In the game of bingo, game cards are distributed to players, and each card contains a unique collection of numbers. Before the game begins, a pattern is announced (games can be in various patterns, including 5-In-A-Row, blackout, or many other combinations). Players must match their card numbers with the numbers randomly called by a non-bingo-player known as the bingo caller. Once all players have their cards, the bingo caller begins to draw balls one at a time from a basket of 75 balls.
Each player searches his card for the called number, and if they find it, they mark it with a bingo card marking tool known as a dauber. Once the number on a bingo ball is called, it is marked and set aside so that it cannot be called again. Eventually someone will yell "Bingo!" and, once that person's bingo cards are checked for authenticity by a bingo spotter, that particular game of bingo is over - on to the next one! The balls are also returned to their home, and players purchase new bingo cards for the next upcoming game.
How many bingo cards are there numerical possibilities for you ask? Well, the number of numerical possibilities on a bingo card is a BIG number! According to one calculation, there are approximately 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 (five hundred fifty-two septillion, four hundred forty-six sextillion, four hundred seventy-four quintillion, sixty-one quadrillion, one hundred twenty-eight trillion, six hundred forty-eight billion, six hundred one million, six hundred thousand) possible arrangements of the numbers on a bingo card. I think you'll need to ask the bingo cashier to do a recount for you on that one!
If you could print a million cards per second, it would take 17,505,972,382,599.7 years to print every possible bingo card. And only 4,976,640,000 cards would have the same twenty four numbers, but in a different arrangement.
Wow! That's a lot of bingo cards. We hope you brought lots of daubers!