Method of Playing a BINGO Game with Progressive Jackpot

Issued on January 9, 1996 to Gary Weingardt and assigned to Gary Weingardt Trust.

Summary:

In case you were bored with the original game, or thought that BINGO was a game for your grandparents… This patent attempts to create a more challenging BINGO game than the traditional by adding two columns and two rows to the BINGO card and adding an additional 72 numbered balls. The new and improved game would be called BINGOES. The new and improved BINGO card could be used to play the traditional BINGO game or BINGOES. The card could be marked with different colors in order to play the traditional BINGO game. i.e. the five rows by five columns may have a white background, where the remaining two columns and two rows would have a red background to play BINGOES. In BINGOES, a winning combination could be a straight line of seven numbers in a row either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Additional payouts could be made for the four corners, the eight spots around the center free space, the outside rectangle, or an intermediate rectangle. The operator can designate payouts based on the degree of difficulty of obtaining the winning combination. In addition, a user could play the traditional game of BINGO while simultaneously playing BINGOES, increasing the odds of winning. Claims appear limited to a variation that includes a progressive jackpot in addition to usual game jackpot.

Exemplary Claim:

The method of playing a game of bingo comprising:

a) providing a player with a bingo card consistent essentially of:

a. a plurality of numbered spaces formed as a matrix having seven rows and seven columns;

b. a first indicium designating a portion of the matrix comprising five contiguous rows and five contiguous columns whereby a five-by-five bingo game can be played thereon; and

c. a second indicium designating a portion of the matrix comprising two contiguous rows and two contiguous columns whereby, when combined with the first indicium, a seven-by-seven bingo game can be played thereon;

b) providing a plurality of bingo balls each having individual numbers corresponding to the numbered spaces on the bingo card;

c) a player making a first wager to be eligible for the five-by-five bingo game and a second wager to be eligible for the seven-by-seven bingo game;

d) randomly selecting consecutive bingo balls;

e) awarding a first preselected amount when the player achieves a predetermined winning combination on the five-by-five matrix of the bingo card;

f) awarding a second preselected amount when the player achieves a predetermined winning combination on the seven-by-seven matrix of the bingo card;

g) a player making a third wager to be eligible for a progressive jackpot pool;

h) designating a portion of the third wager to a separate progressive jackpot pool;

i) establishing a predetermined combination as a winning combination for the progressive jackpot pool; and

j) awarding the progressive jackpot pool to the player when he achieves the predetermined winning combination on the bingo card.