Virtual Bingo Caller Bingo Maker

Play bingo with our virtual bingo caller

This tutorial explains how to play a bingo game with our virtual bingo caller. It was designed to facilitate the organization of a bingo game, to reduce the necessary equipment and to easily validate the winning cards. You can play with virtual cards, and/or printed cards. The virtual bingo caller is linked to the bingo cards of a game, and thus allows to track when a card is a winner in the “Winners list”.

You can have one active caller at a time per account. When you activate a caller for your bingo project, by default you have 2 hours of activation time for your bingo activity. There is an option at the bottom of the “Game Settings” page to extend the game for up to 3 to 48 hours. You can play as many games as you want by clicking “Restart the game”. If you want players to have multiple cards, you’ll need to distribute printed cards. Players can have only one virtual card per web browser. When you restart the game, the caller and the players cards will be reset, and they keep playing with the same cards.

At this stage, you should already have created new game, and you can see it on the main page in your Games List. Go in the line of your game and click the “Play” icon.

Game Settings:

Let’s take a look at the game settings.

Number of virtual cards

This is where you choose if you play a game with printed bingo cards, with virtual bingo cards, or both. The game will be played by default with printed cards. To change the ratio of printed cards and virtual cards, modify the number of virtual cards. If you would like to play only with virtual bingo cards, click “Set all to virtual“. Enter a game name and a password for players to join your virtual game at BingoMaker.com and click “Join a game“.

Here is a video that demonstrates how the host and the players are connected using the virtual bingo caller.

Game name

When you have some virtual cards in your game, you can select the game name. The game name will appear in the Game List page.

Password

Enter a game name and a password for the players to join your game.

Game Type

If you have a simulation with your project, you can select “Simulation” and the caller will make the draws in the same order previously selected in your simulation. When the selection is at “Bingo Caller”, the caller works as a regular bingo caller.

Bingo Caller: The bingo caller will draw the values randomly during the game as a standard bingo caller used in bingo halls (cage with balls). To print the bingo cards for the game, choose a card template, click “View” and print out the number of cards required. If you plan to play multiple games, print the same cards several times.

Simulation: This option is only available if you have done a simulation for this game. The bingo caller will draw the values like a standard bingo caller, but it will follow the predefined order to reproduce the results. The winning combinations will respect those defined during the simulation and will be displayed in the lists as the game progresses. Select from the versions the simulation you wish to play during the game. If you restart a new game, the bingo caller will replay the same simulation.

Display “Current/Previous draws” on virtual cards

This option can hide the current and previous draw fields at the top and bottom of the virtual card.

Winning patterns to get a bingo

Choose from 74 patterns how players will get winning lines during the game. The boxes are all checked by default. The results will be displayed simultaneously during the game in the winners list. Winning Line (s) is a vertical and horizontal 5 consecutive squares, Winning diagonal (s) is \ and / (don’t click those ones if you just want the X) 4 corners is quite easy to get because it consider only B and O column, and it’s a requirement in order to get the X. Just select the pattern you want for the game. You can modify the winning patterns every time you restart the game.

Cost (credits)

The first game is free. The cost of using the bingo caller depends on the number of cards of the game at the price of 1 credit per 25 cards and it will be active for three hours. The countdown starts when the caller is activate, and it is shown at the top right of the bingo caller.

Activate the bingo caller

We tried to simplify the bingo caller in order to make sure anybody can use it. The bingo caller was designed in order to make the random draws, and manage all the other aspects of the game. The host can follow the game on his side using the different lists, and easily validate the winning cards. You can display the flashboard to players on an external screen like the giant board in the professional bingo halls.

Game Information

Players can join your game at Games List page with your game name and password. You can see in real time how many players are in your game, so you can start the draws when most players have joined. The caller will remain active as per decided in the “Game Setting” page (from 2 to 48 hours), and you can play as many games as you want with “Restart the game”. Once the countdown is over, players will be redirected back to the “Games List” page.

Manual and automatic draw

To start the game, manually click on “Make Draw“. To use the automatic draw, select the number of seconds between draws and click “Enable”. To disable the function, click “Disable“. When the option “Stop the draw when a card is winning” is set to “Yes“, the bingo caller will be deactivated when there is at least one winning card. If the option is set to “No“, the bingo caller will continue without taking into account to the winners. Draws will stop when all bingo values are drawn or when all the values of a simulation are drawn.

Board Options

Manual selection of the draws

The table allows organizers to quickly see the drawn values and follow the game. Current and previous draws are displayed at the top of the table. The table is automatically updated after each draw.

Make the draws with your bingo cage in the virtual world. Click the draw option “Manual selection of the draws” and select the numbers in the game table.

Open the board in an external window

This function opens the table in another window. Drag the window into the other screen (TV or projector) and display the board so that the players follow the draws as in professional bingo centers.

Playlist and Winners list

The Winners List displays the card numbers and the winning patterns of the winners.

Automatic validation of virtual cards

Only the cards that are played on a device will appear in the winners list. When a player has the possibility of having a bingo in his virtual card, the card number and pattern will appear in the winners list (not crossed out). Once the player clicks all the squares and get the winning pattern, a pop-up message will appear on the screen “Bingo”. At that moment, the card will be crossed out in the winners list to indicate that it has been validated.

Manual validation of printed cards

The validation of the winners in this table enables you to mark the cards that have been validated. To validate a card, click on the card in the winners list and click “Validate“. The card will be crossed out to indicate that it has been validated. If you have selected the option “Do a draw among winners at the end of the game“, only crossed out cards will be part of the final draw.

Ways to end the game

End the game and do the draw

This function allows a draw among players who have won winning lines during the game. Making the draw finishes the game and displays the desired number of winners. Only validated cards will be part of the final draw among winners. This way of ending the game can be accomplished with printed cards by playing with the 4 corners method, read more at: How to play bingo?.

Restart the game

This function enables you to reset all the bingo caller tables and to start another gam. You can play as many games as you want until there is no time left on the active bingo caller. When you restart the game, players stay connected to your game, their cards are reseted, and they keep playing with the same card again.

Close the game

When you close the game, the caller is deactivated. Players will be ask to leave the game and then redirected to the Games List page. The remaining time of the countdown is lost.

Learn how to simulate a bingo game.