80-ball bingo
The format built for online play: sixteen numbers, four coloured columns, and games that fit between the long ones
This page carries advertising. The “Visit site” buttons are affiliate links: when a reader opens an account through one, the operator pays us a commission. It costs the reader nothing. No operator pays for its position on this site, and none sees a page before it is published: the order follows the regulatory frame and the bingo on offer. How we review, and how we are paid.
The grid
An eighty-ball ticket is four rows of four: sixteen numbers, no blanks, no free space. The columns are banded and coloured — red for 1 to 20, yellow for 21 to 40, blue for 41 to 60, silver or grey for 61 to 80 — and the colour is the point, because it lets you read the ticket at a glance on a phone in a way a three-by-nine ninety-ball ticket does not allow.
Eighty numbers are in the draw. A game typically runs two to four minutes, which puts it between thirty-ball speed games and ninety-ball, and that gap is exactly the reason the format was invented.
What wins
Eighty-ball is a pattern game like seventy-five-ball, but the patterns are simpler because the grid is smaller: a single line horizontally, vertically or diagonally; the four corners; a complete column, which is called a shutter; and the full house. Many rooms pay more than once a game — a line, then the four corners, then the house — which borrows the ninety-ball structure and gives the game its second prize point.
The coloured columns make the column patterns visually obvious, so a game looking for a shutter is easy to follow even with a dozen tickets open. That is not a small thing when you are playing on a phone.
Why this format exists
Eighty-ball has no bingo hall behind it. There was never an eighty-ball hall game: the format was created for online play, which is why it is designed around a screen — the grid is square, the columns are colour-coded, and the length fits an online session rather than an evening out. It is the one format in bingo that was designed rather than inherited.
Practically, it is the format to use when ninety-ball is too slow and thirty-ball is too abrupt. It carries enough game to sustain a chat and ends often enough to feel like something is happening. Most of the Pragmatic Play rooms on the sites we track include it, and it is frequently where the mid-size guaranteed prizes sit.
Three more checked sites
The Hippodrome Online CasinoUK Gambling Commission 39372 · No bingo roomsVisit The Hippodrome Online Casino18+ · Sponsored link · BeGambleAware · Full terms apply
VideoslotsUK Gambling Commission 39380 · No bingo roomsVisit Videoslots18+ · Sponsored link · BeGambleAware · Full terms apply
UK Casino ClubUK Gambling Commission 38620 · No bingo roomsVisit UK Casino Club18+ · Sponsored link · BeGambleAware · Full terms apply
Questions readers ask
How many numbers are on an 80-ball ticket?
Sixteen, on a four-by-four grid with no blank spaces and no free square. Each column holds numbers from its own band of twenty, and the columns are colour-coded.
What is a shutter in 80-ball bingo?
A complete vertical column of four numbers. It is one of the standard winning patterns and the column colouring makes it easy to spot.
How long does an 80-ball game take?
Usually two to four minutes, between a 30-ball speed game and a 90-ball game. A room running a game every three minutes gets through about twenty an hour.
Is 80-ball bingo played in bingo halls?
No. There is no hall version: the format was created for online play, which is why it is built around a square grid and coloured columns that read well on a screen.
