Tribal casinos have the ability to offer bingo machines as one form of gambling entertainment. Unlike Vegas-style slots, where the outcome is determined by a Random Number Generator, Bingo Machines have their outcome determined by the game of Bingo, and generally still feature reels like a slot machine, which show the outcome of that wager “for entertainment purposes only.”
But some are curious how it works.
With slots with BINGO cards, is it the patterns that determine if you get a good line hit, free spins, or jackpots? A lot of people don’t understand.
Eli C.
While the requirement is that the outcome must be determined by Bingo (and the machines facilitating the ability to play Bingo), like the various bingo halls you may find at casinos, the patterns and rules can differ. In this case, the core determination will vary by manufacturer.
Along with the patterns, the number of balls drawn, and the number of balls that is allowed for a certain pattern to pay a certain prize can come into play.
[Going to attempt to capture a bingo payout screen from Agua]
An analogy can be those blackout prizes casinos may offer at the end of a session. Getting a blackout within a certain number of balls will award a much higher prize than farther along in the draw process.
Similarly, on some games the prizes may only be awarded at a certain level if accomplished within a certain number of balls.
Some machines will award points for various things being accomplished in a certain number of balls and based on your final score, that determines the prize you’ll win.
The common thread here is that the game of bingo is played, your prize is determined based on the rules of that Bingo game, and then the reels will reflect an outcome that matches the prize on the Bingo game. No prize won will show a losing spin, and a winning Bingo round will show a line hit or bonus, depending on the prize amount and what winning combinations the machine’s able to show based on the amount won.
The ability to customize the prizes for each game while still working with the universal rules of Bingo is in no small part how nowadays you’ll see popular themes in Bingo format that look and feel virtually identical to the Vegas-style slot equivalent.
It took a long time and a lot of work to get to this point, but many slot manufacturers can now build a Bingo Machine equivalent of a Vegas-style slot theme either at the same time or nearly the same time, which is great news for players in areas where Vegas-style slots are simply not available. It also increasingly makes available the most popular game formats in more places, creating some consistency when you walk into a casino and look for some of your favorite game themes.
