Gourt Home::Gourt :: Housie
Housie is a gambling game played in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, where it is called Bingo. Players mark off numbers on a ticket as they are randomly called out, in order to achieve a winning combination.
It is not to be confused with the similar American game Bingo, as the tickets and the calling are slightly different.
Description of the Game
A typical housie/bingo ticket is shown to the right. It contains fifteen numbers, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains either one, two, or very rarely three, numbers:
- The first column contains numbers from 1 to 9,
- The second column numbers from 10 to 19,
- The third 20 to 29 and so on up until the last column, which contains numbers from 80 to 90 (the 90 being placed in this column as well).
The game is presided over by a caller, whose job it is to call out the numbers and validate winning tickets. He will announce the prize or prizes for each game before starting.The caller will then usually say "Eyes down" to indicate that he is about to start. He then begins to call numbers as they are randomly selected, either by an electronic Random Number Generator (RNG), by drawing counters from a bag or by using balls in a mechanical draw machine. Calling takes the format of simple repetition in the framework, "Both the fives, fifty five", or "Two and three, twenty three."
The different winning combinations are:
- Line — covering a horizontal line of five numbers on the ticket.
- Two Lines — Covering any two lines on the same ticket.
- Full House — covering all fifteen numbers on the ticket.
- In New Zealand in bonus (Super Housie) games, often three lines may be claimed - top, middle and bottom, usually with much larger prizes, are also played at various times throughout the session.
- In the UK, however, it is most common for a line game to be followed directly by a two line game and a full house game, or just by a full house game.
- In the UK's National Bingo Game only a full house game is ever played.
- In all cases, the last number called must be in the winning sequence.
When players first come to the venue (often a church hall, rugby club or other place with sufficient tables and chairs, including in the UK many specifically designed bingo clubs) they can buy a book of tickets. Players generally play between one and six books. In New Zealand a book usually contains fifty tickets which are played over the course of the night. In UK bingo clubs, playing is divided into sessions with different books, each with a designated number of pages. Players in the UK usually prefer to buy books of 6 tickets containing all possible numbers in different combinations.
As each number is called, players check to see if that number appears on their tickets. If it does, they will mark it with a special marker called a "dabber" or a "dauber", shown here. When all the numbers required to win a prize have been marked off, the player calls out "Line" or "House" depending on the prize, and an official or member of staff will come and check the claim:
- In the UK with the increasing computerization of bingo systems, an Auto-Validate system is often used in large clubs where a 1 to 8 digit security code is read out by a member of staff and checked against the entry for that ticket on the system. This saves the club from the time-consuming exercise of reading out every number on the ticket.
- In smaller clubs, however, each number in the winning combination must be read out. The caller will check to see if each number has been called, and if it has, he will say something similar to "House correct - please pay out".
There will often be an interval halfway through the game. In Australia and New Zealand Super Housie tickets are played and raffles (if there are any) are drawn. In UK bingo halls it is most common for Mechanised Cash Bingo to be played (see below).
Business Aspect
In New Zealand and Australia, housie is often used a fundraiser by churches, sports teams, and other groups, and raffles are sold before the game.
Bingo, as housie is known as in the UK (not to be confused with the similar US game Bingo), is an expanding and highly profitable business, with many companies competing for the customers' money.
The two largest companies with bingo halls in the UK are:
- Gala Bingo (Gala Group Ltd.)
- Mecca Bingo Ltd. (part of The Rank Group plc)
As well as offering the familiar Housie/Bingo played by marking numbered books, most large clubs have their tables modified for the playing of Cash Housie or Mechanised Cash Bingo (using coin slots or, increasingly in the 21st century, an electronic credit system). This is highly profitable for the operator, with a typical "take" of fifty percent of the stake.
Calling nicknames (UK Bingo)
In New Zealand, calling nicknames are not used as much as in the UK, but here are some of the more common ones. When calling, the caller will usually say both digits on their own first, and then the number itself, for example, "Three and two, thirty-two". Some callers will use many of these slang terms, others just a few. However, "Kelly's Eye", "Legs Eleven" and "Top of the Shop" are often used, even if none of the others are. See section below for usage.
| Number | Slang Expression |
| 1 | Kelly's Eye / On its Own / At the Beginning / Start the Game |
| 2 | One Little Duck |
| 3 | Cup of Tea / One Little Flea / My little Fly |
| 4 | Knock at the Door |
| 5 | Man Alive |
| 7 | Lucky for Some |
| 8 | One Fat Lady / The Garden Gate |
| 9 | Doctor's Orders |
| 10 | Tony's Den (forename of current prime minister) |
| 11 | Chicken Legs / Legs Eleven |
| 13 | Unlucky for Some / Lucky for Some |
| 16 | Sweet Sixteen |
| 21 | Key of the Door |
| 22 | Two Little Ducks |
| 23 | Thee and Me |
| 24 | Two Dozen |
| 26 | Half a Crown / Pick and Mix |
| 30 | Dirty Gertie |
| 37 | More Than Eleven |
| 44 | Droopy Drawers / All the fours |
| 45 | Halfway There |
| 50 | Bulls eye / Blind 50 |
| 51 | Tweak of the Thumb |
| 55 | Snakes Alive / All the Fives |
| 57 | Heinz Varieties |
| 59 | Brighton Line |
| 64 | Red Raw |
| 66 | Clickety-Click |
| 71 | Bang on the Drum |
| 76 | 7 and 6 - Was she worth it? / Trombones |
| 79 | One More Time |
| 81 | Stop and Run |
| 86 | Between the Sticks |
| 88 | Two Fat Ladies |
| 90 | Top of the Shop / Top of the House |
Sources
Usage of Bingo nicknames in the UK
Since the introduction of the electronic Random Number Generator (RNG) in Bingo Halls in the UK, the usage of the nicknames above in mainstream Bingo has dramatically decreased. Bingo with an electronic RNG is much less time consuming and it has been discovered that replacing the nicknames with a simple repetition (in the pattern "All the fives, fifty five" or "Two and four, twenty four"), has allowed bingo halls to focus on the more lucrative business of Mechanised Cash Bingo (MCB), known in Gala Bingo Clubs as Party Bingo, and Mecca Bingo Clubs as Cashline.
It is perhaps nostalgic to note that the usage of these nicknames tends to be greater where the focus of playing bingo is upon fun rather than big business; this includes British holiday resort chains such as Haven, British Holidays and Pontins, and also church halls, social clubs etc.
Trivia
- An average British game of bingo takes between four and four and a half minutes.
- The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute.
- The average time to check a winning claim is 30 seconds.
- There is a UK Caller of the Year Competition in which bingo callers compete for a cash prize and the chance to call the numbers in Las Vegas, as well as to become the bingo 'ambassador' for Britain.
- The bingo industry employs over 20,000 people from callers, and change givers to cleaners and accountants.
- There are 699 licensed and operating bingo clubs in Great Britain.
- For the year 2000 the total estimated market was around 89 million admissions.
- Over 3 million people regularly play bingo in licensed clubs.
- Players are often members of more than one club.
- Players often arrive 2 hours before the game starts, to enjoy a meal or chat with friends.
- More than two in three people go to bingo for social, rather than financial reasons.
- Many celebrities like to play bingo, including Denise van Outen, Elle MacPherson, Damon Hill, Mariah Carey, Bianca and Jade Jagger.
- In 2004 more people attended bingo than football matches in both UK leagues.
- The current Bingo Caller of The Year is Karl Seth, aged 33, from the Buckingham Bingo Club in Old Trafford, Manchester.
- All bingo halls in the UK participating in the National Bingo Game must adhere to the somewhat more strict rules on calling numbers because of the overwhelmingly large prize money (sometimes up to GBP £500 thousand). This includes a double repetition of every single number, in the format, "Fifty five, both the fives, fifty five".
Sources
"Housie"