What is ‘bingo lingo’?
For those who are new to the world of online bingo, some of the language used and communicated to you by others, especially if you are in a chat room playing a game can be quite confusing. Most of the time, seasoned players will use this form of language to speak to others and they might also be talking directly to you.
Asking what they mean can for some be quite off-putting especially as they might worry what others might think. In this piece we are going to talk you through some of the most common language used as well as abbreviations so that you can go into your next bingo game prepared to converse like a professional!
The most common terms that are used
Perhaps one of the likeliest phrases you will come across especially if you are new to a game is “roomie” and this might be the easiest to understand. Quite simply it refers to another bingo player in a chat room and is shortened from the traditional word ‘roommate’. You might encounter the greeting “hi roomie”, while you can also write it to others!
Because online bingo also provides an opportunity to socialise, many players will use abbreviations in their conversations to save time and which don’t have anything at all to do with bingo. These could be anything from ‘AFAIK’ which stands for ‘as far as I know’ and ‘EMSG’ which translates to ‘Email Message’ to ‘GMTA’ with this being ‘great minds think alike’.
Others can be more obvious ones such as ‘ASAP’ (as soon as possible), ‘AKA’ (also known as), ‘BTW’ (by the way) and ‘FYI’ (for your information).
However, there are others which you might find quite obscure and hard to guess. We’ve listed these below:
- IC: (I see)
- H&K: (Hug and kiss)
- IYKWYM: (I know what you mean)
- JJ: (Just joking)
- JK: (Just kidding)
- JTLYK: (Just to let you know) – ‘FYI’ could also be used in this instance as well.
- JMO: (Just my opinion)
- NP: (No problem)
- PM: (Private message)
- OTOH: (On the other hand)
Terms that are related to gameplay
During the game, you might encounter language from players that has nothing to do with a social conversation though and which is related to the actual gameplay. For instance, if you see ‘CM’, this is referring to the chat master who is monitoring what goes on in a bingo chat room.
More technical terms which can really help your bingo game include “1TG” which stands for ‘one to go’ in reference to how many numbers that you need before a full house. There is also “2TG” and “3TG” which follow the same logic. Some bingo games reward consolation prizes to players who are in either of these situations once the game has been won.
The abbreviations “GLE” or “GLA” which you might see from either the chat host or other players stand for ‘good luck everyone’ and ‘good luck all’ respectively, while “UL”, “WD” and “WTG” mean ‘unlucky’, ‘well done’ and ‘way to go’ in that order.
In reference to leaving
When a player is leaving the room, or is taking a break they may use a variety of different language to signify that and if you are in the middle of conversation this can be useful to know.
This includes phrases such as “AFK” which means ‘away from keyboard’, “B4N” (bye for now) and “BBIAM” (be back in a minute). More common leaving greetings though which you have probably encountered include “BBL”, “BBS” and “BRB” which mean ‘be back later’, ‘be back soon’ or ‘be right back’.
