We all know that patterns are key to bingo. Whoever completes the right pattern first wins the prize. The number of winning patterns will depend on the type of bingo game you are playing. Some games may just have 4 or 5 possible winning patterns, while others, particularly when it comes to video bingo, can have 15 or more.
As a general rule, the more numbers needed to complete a pattern, the larger the prize will be. That’s why the top prize is won for a full house when every number has been marked off a card.
There are a huge number of bingo patterns. Full House is the most famous, and other common patterns include 1 line and 2 lines. Here we are going to take a look at ten patterns you may come across while playing at bingo sites, some of which you may have never heard of before.
This pattern is quite rare, but it is extremely satisfying to complete. The pattern requires forming a large circle around the outside of a ticket as well as a clock hand inside the ticket. Visually it is easily identifiable as a clock; however, it is far from easy to complete. The pattern is generally found in 75 ball bingo games as it requires a square ticket. On a 5×5 ticket, there will be eleven empty spaces. Quite often, the clock hand may be anywhere on the clock face, but you will find games where it has to be in a specific position in order to win.
The windmill is a fairly common pattern and it is easy to recognise once you realise that you are not looking for an entire windmill, rather the pattern represents the blades. Again, it is a pattern that is most common in 75 ball bingo. The shape uses all but eight numbers on a ticket. There is a 2×2 square in each corner, each one representing a blade, and the free space in the middle joins them all together. It is a hard pattern to complete, so it usually offers a substantial prize.
Some people think that the bell pattern looks more like a Christmas tree and in fact, in Christmas themed games the same pattern is often referred to as a Christmas tree. It is another pattern found in 75 ball bingo and it uses thirteen of the available spaces and leaves twelve free.
It is fairly easy to imagine what this pattern looks like. As it uses just nine of the twenty-five available spaces on a 75-ball bingo ticket, it is actually a fairly easy pattern to complete. It requires more numbers than one line but fewer numbers than two lines. In some games, the pyramid pattern will have to be pointing upwards; however, there are games that allow it to point in any direction.
Yet another pattern only found in 75 ball bingo, the arrow can be pointing to any of the ticket’s four corners. It is an easy pattern to identify and it requires just nine numbers, making it relatively easy to complete. As mentioned, the arrow can be formed in any direction going diagonally across the ticket and it is very easily recognised.
Many people think that a glass of wine is the perfect accompaniment to a game of bingo, but even if you don’t, you could find that it is a very rewarding pattern to complete. Once again, it is a 75 ball bingo pattern, but there are actually two versions of it. One version requires eleven numbers, and the other version requires fifteen. In both cases, you need to fill the entire bottom row and form a “Y” shape above it. In the second version, you will also fill in the Y so that the glass is full. As a pattern that requires a lot of numbers, it unusually offers significant payouts.
You will find this pattern starts appearing in thematic games around Halloween time. While it is not immediately recognisable as a witch’s hat, it is still a lot of fun to complete. The pattern requires thirteen of the twenty-five numbers on a 75 ball bingo ticket. It requires the entire bottom row, the middle three numbers on the next two rows up, and the middle number on the top two rows.
You will come across several bingo games that use letters and numbers as patterns. It is easy to construct these basic shapes on several different types of bingo tickets. Common patterns include T, H, X, E and the numbers 3, 4, 7 and 8. Furthermore, letters and numbers offer a range of difficulties to achieve; some require very few numbers to be marked while others require a large amount. As such, they are a very popular choice.
This pattern is very simple and requires very few numbers to be marked off a card. As the name suggests, it simply requires the four corner positions to be marked. However, as it requires just four balls and is very easy, it usually either offers a very small prize or must be completed within a certain number of balls to qualify for a prize.
While this pattern is easy to understand, it is not easy to achieve. In a 75 ball bingo game, it requires marking the sixteen numbers around the edge of the card. As it is so difficult, it is often found linked to the jackpot prize or even a progressive jackpot.
Now you are well versed in various different bingo patterns, it wouldn’t be surprising if your mind turned to trying to calculate how easy it is to complete these patterns. However, calculating bingo probabilities is extremely complicated and not really a path worth pursuing.
Perhaps if it was just a one player game and you had a single ticket, it would be worth thinking about. However, you are likely to purchase multiple tickets and there may well be hundreds of players with multiple tickets. Therefore, trying to calculate the probability of you completing any given pattern first to claim the prize is really not worth the time.
However, a bit of common sense can be used. It is obvious that the fewer numbers required to complete a pattern, the better the odds of doing so (and vice versa). For example, completing a four-corner pattern in less than twenty balls is more likely than completing a windmill pattern in less than 50 balls.
Of course, the more winning patterns there are, the more chances you have to win. However, it is probably best to pick a bingo game based upon enjoyment rather than according to what patterns it features.
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