Housie is a gambling game played in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, where it is called Bingo. Players mark off numbers on a ticket as they are randomly called out, in order to achieve a winning combination.

It is not to be confused with the similar American game Bingo, as the tickets and the calling are slightly different. Bingo Bingo is a game of chance where randomly-selected numbers are drawn and players match those numbers to those appearing on 5x5 matrices which are printed or electronically represented and are known as cards. ...

Description of the Game

A typical housie/Bingo ticket

A typical housie/bingo ticket is shown to the right. It contains fifteen numbers, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each column contains either one, two, or very rarely three, numbers: Image File history File linksMetadata Housieticket. ...

• The first column contains numbers from 1 to 9,
• The second column numbers from 10 to 19,
• The third 20 to 29 and so on up until the last column, which contains numbers from 80 to 90 (the 90 being placed in this column as well).

The game is presided over by a caller, whose job it is to call out the numbers and validate winning tickets. He will announce the prize or prizes for each game before starting.The caller will then usually say "Eyes down" to indicate that he is about to start. He then begins to call numbers as they are randomly selected, either by an electronic Random Number Generator (RNG), by drawing counters from a bag or by using balls in a mechanical draw machine. Calling takes the format of simple repetition in the framework, "Both the fives, fifty five", or "Two and three, twenty three." A random number generator is a computational or physical device designed to generate a sequence of numbers that does not have any easily discernable pattern, so that the sequence can be treated as being random. ...

A typical "dabber" or "dauber", used for both bingo and housie tickets

The different winning combinations are: ImageMetadata File history File links Bingo_dabber. ...

• Line - covering a horizontal line of five numbers on the ticket.
• Two Lines - Covering any two lines on the same ticket.
• Full House - covering all fifteen numbers on the ticket.
  • In New Zealand in bonus (Super Housie) games, often three lines may be claimed - top, middle and bottom, usually with much larger prizes, are also played at various times throughout the session.
  • In the UK, however, it is most common for a line game to be followed directly by a two line game and a full house game, or just by a full house game.
  • In the UK's National Bingo Game only a full house game is ever played.
  • In all cases, the last number called must be in the winning sequence.

When players first come to the venue (often a church hall, rugby club or other place with sufficient tables and chairs, including in the UK many specifically designed bingo clubs) they can buy a book of tickets. Players generally play between one and six books. In New Zealand a book usually contains fifty tickets which are played over the course of the night. In UK bingo clubs, playing is divided into sessions with different books, each with a designated number of pages. Players in the UK usually prefer to buy books of 6 tickets containing all possible numbers in different combinations.

As each number is called, players check to see if that number appears on their tickets. If it does, they will mark it with a special marker called a "dabber" or a "dauber", shown here. When all the numbers required to win a prize have been marked off, the player calls out "Line" or "House" depending on the prize, and an official or member of staff will come and check the claim:

• In the UK with the increasing computerization of bingo systems, an Auto-Validate system is often used in large clubs where a 1 to 8 digit security code is read out by a member of staff and checked against the entry for that ticket on the system. This saves the club from the time-consuming exercise of reading out every number on the ticket.
• In smaller clubs, however, each number in the winning combination must be read out. The caller will check to see if each number has been called, and if it has, he will say something similar to "House correct - please pay out".

There will often be an interval halfway through the game. In Australia and New Zealand Super Housie tickets are played and raffles (if there are any) are drawn. In UK bingo halls it is most common for Mechanised Cash Bingo to be played (see below).

Business Aspect

In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fundraiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.

Bingo, as housie is known as in the UK (not to be confused with the similar US game Bingo), is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers' money. Bingo Bingo is a game of chance where randomly-selected numbers are drawn and players match those numbers to those appearing on 5x5 matrices which are printed or electronically represented and are known as cards. ...

The two largest companies with bingo halls in the UK are:

• Gala Bingo (Gala Group Ltd.)
• Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)

As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical "take" of fifty percent of the stake. Gala Group Ltd is a British betting shop, bingo and casino operator. ... The Rank Group plc was established on December 22, 1995 as a public limited company in England and Wales and in October 1996 it became a holding company owning all the outstanding shares of the Rank Organisation. ...

Calling nicknames (UK Bingo)

In New Zealand, calling nicknames are not used as much as in the UK, but here are some of the more common ones. When calling, the caller will usually say both digits on their own first, and then the number itself, for example, "Three and two, thirty-two". Some callers will use many of these slang terms, others just a few. However, "Kelly's Eye", "Legs Eleven" and "Top of the Shop" are often used, even if none of the others are. See section below for usage.

There is at least one nickname for each bingo number called. See sources for more.

Sources

• Bingo Nicknames / Caller Slang

Usage of Bingo nicknames in the UK

Since the introduction of the electronic Random Number Generator (RNG) in Bingo Halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames above in mainstream Bingo has dramatically decreased. Bingo with an electronic RNG is much less time consuming and it has been discovered that replacing the nicknames with a simple repetition (in the pattern "All the fives, fifty five" or "Two and four, twenty four"), has allowed bingo halls to focus on the more lucrative business of Mechanised Cash Bingo (MCB), known in Gala Bingo Clubs as Party Bingo, and Mecca Bingo Clubs as Cashline. A random number generator is a computational or physical device designed to generate a sequence of numbers that does not have any easily discernable pattern, so that the sequence can be treated as being random. ...

It is perhaps nostalgic to note that the usage of these nicknames tends to be greater where the focus of playing bingo is upon fun rather than big business; this includes British holiday resort chains such as Haven, British Holidays and Pontins, and also church halls, social clubs etc. Haven Holidays are a company who run holiday camps and parks around the UK and Europe. ... Pontins is a British holiday company founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. ...

Trivia

• An average British game of bingo takes between four and four and a half minutes.
• The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute.
• The average time to check a winning claim is 30 seconds.
• There is a UK Caller of the Year Competition in which bingo callers compete for a cash prize and the chance to call the numbers in Las Vegas, as well as to become the bingo 'ambassador' for Britain.
• The bingo industry employs over 20,000 people from callers, and change givers to cleaners and accountants.
• There are 699 licensed and operating bingo clubs in Great Britain.
• For the year 2000 the total estimated market was around 89 million admissions.
• Over 3 million people regularly play bingo in licensed clubs.
• Players are often members of more than one club.
• Players often arrive 2 hours before the game starts, to enjoy a meal or chat with friends.
• More than two in three people go to bingo for social, rather than financial reasons.
• Many celebrities like to play bingo, including Denise van Outen, Elle MacPherson, Damon Hill, Bianca and Jade Jagger.
• In 2004 more people attended bingo than football matches in both UK leagues.
• The current Bingo Caller of The Year is Karl Seth, aged 33, from the Buckingham Bingo Club in Old Trafford, Manchester.
• All bingo halls in the UK participating in the National Bingo Game must adhere to the somewhat more strict rules on calling numbers because of the overwhelmingly large prize money (sometimes up to GBP £500 thousand). This includes a double repetition of every single number, in the format, "Fifty five, both the fives, fifty five".

Denise performed a star turn at the Peter Pan Gala on 19 December at the Albery Theatre Denise van Outen (born Denise Outen May 27, 1975) is a British television host and stage actress. ... MacPherson on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine MacPherson reenacting Brigitte Bardots famous picture on the cover of Playboy magazine Spanish GQ cover featuring Elle Macpherson Elle MacPherson (born March 29, 1963 or 1964[1], in Killara, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian supermodel and actress. ... Damon Graham Devereux Hill, born in London on September 17, 1960, is the son of the late, two time Formula One World Champion Graham Hill. ... Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. ... Jade Sheena Jezebel Jagger (born October 21, 1971 in Paris, France) is the only child of Rolling Stone Mick Jagger and his former wife Bianca Jagger. ... Look up Football in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Trafford is a metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. ... Manchester is a city in the North West of England. ...

Sources

• National Bingo Game website