How to play bingo - what pattern on the card do you need to win?

[vikkyner]

Can anyone summarize for me what your bingo card has to look like for you to win? Is it just simply matching 5 numbers straight across vertically, horizontally, or diagonally? Or is there any other pattern you can win with (and can you describe what those other patterns are)? Never played bingo and I need to know this b/c Im assisting at a nursing home today for my class.

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[boshdk5]

The traditional victory is any 5 in a row: across, down, or diagonal. However, where I used to play bingo, they'd switch it up each game, where sometimes 5 in a row wouldn't win, and instead you'd need a spcific type of line (like only a horizontal line wins), a "doodad" (a 2X2 mark in any one corner of the card), a kite (a doodad with a diagonal through it), Blackout (the entire card filled), or multiple lines on a card at once.