 2005

 

How to play 90 Ball Bingo

 

Do you know what the favorite leisure activity of young women, 20 to 25 years of age, in the UK? It’s 90 Ball bingo. The game is an absolute craze in the UK. Of course, if you’re from the UK, you already knew that.

Naturally, since all the young women are playing the game, you can find a lot of men, both young and old, playing the game in earnest. Online 90 Ball bingo has been an absolute phenomenon in the UK and has been growing by leaps and bounds since 2005.

With the huge popularity of online 90 Ball bingo in the UK, many Internet heavyweights such as Yahoo!, AOL UK, Virgin and MSN UK have ventured into the market and now manage their online bingo. Major British TV shows such as “Emmerdale,” “Coronation Street,” and “I’m a Celebrity” have also jumped on the online bingo bandwagon and now run their own games.

90 Ball Bingo at Blackpool club

The game is called 90 Ball bingo because 90 is the maximum quantity of numbers that can be called in the game. It is played on bingo cards which have three horizontal rows and nine vertical columns.

The game begins with players buying their bingo cards where numbers are spread out across the three rows. On each row, only five of the nine spaces have numbers while four spaces are blank. The numbers range from 1 to 90. The first column has numbers from one to 10, the second column has numbers from 11 to 20, the third column has numbers from 21 to 30 and so on until the ninth column.

Once all players have their cards, the dealer begins drawing numbers at random from a container and calling these numbers out. Players mark each number called on their cards. The first player who completes each of three patterns shout out “Bingo!” to indicate that he has won the game. The dealer confirms the numbers on his card. Once the win is confirmed, a new game begins.

The three basic patterns in 90 Ball bingo are One Line, Two Line and Full House. The first player who crosses off a horizontal line wins One Line, the first to cross off two horizontal lines wins Two Lines and, finally, the player who crosses off all three lines wins Full House. Prizes for each pattern increase in value. Naturally, the biggest prizes are awarded for Full House games because these are the most difficult.

In 90 Ball bingo, each player can have as many as 48 tickets. Players can also purchase a strip of six tickets which covers all numbers from 1 to 90. This way, he is sure to cross out one number every time a bingo call is made.

The 90 Ball bingo game is much simpler than 75 number bingo, which has many and more complicated themed patterns. It’s also slower than the 75 Ball version, although it certainly isn’t any less exciting.


  

Unlike American bingo with a 5 by 5 card with numbers from 1 to 75, in Europe and South America bingo is often played with a 3 by 9 card with numbers from 1 to 90. Below is an example.

 

 

As the example shows the card contains 3 rows and 9 columns. On each row are exactly 5 numbers. The other four cells in each row are blank, or free squares. From other examples I have seen the first row contains the numbers 1 to 10, the second 11 to 20, and so on, but mathematically this doesn't matter. Winning events I have heard of all are based on covering rows only, so mathematically speaking the game could played on a 3 by 5 card with all numbers covered, the odds would be the same.

The purpose of this appendix is to show the probability of covering (1) at least one row, (2) at least 2 rows, and (3) all three rows, in any given number of calls from 5 to 90. For example, the table shows the probability of covering at least one row in 50 calls on any one card is 0.139289864, or 13.93%.

 
90 Number Bingo Probabilities
Calls One Row
Probability
Two Rows
Probability
Three Rows
Probability
One Row Inverse
Probability
Two Rows Inverse
Probability
Three Rows Inverse
Probability
5 0.0000000683 0 0 1 in 14649756    
6 0.0000004096 0 0 1 in 2441626    
7 0.0000014335 0 0 1 in 697607    
8 0.0000038226 0 0 1 in 261603    
9 0.0000086008 0 0 1 in 116268    
10 0.0000172017 0 0 1 in 58134 1 in 1906881827301  
11 0.0000315364 0 0 1 in 31709 1 in 173352893391  
12 0.0000540623 0 0 1 in 18497 1 in 28892148899  
13 0.0000878511 0.0000000001 0 1 in 11383 1 in 6667418977  
14 0.000136657 0.0000000005 0 1 in 7318 1 in 1904976850  
15 0.0002049848 0.0000000016 0 1 in 4878 1 in 634992301 1 in 45795673964460800
16 0.0002981578 0.0000000042 0 1 in 3354 1 in 238122146 1 in 2862229622778800
17 0.0004223859 0.0000000102 0 1 in 2368 1 in 98050336 1 in 336732896797506
18 0.0005848332 0.0000000229 0 1 in 1710 1 in 43577969 1 in 56122149466251
19 0.0007936849 0.0000000484 0 1 in 1260 1 in 20642236 1 in 11815189361316
20 0.0010582143 0.0000000969 0 1 in 945 1 in 10321154 1 in 2953797340329
21 0.0013888484 0.000000185 0 1 in 720 1 in 5406350 1 in 843942097237
22 0.0017972335 0.0000003391 0 1 in 556 1 in 2948945 1 in 268527030939
23 0.0022962984 0.0000005999 0 1 in 435 1 in 1666818 1 in 93400706414
24 0.0029003168 0.0000010285 0 1 in 345 1 in 972330 1 in 35025264905
25 0.0036249674 0.000001714 0.0000000001 1 in 276 1 in 583414 1 in 14010105962
26 0.0044873918 0.0000027852 0.0000000002 1 in 223 1 in 359038 1 in 5927352522
27 0.0055062482 0.0000044234 0.0000000004 1 in 182 1 in 226072 1 in 2634378899
28 0.006701763 0.0000068803 0.0000000008 1 in 149 1 in 145342 1 in 1223104489
29 0.008095776 0.0000105007 0.0000000017 1 in 124 1 in 95232 1 in 590464236
30 0.0097117813 0.0000157493 0.0000000034 1 in 103 1 in 63495 1 in 295232118
31 0.0115749612 0.0000232459 0.0000000066 1 in 86 1 in 43018 1 in 152377867
32 0.0137122121 0.0000338066 0.0000000124 1 in 73 1 in 29580 1 in 80950742
33 0.0161521615 0.0000484952 0.0000000226 1 in 62 1 in 20621 1 in 44154950
34 0.0189251748 0.0000686847 0.0000000405 1 in 53 1 in 14559 1 in 24674825
35 0.0220633488 0.0000961302 0.0000000709 1 in 45 1 in 10403 1 in 14099900
36 0.0256004928 0.0001330566 0.0000001216 1 in 39 1 in 7516 1 in 8224942
37 0.0295720915 0.0001822611 0.0000002045 1 in 34 1 in 5487 1 in 4890506
38 0.0340152517 0.0002472336 0.0000003378 1 in 29 1 in 4045 1 in 2960043
39 0.0389686274 0.0003322973 0.000000549 1 in 26 1 in 3009 1 in 1821565
40 0.0444723213 0.0004427703 0.0000008784 1 in 22 1 in 2259 1 in 1138478
41 0.0505677613 0.0005851526 0.0000013851 1 in 20 1 in 1709 1 in 721962
42 0.0572975481 0.0007673395 0.0000021546 1 in 17 1 in 1303 1 in 464118
43 0.0647052697 0.0009988639 0.0000033089 1 in 15 1 in 1001 1 in 302217
44 0.0728352824 0.0012911709 0.0000050204 1 in 14 1 in 774 1 in 199188
45 0.081732452 0.0016579252 0.0000075306 1 in 12 1 in 603 1 in 132792
46 0.0914418539 0.002115356 0.0000111744 1 in 11 1 in 473 1 in 89490
47 0.1020084273 0.0026826381 0.0000164124 1 in 10 1 in 373 1 in 60930
48 0.1134765801 0.0033823132 0.0000238726 1 in 8.8 1 in 296 1 in 41889
49 0.1258897424 0.0042407513 0.0000344046 1 in 7.9 1 in 236 1 in 29066
50 0.1392898636 0.0052886518 0.0000491494 1 in 7.2 1 in 189 1 in 20346
51 0.1537168505 0.0065615844 0.0000696283 1 in 6.5 1 in 152 1 in 14362
52 0.1692079444 0.0081005673 0.000097856 1 in 5.9 1 in 123 1 in 10219
53 0.1857970345 0.0099526798 0.0001364834 1 in 5.4 1 in 100 1 in 7327
54 0.203513905 0.0121717032 0.000188977 1 in 4.9 1 in 82 1 in 5292
55 0.2223834172 0.0148187832 0.0002598433 1 in 4.5 1 in 67 1 in 3848
56 0.2424246244 0.0179631039 0.000354908 1 in 4.1 1 in 56 1 in 2818
57 0.2636498229 0.0216825599 0.0004816608 1 in 3.8 1 in 46 1 in 2076
58 0.2860635412 0.0260644094 0.000649682 1 in 3.5 1 in 38 1 in 1539
59 0.309661472 0.031205888 0.0008711645 1 in 3.2 1 in 32 1 in 1148
60 0.3344293554 0.037214755 0.0011615527 1 in 3 1 in 27 1 in 861
61 0.3603418208 0.0442097423 0.0015403199 1 in 2.8 1 in 23 1 in 649
62 0.387361203 0.0523208636 0.0020319114 1 in 2.6 1 in 19 1 in 492
63 0.4154363465 0.0616895391 0.0026668837 1 in 2.4 1 in 16 1 in 375
64 0.4445014202 0.0724684766 0.0034832766 1 in 2.2 1 in 14 1 in 287
65 0.4744747683 0.0848212433 0.0045282596 1 in 2.1 1 in 12 1 in 221
66 0.5052578274 0.0989214474 0.0058601006 1 in 2 1 in 10 1 in 171
67 0.5367341493 0.1149514356 0.0075505143 1 in 1.86 1 in 8.7 1 in 132
68 0.568768574 0.1331003983 0.0096874523 1 in 1.76 1 in 7.5 1 in 103
69 0.6012066069 0.153561752 0.0123784113 1 in 1.66 1 in 6.5 1 in 81
70 0.6338740649 0.1765296538 0.0157543416 1 in 1.58 1 in 5.7 1 in 63
71 0.6665770642 0.2021944733 0.0199742546 1 in 1.5 1 in 4.9 1 in 50
72 0.6991024401 0.2307370275 0.0252306373 1 in 1.43 1 in 4.3 1 in 40
73 0.7312186968 0.262321349 0.0317558022 1 in 1.37 1 in 3.8 1 in 31
74 0.7626776074 0.2970857299 0.0398293112 1 in 1.31 1 in 3.4 1 in 25
75 0.7932165977 0.3351317439 0.049786639 1 in 1.26 1 in 3 1 in 20
76 0.8225620687 0.3765109088 0.0620292551 1 in 1.22 1 in 2.7 1 in 16
77 0.8504338369 0.4212086067 0.077036333 1 in 1.18 1 in 2.4 1 in 13
78 0.8765508925 0.4691248258 0.095378317 1 in 1.14 1 in 2.1 1 in 10
79 0.9006387073 0.5200512338 0.1177326101 1 in 1.11 1 in 1.92 1 in 8.5
80 0.9224383526 0.5736440281 0.1449016739 1 in 1.08 1 in 1.74 1 in 6.9
81 0.941717722 0.6293919373 0.1778338726 1 in 1.06 1 in 1.59 1 in 5.6
82 0.9582851926 0.686578675 0.2176474261 1 in 1.04 1 in 1.46 1 in 4.6
83 0.9720060987 0.7442390568 0.2656578878 1 in 1.03 1 in 1.34 1 in 3.8
84 0.9828224403 0.801107902 0.3234096025 1 in 1.02 1 in 1.25 1 in 3.1
85 0.9907762969 0.8555607343 0.3927116602 1 in 1.01 1 in 1.17 1 in 2.5
86 0.9960374767 0.9055451845 0.4756789123 1 in 1.004 1 in 1.1 1 in 2.1
87 0.9989359891 0.9485018727 0.5747786857 1 in 1.001 1 in 1.05 1 in 1.74
88 1 0.9812734082 0.6928838951 1 in 1 1 in 1.02 1 in 1.44
89 1 1 0.8333333333 1 in 1 1 in 1 1 in 1.2
90 1 1 1 1 in 1 1 in 1 1 in 1
 

Methodology: The probability of covering m marks in c calls is combin(15,m)*combin(75,c-m)/combin(90,m). Using that you can find the probability of covering a card as combin(75,90-m)/combin(90,m). To get the probability of covering 1 or 2 rows I determined the probability that m marks would cover 1 or 2 rows. The chart below shows those probabilities, which is based on basic probability.

 
Rows Covered by Number of Marks
Marks 0 Rows 1 Row 2 Rows 3 Rows Total
5 0.999001 0.000999 0 0 1
6 0.994006 0.005994 0 0 1
7 0.979021 0.020979 0 0 1
8 0.944056 0.055944 0 0 1
9 0.874126 0.125874 0 0 1
10 0.749251 0.24975 0.000999 0 1
11 0.549451 0.43956 0.010989 0 1
12 0.274725 0.659341 0.065934 0 1
13 0 0.714286 0.285714 0 1
14 0 0 1 0 1
15 0 0 0 1 1
 

This information source from:

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