Five in a row, blackout, X, and four corners are the most common ways to win at bingo. However, bingo halls frequently devise new ways to win bingo and offer "unique pattern" games, such as a kite or postage stamp, that might be difficult to understand.

Every BINGO game has a winning card, so a player's chances of winning depend on the number of cards in the game and how many cards s/he is playing. For example, if a player has 12 cards in a game with 1200 cards, the chances of winning for that player is 1 in 100.