It’s rare that brand new online bingo games get released. And by new, I mean an entirely new concept on how to play the game. But that’s exactly what they’ve done at Tombola by creating Blocks.
The thing about Blocks bingo is that if you haven’t played it then it can be very confusing at the beginning. I tried it out and had absolutely no idea what was going on but once I got the hang of it, it quickly became a firm favourite.
How Blocks Bingo Works
The grid is made up in a 6×6 block style which gives you 36 blocks. They are made up of six different colours and are numbered 1-60.
When your grid appears, any two blocks of the same colour that meet either horizontally or vertically gives you 20 points. So if two pink squares touch you get 20 points and if three pink squares touch you get 30 points.
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Once all of your matching blocks have been identified and your points have been tallied, the game begins.
How To Win A Blocks Game
The object of the game is to clear all the cubes of any one colour. As the numbers get drawn and the numbers match, the cubes explode.
The remaining squares in that line collapse down and hopefully, more colour matches will be formed giving you more points.
There are two prizes in the Blocks game at Tombola. The first is for the person who clears all six of any one colour. The second prize is for the player who has racked up the most points during the game.
How Much Does It Cost?
You can choose from five different price points within each game. Each person can only buy one grid and it will cost you either 10p, 25p, 50p, £1 or £2. The more you play for the bigger the prizes on offer.
Blocks bingo at Tombola is an absolute winner of a game. It’s fun, clever, colourful and very exciting as you see your points add up. Just note though that most of Blocks Prize winners score over 500 points!
And don’t forget that Tombola always has an amazing range of promotions and offers for its players. Because the site has been built exclusively for bingo lovers so all of their attention goes into making your game play the best it can be.
The folks at Tombola spend a lot of time creating unique games. As a result, almost all of them come with multiple price points like Blocks. That means you can still have all the fun of playing bingo but at a price that suits you.
With so much choice, Tombola is a top choice for any bingo player. If you don’t already have an account, you can sign up today. It’s quick and easy and you’ll be playing bingo in no time.
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HOW TO PLAY TOMBOLA
Tombola is the Italian version of Bingo. However, unlike the American version, where you can make Bingo horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, In Tombola, only horizontally counts.
On each card there are 3 rows and 9 columns.
Column 1 contains numbers from 1-10,
Column 2 contains numbers from 11-20,
Column 3 contains numbers from 21-30, …
Column 9 contains numbers from 81-90.
Note that in each row, only 5 of the 9 columns are occupied by a number. The other columns are intentionally left blank.
Numbers are called out of a rotating drum, just as in American Bingo. The person who pulls the number out of the drum is called the tombolone. Instead of using a regular tombola card, the tombolone uses a special sheet on which the numbers from 1-90 are written in sequential order. This is the equivalent of playing 6 regular tombola cards.
The tombolone will proceed to pull numbers from the rotating drum one at a time. He/she will then typically announce the number in Italian (and sometimes in English, depending on the audience). Each number typically also has a little rhyme that goes along with it, which the tombolone will also announce.
For example:
If the number 25 is called, then the tombolone will shout out “Venticinque—Natale”. (The connection being 25 is the date of Christmas, which in Italian is Natale.)
If the number 33 is called, then the tombolone will shout out “Trentatre—Ll’anne Gesu Cristo”. (The connection here is that Jesus lived on Earth for 33 years.)
Many of the rhymes have religious themes. However, some others are what we would call “politically uncorrect”.
Just as in American Bingo, as each number is called out, players cover that number on their cards. However, instead of using poker chips to cover the numbers, most tombola sets that you can buy come with little plastic beans, or fagioli. (You can even use real beans if you run out of the plastic ones.)
Tombola is tradtionally played for money. Each card costs a set amount (i.e. a dime or quarter). Players can purchase as many cards as they wish, except for the tombolone, who must purchase 6 cards. The total pot will be divided into 5 smaller prizes. Each prize goes to the winner of the 5 individual rounds which make up a complete tombola game.
The 5 rounds of a tombola game are:
Ambo: 1st person to cover 2 numbers in a row
Terno: 1st person to cover 3 numbers in a row
Quaderno: 1st person to cover 4 numbers in a row
Quinto: 1st person to cover 5 numbers in a row
Tombola: 1st person to cover all 15 numbers on the card
When one person has covered 2 out of the 5 numbers in a horizontal row, he/she will call out Ambo. Then the game stops and the person collects his/her prize. The game continues, with prizes are collected for the winners of the Terno, Quaderno, and Quinto rounds.
The person who finally covers all of the numbers on his/her card calls out Tombola, and is considered the winner of the game. (Usually the pot for the Tombolaround is larger than those of the other rounds.)
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TOMBOLA RHYMES
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Here are the rhymes which correspond to each number in Tombola, given in Neapolitan dialect (top), standard Italian (middle), and English (bottom). An explanation is also provided for some numbers.