What Is Charity Bingo?

When bingo first started, it served various purposes. Some people, like the Germans, used it to pass arithmetic skills to their younger generations. Others, like the Italians, viewed it as a lottery equivalent, while the Americans perceived it as a fair game.

At some point, bingo became a legal way to raise money for charity, leading to the making of charity bingo which laid the foundation for modern bingo.

Most of the bingo games played today, like those under this Bounce Bingo review, date back to the charity bingo days. And if you’d like to take a walk down memory lane, here’s how you can do this:

Gambling has not always been legal. In fact, some states are yet to permit bingo as a casino game, terming it as a game of chance and, therefore, illegal.

Such was the case in the mid-20^th century when most authorities cracked down on casino operations and bingo games. However, there was one loophole – playing bingo to raise money for charity was permittable.

This allowance paved the way for charity bingo, just like any other bingo game. Players converge, mark their cards, and the winning numbers get called out at the end of each game.

Since the games revolve around charity, there’s always a fixed amount that the organizers want to achieve. They thus tweak the prizes to help them reach these amounts by:

Agreeing on a split between the winners and the organization. For example, those who win can take home 50% of their winnings and leave the rest of the money to the charitable organization,
Gifting the winners using prizes supplied by local businesses. For example, players can battle it out for gift cards or other prizes they deem worthwhile.

While charity bingo aims to raise awareness about causes and raise funds to address them, players often need a prize in the offing. Not having one can result in low turnouts, as seen over time.

Where cash prizes are not permissible per the law, organizers often rely on gifts as the focal attraction.

How to Play Charity Bingo

You might think that playing charity bingo differs significantly from other bingo games. However, that is not the case. It shares many similarities with the classic bingo games with just one key variation – its premise is to raise money for a cause.

That aside, everything else is what you would experience with a typical bingo game.

Here’s how you play charity bingo:

Understand the game’s rules: Bingo has many variations, including 90-ball and 75-ball games. Some are even more fast-paced, such as the 30-ball variations you can find online. You must understand what a game requires from you because doing this gives you the best chance of winning. Even if the prize may not be your key focus, knowing the rules helps you enjoy the game better.
Mark your preferred numbers: Bingo games have various ways of winning. Some require you to match horizontal patterns, while others rely on vertical patterns, boxed patterns, etc. The rules of the game determine which patterns result in a win. Pick the numbers you think can win – there’s no strategy to this, as bingo is a game of chance.

The last step is to follow the caller as they call out the winning numbers. Mark the matching numbers on your card and track whether you have won.

And if you have the correct pattern, you can yell “bingo” and claim your win! In online bingo, the marking takes place automatically, and you’ll know if you will take the prize home within seconds.