Method of playing a bingo game

Abstract

A method of playing a team bingo game includes dividing a group of people into at least two teams wherein each team will play an independent bingo game. Each team selects a captain and the team bingo game begins with each captain utilizing a competition mechanism to determine the amount of bingo balls each team will draw per turn. A team wins the team bingo game when a member of one of the teams achieves a bingo. A person may play a separate bingo game while watching the team bingo game by first choosing a team to play along with. The person will then use that team's bingo balls and attempt to achieve a bingo. The balls selected will be placed in a tier of bingo balls, and the person playing along will be awarded a prize based on which tier of bingo balls their winning bingo ball falls into.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of playing a team bingo game comprising the steps of:
 a. dividing a group of people into at least two teams wherein each team will play an independent bingo game;   b. selecting a team captain for each team;   c. beginning the team bingo game by each team captain utilizing a competition mechanism to determine the amount of bingo balls each team will draw per turn; and   d. determining a winner of the team bingo game when a member of one of the teams achieves a bingo.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the competition mechanism is utilized every turn until a winner is determined. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the competition mechanism is selected from the group consisting of wheel/spinner, customized card deck, dice or other random selector. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein each team uses their own bingo cards and their own bingo ball hopper wherein each bingo ball hopper produces a unique set of bingo balls from which each team will attempt to achieve a bingo. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein prior to the beginning step, each team captain will draw a prize envelope from a multitude of prize envelopes. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein each team captain will open the prize envelope only if their team wins the bingo game. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein each team captain will open the prize envelope prior to the beginning of the team bingo game. 
     
     
         8 . A method for a person to play a bingo game while watching a team bingo game being played between at least two teams comprising the steps of:
 a. the person choosing which team from the at least two teams the person will be playing along with, the team chosen being the person's chosen team;   b. the person using bingo balls that are selected during the team bingo game for the use of the person's chosen team and attempting to achieve a bingo using the selected bingo balls;   c. creating a tier or tiers of bingo balls associated with the bingo balls drawn for the chosen team;   d. associating a prize with each of the created tiers;   e. recording the winning bingo ball if the person achieves a bingo; and   f. the person winning the prize associated with the tier that the person's winning bingo ball was assigned to.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein each created tier includes X number of bingo balls drawn for the chosen team and wherein X is selected from the group consisting of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 bingo balls. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the winning bingo ball is the last bingo ball used by the individual person to complete their bingo. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the team bingo game is played by:
 a. dividing a group of people into at least two teams wherein each team will play an independent bingo game; 
 b. selecting a team captain for each said team; 
 c. beginning the team bingo game by each team captain utilizing a competition mechanism to determine the amount of bingo balls each team will draw per turn; and 
 d. determining a winner of the team bingo game when a member of one of the teams achieves a bingo. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the competition mechanism is utilized every turn until a winner is determined. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the competition mechanism is selected from the group consisting of wheel/spinner, customized card deck, dice or other random selector. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  wherein each team uses their own bingo cards and their own bingo ball hopper wherein each bingo ball hopper produces a unique set of bingo balls from which each team will attempt to achieve a bingo. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12  wherein prior to the beginning step, each said team captain will draw a prize envelope from a multitude of prize envelopes. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein each team captain will open the prize envelope only if their team wins the bingo game. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein each said team captain will open the prize envelope prior to the beginning of the team bingo game. 
     
     
         18 . A customized bingo card comprising:
 a. a traditional bingo card having five vertical rows and five horizontal rows forming a 5×5 matrix;   b. a prize row on an outside edge of the 5×5 matrix; and   c. a blank row on another outside edge of the 5×5 matrix, wherein the blank row is opposite the prize row.   
     
     
         19 . The customized bingo card of  claim 18  wherein the prize row contains images of potential prizes that can be won if a user of the customized bingo card achieves a bingo, wherein the blank row is used to fill in the winning bingo number that achieved a bingo for the user of the customized bingo card, and wherein the positioning of the winning bingo number within the blank row corresponds to the position of the winning bingo number within the 5×5 matrix. 
     
     
         20 . The customized bingo card of  claim 19  wherein the user of the customized bingo card will align their winning bingo number in the blank row with the prize in the prize row that positionally lines up with the position of the winning bingo number within the 5×5 matrix to determine which prize they will receive.