How to Play Bonus Ball Bingo

Bonus Ball Bingo is a scratch card-style lottery game with a unique set of rules. Play begins by scratching the caller’s card to reveal a set of bingo numbers. The precise amount of numbers will vary between bonus ball bingo games. After the caller’s card bingo numbers have been revealed, it’s time to scratch the bonus bingo balls. This will reveal a set of bingo numbers.

Next, take a look at the bingo cards on your lottery ticket. The exact number of bingo cards varies according to the bonus ball bingo game that you are playing. Some bingo cards have just 4 cards, while others can have 10+ cards. Regardless, now, you must scratch the numbers on the cards that correspond with the Caller’s Card numbers and the Bonus Bingo Balls.

Take a look at the 5 x 5 bingo cards on your bonus ball bingo ticket for a moment. You will notice that there are positions on the bingo card marked as FREE. Like traditional 75 ball bingo games, where the centre square is gifted to players, the FREE positions are designed to give you free matches. So, scratch all of the free spaces, and check the payout combination which is the prize legend for each bingo card. If you are able to form a winning combination with the matching numbers (Caller’s Card + Bonus Bingo Balls), you can win the associated prize.

*Examples of prizes and paying combinations include the following:

• Line = £3 – 4 Corners = £10 – ‘X’ = £20
• Line = £5 – 4 Corners = £20 – ‘X’ = £100
• Line = £10 – 4 Corners = £50 – ‘X’ = £500
• Line = £20 – 4 Corners = £500 – ‘X’ = £20,000

When players match all the required bingo numbers in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, the attendant prizes will be paid out. Recall that there are 5 numbers in any line when you are attempting to form a winning combination. The more numbers you match in Bonus Ball Bingo, the bigger your payout will be.

The payout combinations for Bonus Ball Bingo increase sharply as you match an increasing number of Bingo numbers on a card for specific combinations. For example, 5-number lines (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) pay out the smallest prizes. All four corners (top right, bottom right, top left, bottom left) pay out moderate amounts, but a complete ‘X’ pattern – the diagonals – with 8 matching bingo numbers pays out maximum value.

How Does the Bonus Bingo Ball Affect Outcomes?

Based on the number of bingo cards available, the Bonus Bingo Balls can help you generate winnings. The Bonus Bingo Balls are associated with specific prizes. The rules of play state that players can only win a single prize on each bingo card played, with the exception of the Bonus Bingo Ball. Each of the bingo cards on your ticket is an individual entity; it is played on its own.

Various state and national lotteries offer Bonus Ball Bingo games to legal-age players. The rules, features and procedures can vary between games. The Wisconsin Lottery offers an exciting Bonus Ball Bingo game, identified as Scratch Game #2274. This US-based lottery game has a ticket price of $3. The odds of winning decrease as the number of prizes for specific allocated prize amounts decreases. In this particular lottery draw game, the following prize amounts, approximate number of prizes, and odds of winning are provided:

Source: Example of Payouts from the Wisconsin Lottery Bonus Ball Bingo Paytable

It is evident that the top prize payout on Bonus Ball Bingo of $20,000 features just twice in the game. In other words, there are only 2 X $20,000 prizes up for grabs with Bonus Ball Bingo. That’s why the odds of hitting this combination are astronomically small at 1:600,000. While this is improbable, it is not impossible. Consider the odds of winning the Mega Millions Lottery are approximately 1: 302.5 million. So, you’re much better off playing for the big prize in Bonus Ball Bingo.

Every single scratch card lottery game – such as Bonus Ball Bingo – features a number of winning prizes for each category. The smallest prizes have the highest number of winning allocations. That’s why their odds of winning are so much better. This is true regardless of the specific Bonus Ball Bingo game that you have chosen to play. Remember that each game differs according to specific payouts, bingo cards, and odds.

For example, the Michigan Lottery features a payout table that is markedly different from the Wisconsin Lottery vis-à-vis Bonus Ball Bingo games.

Source: Example of payouts from Michigan Lottery Bonus Ball Bingo Games

In this lottery draw game, the top prize is a whopping $300,000. But there are only 6 of these prizes available. The lowest winning prize is $5, and there are some 3,403,030 prizes available at inception. Further West, the Arizona Lottery Scratchers offers Bonus Ball Bingo #1193 games too. Their odds are remarkably different too. There are top prizes of $10,000, with 15 such prize allocations for the game. The odds of winning the top prize are 1:393,340. The lowest winning prize in the Arizona Lottery Scratchers is $2, with odds of 1:6. In other words, you have a 16.5% chance of winning at least $2 when you play Bonus Ball Bingo (#1193) through the Arizona Lottery.

Bonus Ball Bingo Second Chance Rounds of Play

Many players don’t win during their first round of play. That’s why lottery providers have set up ‘Second Chance Games’ where you can enter your non-winning tickets online for a shot at winning. The Second Chance Games are available to players through dedicated websites. The format and rules of play are similar. Players must match called bingo numbers on the bingo boards to form specific patterns. The prize table indicates the potential winnings available to players. 

Before the bingo games get underway, it’s possible to choose your speed level, and Autodaub functionality. The requisite number of bingo balls will be randomly drawn from an RNG generated system. Players can typically control the speed settings by clicking on the speed button accordingly. Matching numbers are selected on the player cards. Autodaub functionality automatically performs this function for you, for convenience sake. Once the first set of bingo numbers have randomly been selected for you, they will be a hiatus during which time matching numbers that haven’t been revealed will automatically show themselves.

Price structures typically entail Lines, 4 Corners, and X’s. These winning combinations are applicable to all of your bingo cards in Bonus Ball Bingo games.

Summary of Bonus Ball Bingo Games

• Bonus Ball Bingo is a scratch card bingo game fashioned around 75 ball bingo.
• Players have multiple bingo cards on their Bonus Ball Bingo ticket. This can range from 4 – 10+ bingo cards.
• Each 5 x 5 bingo card works similarly to a standard 75 ball bingo game. The first column on the left is the B column with numbers 1-15. Next is I with number 16-30, followed by N with numbers 31-45. The G column contains numbers 46-60, and the final column on the right is the O column with numbers 61-75.
• Players must match numbers on the Caller’s Card with numbers on the bingo cards on the scratch card ticket.
• Various free spots are provided to players to make it easy to form winning bingo combinations. Unlike 75 ball bingo, there are several free spots on each bingo ticket.
• Winning combinations take the form of 5 number lines horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. These are also the lowest-paying winning combinations that can be formed. Other winning condos include 4 Corners, and X’s. The latter winning combos require players to match 8 numbers, including free spaces if applicable.
• Of the year scratched off and marked the regular numbers on the Caller’s Card, with each of the bingo cards on your ticket, it’s time to mark off the Bingo Bonus Balls. The bonus bingo balls are displayed separately from the Caller’s Card numbers. They are designed to give you more winning chances to form bingo patterns.