Bingo card culture. Larger patterns, e.g. a diamond pattern consisting of cell positions B3, I2 and I4, N1 and N5, G2 and G4, and O3, are often used by online Bingo games to permit large number of players while ensuring only one player can win. (A unique winner is further desirable for online play where network delays and other communication interference can unfairly affect multiple winning cards. The winner would be determined by the first person to click the "Bingo!" button (emulating the shout of "Bingo!" during a live game).) In this case the number of unique winning cards is calculated as
Bingo (United Kingdom) the first modern version of the game appearing at carnivals and fairs in the 1920s, and is attributed to a Hugh J. Ward, who for marketing reasons most probably took the name from pre-existing slang. The patent for a modern Bingo card design went to Erwin S. Lowe in 1942. A typical bingo ticket is shown to the right. It contains 27 spaces, arranged in nine columns by three rows. Each row contains five numbers and four blank spaces. Each column contains up to three numbers, which are arranged as follows, with some variation depending on bingo companies and/or where