As well as looking at specific games that you can play on the Gala network, we’re also having a look at the game types that the company uses to entertain you. It’s entirely fair to say that not every 80 ball game of bingo will be exactly as we outline on this page, but this should give you an overview and a rough idea of what to expect.
The Premise
If you’ve ever played bingo then you’ll know roughly what to expect. Assuming that you haven’t, though, we’ll run you through the idea behind 80 bingo now. Before the game of bingo starts you need to buy tickets. In the 80 ball variation of the game, tickets contain four columns, each with four squares in each. Unlike in 90 ball bingo, where there are some blank squares, every square of the 80 ball bingo ticket contains a number. The numbers are assigned randomly and range from 1 through to 80, giving the game its name.
In the majority of games you can buy just one ticket, should you wish to. It’s common practice to buy a ‘strip’ of tickets, with a strip being made up of five different tickets, each filled with numbers from 1 to 90. Five tickets, each with sixteen different numbers on each, gives you 80 different numbers for the game. Bear in mind, of course, that some numbers will be doubled up on tickets.
There are 80 balls for this game, each labelled with a number from 1 to 80. In real life the balls are drawn from a machine, whereas with online bingo they are ‘drawn’ at random by the computer. Each time a ball is drawn with a number that you have on one of your tickets it is marked off. By marking off a given number of balls you win prizes, which we’ll now explore in more detail.
Winning
In 90 ball bingo the ways to win are typically quite prescriptive, with a line, followed by 2 lines and then House being the standard ways of winning. In 80 ball bingo the layout of the ticket means that things can be much more interesting, giving you numerous different ways to win. Much like with its 90 cousin, the game tends to start with a search for 1 line. The difference here is that that line can be found horizontally, vertically or even diagonally, as long as it goes from one corner to the other.
Once the line has been won the game moves on to seeking 2 lines, though this is normally played differently to in the 90 ball game as the lines have to be ‘columns’, moving vertically down the ticket rather than horizontally across. The same is true for the next prize, issued to the player who first gets 3 columns, or vertical lines. After that it is standard for the final prize to be awarded to the first player who gets House or Bingo, which involves all squares on their ticket being marked off.
There is another variation of the House theme in some 80 ball games. This involves players trying to get a specific pattern marked off on their ticket. For example, you might win if you are the first to create an X on your ticket, linking each of the corners. There are plenty of different patterns that you might have to look for, so it’s worth having a look at the individual games to see what’s required.
Some 80 ball bingo games will ask you to get just House, whilst others will ask for 1 line, then 2 lines and then a pattern. It’s different for each room and, of course, games can have their own rules should they wish to. Generally speaking, though, the above is what you’ll likely be looking for if you’re hoping to win.
Features & Jackpots
A lot of 90 ball games tend to have feature games within the room, where you can win money in addition to the bingo prizes. That is not normally the case with 80 ball games, with the games instead opting for trusting the fast and furious nature of the play to maintain people’s interest. What they do sometimes offer is an additional incentive, such as Buy One Get One Free on ticket sales.
One thing that 80 ball games often have in common with their 90 ball equivalent is a jackpot. This is a separate thing to the prize you win for getting a line, a column or House. They are normally progressive, meaning that they have a guaranteed starting point but have money added to them at the end of each day, depending on how many people have played the game during the day. A standard way of winning the jackpot is for House to be won within a given number of calls.
Say, for example, that the jackpot is awarded for 32 calls. That means that someone winning House after 32 ball draws or less will trigger the jackpot. So if you win House after 27 balls have been drawn then you’ll also get a share of the jackpot. If you get House on the 33rd call, however, you’ll just win the normal prize for House within the game. The jackpot is normally dished out as 50% to wherever won House, with the other 50% being split between all players with valid tickets, dished out depending on how many tickets they bought. As with any prize during the game, it’s possible to share the 50% of the jackpot win if someone else got House at the same time as you.
Example Games on Gala Site
At the time of writing there is only one 80 ball game on the Gala Bingo site, namely the 1980 Bingo Room as pictured at the start of this article.
