Electronic Bingo Devices

Although Bingo is traditionally played on paper, some casinos and locations allow the use of approved electronic devices to assist the player is marking his bingo cards. These devices go by the names

TED - "The Electronic Dauber"

With a TED device, you purchase bingo cards that are downloaded into the machine before it is given to you. Then, as the bingo numbers are called out, you simply press the number, and then the Enter key, and the device marks all of your cards in the device that have that number on it. With a TED, it is up to you to input the correct number that is called. If you accidentally input a wrong number, there are simple instructions on how to delete it or correct it on the device itself.

In Nevada, in 2002 a scandal broke out when it was determined that one of the main programmers for the company that manufactured the TED device was manipulating the TED so that it "played" or "had" many more cards in the units memory then was purchased and downloaded initially. For example, this programmer might purchase a TED with 2 blue packs of cards loaded (12 cards) but through manipulation, his device actually had many more cards in play (in some cases the reports suggested it was 10X as many). When Nevada Gaming Control zeroed in on this cheat, the programmer committed suicide by jumping off of a bridge in San Francisco. After subsequent tests, Nevada Gaming restored their approval of the TED for use at Casinos that were already using it.

However, it sure makes you wonder if its possible to manipulate the device to play extra cards, what other things can be manipulated in the TED.

SAMMY - "SAMS TOWN BINGO Marking Device"

The SAMMY device is like a radio controlled version of the TED. With a SAMMY, you purchase bingo cards that are downloaded into the machine prior to gametime. When the bingo session begins, the SAMMY device receives the information about which balls have been called by way of a wireless communication protocol between the bingo console operator and the device itself. In essence, with a SAMMY, you are on autopilot as you only have to watch your device to see if you are going to have bingo or not. With SAMMY, you don't even have to input any numbers, which also eliminates any chance that you would make a mistake.

BINGO STAR COLOR HANDHELD

These machines are at Station Casino properties and also at SAMS town. Basically, these are a portable version of the stationary bingo hardware that you find at some halls. These are quickly gaining acceptance after stumbling out of the gate initially.

The new machines have color, touch screen, higher performance, longer battery like (19+ hours on a single charge), and lots of options. You can even set your own "wallpaper". If you've sat at most casinos bingo rooms and played on the stationary devices they call the "GTI's" (they look like a black PC flat screen / touch screen and not only play bingo, but you can play other games on them at the same time - even watch TV), these new color handheld devices are very similar with 2 major differences = they are "portable" and they work "over the air" so they are signaled from the master console and automatically mark off the balls on the screen. You don't even need to do anything if you don't want to other then watch (or listen) and call out "BINGO" when you have won. Here is a picture of the unit: