Popular Bingo Patterns You'll See in Online Bingo Games

Whether you’re playing freemium bingo games at free entry online bingo rooms or indulging in real money play games, you’ll notice that there are different winning formulas.

Some games require players to daub as many numbers on their bingo card as possible to take the day at the end of the game. Other variations require that participating punters have one, two, or three numbers to go (i.e.1TG, 2TG, or 3TG) on their card to be part of the winning players in a particular game.

Some games have line winners, meaning the first player to mark off five squares or four numbers horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on their respective 75 ball and 80 ball cards get to call bingo and register a win before the game proceeds to the next session. The ultimate winner here is the player that crosses off all the numbers on their card to call full house.

A full house win also doubles as a pattern win, and it’s popularly known as coverall or blackout in online gaming circles.

For online gamers that don’t know yet, the 75 ball and 80 ball games are the standard variants that constitute the most extensive collection of winning patterns. So for you to play for pattern wins, you must understand the inner workings of the 75 ball and 80 ball games.

75 Ball

Here players pay attention as the caller wades through 75 possible winning numbers. The grid is a five-column, five-row (5×5) card with twenty-five random numbers.

It’s important to note that 24 squares contain numbers while the middle square is left blank. The blank square is known as the free square.

The topmost row spells out BINGO, and each column has 15 numbers. So under B in the first column will be random numbers between 1 and 15. The rest of the letters will have 15 arbitrary numbers below them as follows: I16-30, N31-45, G46-60, and O61-75.

You can daub numbers vertically, horizontally, or diagonally to bag one-line, two-line, three-line, four-line, or five-line prizes.

You get a set of winning patterns that you aim to achieve as you cross off numbers on your card. The patterns include full house/coverall/blackout, crazy kite, letter N or other specific letters, and four corners, among other patterns.

80 Ball

80 ball is the game style most popular in iGaming sites. The grid is a 4×4 row and column square, with 16 squares or numbers in its entirety. Each column houses random numbers within a specific number range. The first column will have random numbers between 1-20, and the second column contains the 21-40 numbers range. There are several ways to win an 80-ball game, including vertical and horizontal lines, winning patterns, and single-digit combinations.

The first winner is the player to daub a complete single line vertically, diagonally, or horizontally. The subsequent winner must mark off two columns/8 numbers, while the third punter needs three columns/12 numbers to win.

The final game winner is the player to have a full house or achieve one of the patterns that the caller defines at the start of the 80-ball game.

Now that the formation and gameplay basics of the 75 ball and 80 ball versions are out of the way, here is a look at some of the most popular patterns that you’ll encounter on online gaming sites:

Line and Letter Patterns

In the process of daubing numbers in your 75 ball game, some of the numbers you mark off will end up assuming patterns that fill up an entire line of five consecutive squares across, down, or diagonally. The patterns may even resemble certain letters of the alphabet. The pictures below are the perfect examples of line and letter games patterns.

Blackout or Coverall

To achieve these patterns, you’ll have to daub all the numbers on your card and cover the entire card. That’s how the names “blackout” and “coverall” came about.

Here is what the blackout pattern looks like:

Crazy Kite

Like its name, this is a rare pattern that only a few lucky punters get to hit. The numbers you mark off consist of a block of four adjacent squares on any corner of the card and a single diagonal five-line pattern. In case you’re wondering what the hell we’re talking about, here’s a crisp pictorial representation of the crazy kite pattern:

4 Corners

Some of this 75 ball and 80 ball patterns are relatively easy to achieve, and the 4 corners pattern is a good case in point. It simply entails daubing the four corner squares on your card, just like in the image below:

Everyday Items Patterns: Windmill, Wine Glass

At times you’ll find players deep in their 75 ball game daubing numbers and unexpectedly creating games patterns that resemble everyday items such as a wine glass or a windmill.

2×2 squares on each corner of the card represent the windmill’s blades, and they connect to the centre or blank square to form the shape of a windmill.

For a wine glass shape, picture the letter “Y” on the bingo card. Imagine the punter has daubed five squares on the bottom column of the bingo card to form a five-line pattern. Voila! There you go. A wine glass figure appears on the card, and the player can call bingo.

There are more than fifty patterns that can win you a prize in bingo games. The various patterns will depend on the online gaming site you are playing at and the part of the world in question. You can look at the images below for more examples of acceptable bingo patterns in the US and UK online gambling markets.