Bingo is a game of chance for two or more players. Each player is given a card marked with a grid containing a unique combination of numbers and blank spaces. The winning pattern to be formed on the card is announced. On each turn, a non-player known as the caller randomly selects a numbered ball from a container and announces the number to all the players. The ball is then set aside so that it cannot be chosen again. Each player searches his card for the called number, and if he finds it, marks it. The element of skill in the game is the ability to search one's card for the called number in the short time before the next number is called.

The caller continues to select and announce numbers until the first player forms the agreed pattern on his card and shouts out the name of the pattern. The most common pattern, called house, simply consists of marking all the numbers on the card.

There are traditional calls for the numbers. For example:
1Kelly's Eye
5Man Alive
7Lucky for Some
8One Fat Lady
9Doctor's Orders
11Legs
13Unlucky for Some
16Sweet Sixteen
21Key of the Door
22Two Little Ducks
23Thee and Me
30Dirty Gertie
37More Than Eleven
45Halfway There
51Tweak of the Thumb
59Brighton Line
64Red Raw
66Clickety-Click
71Bang on the Drum
76Trombones
79One More Time
81Stop and Run
86Between the Sticks
88Two Fat Ladies
90Top of the Shop

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Bingo province was an old province of Japan.