To be informed is to be forewarned, so the saying goes. Knowing what you are doing may not help you win, but you never know!

Traditionally, in a face-to-face UK Bingo Hall, you would buy six Bingo cards per game, and all the 90 numbers available would occur at least once on a card. This would help you in ticking off, as you’d know each number must be on one card. But, you have to be quick, you have to check your numbers and tick them off before the next number was called. Most on-line sites use 75 numbers and a card has 5 rows and five columns, giving 25 numbers. The rows are named after Bingo, and the B row has a column of numbers from 1-15, I has 16-30, N has 31-45, G has 46-60 and O has 61-75.

Online sites tick off your card for you, so you do not need to worry about missing a number or ticking the wrong number.

You win if your card has the numbers that have been called, arranged in a pre-set pattern (as displayed on the site) eg. an A, or a horizontal line, or whatever the site said would win for that game.

A progressive jackpot is one that is awarded for fulfilling certain criteria in a game. Eg. If a line is obtained in 6 balls or less. If no one wins it one game, it’s carried forward to the next, and so on, until won. So it can get to a high value.

Your account with a site is important and you will not be allowed to play if you are not in credit. Many sites use another site to handle the payment transactions, in fact, the credit card companies make them do this. It ensures that only a few reputable companies get to handle your credit card. The payment company’s name will be displayed on the Bingo site, and when you select to make a deposit. If you do not recognise the payment-handling company, choose a different Bingo site. Most of these payment-handlers will make a small fee for the service.

Bingo is a game of luck, but you can help yourself by looking at a selection of sites and their jackpot amounts and how much a card costs to play, before you play so that you enter games that are good value. Jackpots tend to be higher at weekends, for the same initial card price.

If you use a Bingo chatroom you are expected to behave in a decent manner. By all means cry over no wins, but do not gloat over winnings - See Bingo Etiquette.