Bingo managers sometimes run into problems with bingo players having duplicate bingo cards. This can be a real problem because players that win with duplicate bingo faces will have to split their prize with another bingo player who is playing the exact same bingo card as them. Not only this, but sometimes duplicate bingo books can cause players to suspect cheating where none exists. So, duplicate bingo faces is something every bingo chairperson should avoid.

 

How to Avoid Duplicate Bingo Cards with Collated Bingo Paper (Bingo Books) 

 

First, some information on how collated bingo paper (bingo books) are manufactured.

 

Collated bingo paper (differently colored bingo sheets glued together to form a bingo book) is manufactured in a variety of "series", or numerical sequences of 9,000 different bingo faces. Each series is formed into "sets" of collated bingo books . Each set of collated bingo books is broken into numbered boxes, for example 1 of 4, 2 of 4, 3 of 4, and 4 of 4. (NOTE: the number of boxes per set can vary, but we will use 4 boxes for this example)

 

To avoid duplicate bingo cards with collated bingo books, you should:

 

1. Locate your box numbers of collated bingo books before your bingo. Then, make sure that you are rotating through the different boxes. (NOTE: It doesn't matter if you use box 1 of 4 and then 3 of 4 and then 4 of 4 and then back to 2 of 4. It only matters that the next box you use is different from all other boxes used in the same bingo)

 

2. Order your bingo books by the set only, not by individual boxes. If you order individual boxes of collated bingo cards, you're more likely to receive box 1 of 4 with this order and again with the next order. By ordering a complete set of collated bingo paper (all 4 boxes), you will receive all of the boxes within a set and you can make sure that you are rotating properly through them.

 

If, due to space constraints, you can't order an entire set of books at a time, at least try to order more than 1 box.