Bingo

Copying bingo

Introduction

In this game of bingo, the program draws numbers from the urn, until you declare a bingo. The probability of scoring a bingo is 100 percent, because all 75 numbers can be drawn. After each number is drawn from the urn, you see if it matches a number on your card. If it does, you cover the square on your card and wait for the next number to be drawn.

How To Run

To start bingo, run the command,

      bingo 5

In this example, a number will be drawn from the urn every 5 seconds.

Cover a square

Press the Down Arrow to cover the square on your bingo card that matches the current or previous number drawn from the urn. If the number doesn't match the card, you have to restart the game.

Shout Bingo!

Press the Up Arrow to shout "Bingo!". The current and previous numbers drawn from the urn are automatically covered when you press the Up Arrow. If there is no bingo on your card, you have to restart the game.

Reset

Press the letter r to reset the game.

Termination

Press the letter q to quit the game.

Display

bingo shows the menu on the left of the screen. On the right of the screen, is the bingo card. In the middle of the screen is the last number drawn from the urn. This number changes every few seconds, according to the execution parameter.

Log File

bingo writes to a log file, called bingo.log, in the current directory. This file is replaced every time you start or reset the game.

Performance

bingo sleeps in between key strokes to allow other tasks to run during the game.

Probability

The probability of reaching the first bingo is similar to a Poisson distribution with mu equal to 42.0 numbers drawn from the urn. This is true if you fill the urn after each bingo. That's the way this program plays the game. If you don't fill the urn after each bingo, the probability for the next bingo gets higher for each number drawn.


References

John Scarne
Scarne's New Complete Guide to Gambling
Fully revised, expanded, updated edition
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961, 1974, 1986
A Fireside book, 871 p.
ISBN: 0-671-21734-8 hardback
ISBN: 0-671-63063-6 paperback
Chapter 8, Bingo: The $3 Billion National Pasttime
Section: Bingo Mathematics


Remote Session

Read this procedure for information on how to run bingo from a remote terminal.