Mind-boggling and Stimulating Bingo Patterns
Bingo may seem too simplistic with mere filling up a card with called out numbers, but some say bingo players are one of the most creative gamblers. How they manage to come up with various amazing bingo patterns is a wonder.
Just imagine the Window Shade pattern. Window shades rolled down from the top window jamb have short fancy cords to pull them down with. The cords are often fastened with a small wooden or plastic décor at the end. This scene is captured in a bingo pattern thus called. This is achieved by having the first two horizontal lines (from the top) all marked out or covered, along with the last two spaces of the N column on the card. The last two spaces serve as a fancy cord decor, and the two rows above as the shade's lower border lines. We wouldn't have guessed why a pattern like that should be called a window shade.
The Missing Link pattern is a continuous line of connected or linked spaces around the card forming a frame. However, the line is not really continuous because the fourth space of the upper row is missing—thus, the term "missing link." Some observers say it's a chipped off frame or a broken frame. But the idea is more of linked squares or spaces with a square at the top missing. Why the linked squares have to be broken is probably to differentiate it from a full-frame or full-square pattern.
Another mind-boggling pattern is the Indian Star. Actually, it's more a star's twinkle than a star. It includes a vertical line at N intersected by two diagonal "X" lines at the free space. All it needs is a horizontal line in the middle passing through the free space and it's a full asterisk already. So, if it's a twinkling star what makes it Indian? This is not accurate, but probably an Indian first thought of it, or it was a popular bingo pattern in India.
Marked out spaces of the horizontal line at N plus the last three spaces at I and the last three spaces at O. This is supposedly an obvious champagne bottle bingo pattern. Well, probably because champagne is often used for a toast, and it takes at least two glasses to clink a toast. Thus, the horizontal line is the slender champagne bottle, and the two short lines are the glasses.
It takes creativity to play bingo and understand some of its patterns.