Bingo

Before You Start

Before the game, ensure the team does five things:

Have milk, tea and biscuits purchased
Fill the water cisterns in the kitchen and turn them on to ensure they're hot for the break
If it's cold, press the boiler booster in the cloak room
Check the sound system and microphones (see image below)
Check that there is a signed cheque available in the event of a jackpot win.

Regular sound setup for Bingo

Flow

The night flows as follows:

Round 1 - 6: Normal Games
Announcements & Tea Break
Round 7: Jackpot Game
Rounds 8-10: Normal Games
Raffle
Round 11: Normal Game

End of the Night

The yellow wheelie bin is put out in hall, and players drop their books with their name on the back into the bin.

Take 4 Bingo books from the bin and place them with the prize book for next week. The names on the back get a free book next week.

Caller

Before the Game

Ensure the Bingo machine and microphone are working

Call the magic number by resetting the Bingo machine and selecting the first number that appears

During the Game

The typical play progresses as follows

Press the reset button to reset the board.
Press the next button and announce the new number. Wait 3 seconds.
1. If someone shouts "Check", then a checker will approach the user and begin calling numbers
2. If not, progress to the next number.
Repeat until someone has won the line and the house
Press reset and begin the next round

After round 6, make announcements as required. These are typically handed to you before the game starts.
Also announce the 4 Free Book winners from the previous week.

Top Table Finance

Before the Game

Retrieve the prize book and prize fund prior to the event starting.

Find the latest blank page for this week and enter the current jackpot and on the back of the sheet fill in the roster.

Sit at the top table beside the caller.

During the Game

At the start of the game, when the caller calls the magic number, write it at the top of the page
Prepare the prize money ahead of each round, so if the prizes are €40 for the line and €100 for the house, ensure that you have €40 and €100 ready to hand out.
When a checker comes to hand out prize money, hand it to them and get the name of the player who won
Record the players name in the prize book
The caller will tell you how many numbers were called for that round, record that number beside the winners

Notes

It's best to prepare multiple rounds ahead as you may need to swap money quickly when multiple people win a prize and it needs to be split.
When it's split, we round up to the nearest divisible of 5. So if €40 is split 3 ways, each player gets €15, so the cost of that prize is €45. This ensures smooth operations on the night.
Prepare your money with the anticipation that it may need to be split. For example for a €100 prize, 2 €50 notes is fine, but if it's split 3 ways, you'll need smaller denominations. Conversely, if a single player calls Check, use the larger denominations so that you have more smaller denominations for later in the game.

During the Jackpot Game

At the bottom of the prize book sheet, there is a grid to record each number as it comes out. Simply write down each number as it comes out from left to right in the grid.

A checker will also record at the time, and between the machine, the checker and this recording there is no confusion about how many numbers were called out.

If the Jackpot is Won

Signal to the checkers to fetch the cheque from the office and ensure it's signed before handing to the winner.

Checkers

Arrive 5-10 minutes prior to Bingo starting to allow time to check mics, coordinate, etc. 3 Checkers are required to run a game smoothy on a typical night.

During the Game

During a game, when a player shouts "Check":

The nearest checker approaches them and takes their book.
They call out the last number called (it's displayed on the Bingo machine on the top table)
Call out each other number in order from lowest to highest
The caller confirms "good check" or not. If it's good, take the players name and report it to the top table for records.
Coordinate with the other checkers to ensure the player receives their cash prize.

During the Jackpot Game

One checker should join the top table during this game and count the amount of numbers called, as a third check to ensure that there is no confusion when someone calls "Check" under the Jackpot amount.

Example

The caller calls numbers and after calling "43" a player shouts "Check"
The nearest check takes their book and calls "43, 2, 12, 34, 56, 78, 90"
The checker takes the player's name "John Doe" and reports it to the Top Table Finance person.

Door & Office

Sell at the Door

Retrieve the door float and cash box and get them ready at the front door.

The current prices are:

Half Book: €5
Single Book: €10
Double Book: €20
Blue (Final Game) / Pink(Jackpot Game) Sheet: €2

At 8pm, open the doors and sell books until 8:30pm.

Check for approaching players in the car park.
Once clear, signal to the top table that the game is ready to go.

Bring remaining books and cash box into the office.

Prepare Floats

From the gross revenue, prepare the two floats for the following week.

For the door float, take out €100 in €10 and €5's and set aside in the cash box.

For the prize float for example if the prize fund is the usual €1760, prepare:

€50 x 14 = €700
€20 x 35 = €700
€10 x 30 = €300
€5 x 12 = €60

There won't always be enough notes, so adjust as necessary, ensuring there is as much smaller denominations as possible.

Place in the small black cash box and place in the safe.

Count the Profit

For the remaining revenue, count the bingo book revenue and put in a small money bag with a note saying if it's Bingo/Raffle money, the amount in notes, and the amount in coins.

If there's enough of a set of coins to make up a small money bag (i.e. 25 €2 coins, 25 €1 coins, etc), take these out and place them with the profits and note the amount.

Place these in the yellow bag in the safe for depositing later.

Make a Record

In the red Bingo Book, record the revenue for the raffle and bingo, as well as the prize money handed out for each, including magic number or extra cash from shared prizes.

In QuickBooks, record:

A sales receipt with the customer "Bingo" with the total gross revenue
An expense with the supplier "Bingo Prize Winners" with the total prize money handed out for both Bingo and Raffle

Place cash in safe for depositing later.

Note: if the jackpot is won, there should be the €200 from the Jackpot game returned and counted with the profits.

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