The normal U.K. and U.S. versions of bingo rely upon cardboard cards or tickets with printed numbers that the players purchase prior to play. A machine then randomly picks the numbers and the players mark off those numbers on their cards or tickets; the card version of bingo is distinctly different.
This game is played with a deck of 52 cards, with the dealer giving every player a certain number of cards, which are either held in the hand or placed face down on the table. In addition, the dealer places another series of cards face down in the centre of the table. Each round of play consists of a series of bets followed by the dealer turning over one of the centre cards, and any individual who has the same rank value in their hand as the centre card must reveal and discard that card from their hand.
The overall concept of the game is that the betting rounds continue until a player has had all of the cards removed from his hand, with the first player to achieve this simply saying “bingo” and claiming the pot. Jacks are valued at 11, queens at 12, kings at 13, and aces are either one or 15 depending on a pre-arranged agreement between the players. A variant of the card version of bingo can also include the cards having the same value as traditional blackjack, with all face cards being assigned a value of 10 and aces being counted as one or 11.