How To Play Card Bingo

Card Bingo is an easy to play card game and can be played by card players of any experience level and is thus often enjoyed by children. The standard game requires two standard 52 card decks for play. Each of these decks should have distinguishable backs in order to allow the decks to be readily reformed after each game. The game can be played by up to 11 players, although with the addition of more decks the game can accommodate many more players. It can also be played by as few as 2 or 3, but is usually best with 5 or more.

Example four player game of Card Bingo

One player is usually designated as the Caller. If the identity of the Caller has not been predetermined, a random draw of cards can be performed with the player receiving the highest card in this draw set as the Caller for the first hand. Any players who receive cards of the same rank should discard that card and draw another until drawing a card which has not been previously drawn by any other player. The Caller is usually also set as the dealer for that hand.

The dealer should thus then shuffle the first deck of cards and deal each player a row of five face-up cards in front of each player. The remainder of the deck should then be set aside, out of play in a face-down pile. In most cases the Caller would not receive any cards as they instead will be calling the cards which have been played. However, if there are fewer than five total, active players, it is often preferable for this player to also receive a row of cards as do the rest of the participants.

After each player has been dealt his row of face-up cards, the dealer/caller then thoroughly shuffles the second deck and lays it near the center of the table. He then turns over the top card from this second deck laying it beside the deck and loudly and clearly states the denomination and suit of the card exposed. Whichever player (if any) has this exact card (of the same rank and suit) is then entitled to turn this card, in his layout face down. This player should also announce this by loudly stating "Got It".

After a few moments the dealer then draws the next card from the remaining stock, placing it on the pile of already drawn cards, also stating it's rank and suit. He continues doing this until any player manages to get all the cards in his layout face-down. That player should then loudly shout "Bingo". That player thus immediately wins that hand. The cards are then all gathered together and form into their constituent decks for the next hand. The winner of the last hand is set as the Caller for the next hand.

As noted, the game can usually accommodate up to 11 players (with the caller not receiving a hand), however additional participants can also play with the addition of more full decks. Each deck can support ten additional players. Each of the players would receive a line of five cards, dealt from one of the decks (but not the Caller's deck). The Caller would then draw and announce cards, one-by-one from the Caller deck as in the standard game. If multiple decks are used in this way it is possible (although very rare) that multiple players may get Bingo on the same turn. If that occurs, those players can play an additional round, just amongst themselves to determine the winner.

Additional Dealt Cards: If there fewer than 8 players participating, to make a slightly longer game, more face-up cards can be dealt to each player to form his layout. In this case, to use the deck to it's full capacity, the following number of cards can be dealt out (using one standard deck):

Number of Players	Cards Dealt per Player
3	17
4	13
5	10
6	8
7	7
8	6

For more than 8 players, each player should get the normal five, and for a two player game, the Blackout variant is often preferred (see below).

Blackout Bingo Variant: This game can also be played using the Blackout variant. In this variant each player is dealt a full grid consisting of five rows of five columns, for a total of 25 face-up cards. In this variant, each deck will only support two players, so multiple decks will need to be dealt out for more than 3 players (with the Caller receiving no cards). In this variant, a player is entitled to shout Bingo, and win the hand, after turning over all 25 cards in his layout.

Cardgo game in progress

Cardgo: Cardgo is a variant of Card Bingo which is found in some card game books and is a slightly simpler version of that game. Cardgo uses one single 52 card deck and is designed for two to five players. In addition to the players, there should be one additional participant who will take the role of the dealer and caller.

The caller should thus thoroughly shuffle the cards and deal each player a hand of five face-down cards. The players then take up and examine their dealt cards, but do not expose them on the table or show them to the other players. The caller then places the remainder of the deck in a face-down pile near themself. Once the cards have been dealt and the players have had the opportunity to review their hands, play begins.

Play consists of the caller, every several seconds, drawing the top card from the stock, looking at it and announcing the rank of that card (such as "nine" or "King"). The caller then places the card face-up in a discard pile. Any player that has one or more cards of that same rank may then place these cards face down in front of themselves.

The players must be sure to pay attention, as if they miss a card announcement, that may then hamper their ability to win the hand.

The game continues in this manner until one of the players manages to play his last card face-down to the table, loudly announcing "Cardgo", and is the winner of the hand. If two or more players announce this on the same turn, the first such player to make the announcement is the winner. In the rare event that the caller gets to the end of the deck and no player was able to call "Cardgo" the hand is considered a draw, with no winner.