How Many Bingo Games Should Your Bingo Offer?

We're often asked to give guidancce to bingo managers (especially new managers) and help them determine the amount of bingo games that they should offer in their bingo program. The amount of games to offer can depend a lot on what the bingo players in your area expect, but here are a few general rules to follow.

Bingo Program Length

One of the biggest factors in determining the amount of bingo games that you offer is the time your program takes from start to finish. Many bingos make the mistake of running a game that is too long. In general, players want a program that lasts about 3 hours. If you go much less than 3 hours, players may feel that they aren't getting their money's worth. Go longer and players may become bored, or feel that it just takes too much time out of their day.

What Types of Bingo Games Should You Offer?

This often depends a lot on the area your bingo is located. Most regions will have certain bingo games that their players are used to, so you'll want to try to incorporate these into your bingo program. Don't confuse your bingo players with a ton of new or different games all at once. However, this doesn't mean you have to make your bingo exactly like everyone else's or borrow ideas from poor performing bingos. Use common sense and use what works and throw out what doesn't.

That said, you also need to pay attention to the duration of your bingo game when you decide what bingo patterns will be involved. Coverall bingos played on bingo paper can take up to 30 minutes to play depending on your bingo attendance and call speed. So, you want to limit the amount of coverall games, and generally play those only for your bigger bingo prizes.

On the other hand straight-line or regular bingo patterns typically take a little over 5 minutes to play. The time it takes to play each game is important because they all add up, and again, you want to keep your bingo program at around 3 hours in length. And, don't forget to account for a minute between games and your intermission as well.

So, when determining the number of bingo games for your bingo program, you must always consider the types of games (and their length) you want to play.