About the Game
Tambola, also commonly known as Housie or Bingo is a lottery-style board game which was originated in Italy. Tambola is one of the most popular board games in the world. It is played by all age groups from kids to adults. Tambola is played at family gatherings, group of friends, and many other events. It is the go-to game for relaxing after coming back from school or work amongst families. Tambola is loved by kids as well as adults. This game is very easy to play and addictive at the same time.
In any occasion or event, Tambola or Housie is the most preferred game to play along with friends and family members of all age groups. The game can also be played in any party or small gatherings. The game requires a host, some players, number board, number coins and the game tickets.
Let’s first understand how to play the game before we look into the steps to play it over whatApp groups. Or you can say with the physical presence of the participants.
How to play Tambola?
Tambola game consists of:
- Tambola includes a player called ‘host’ and is the one who hosts the game.
- Apart from the host, some players play called the participants of the game.
- Tambola consists of a board that has numbers from 1 to 90. The numbers are in the form of rows.
- Along with the board, we have a booklet of tickets.
- A ticket contains 3 rows and 9 columns.
- Likewise, there are many tickets in Tambola and each ticket has 15 numbers.
- Further, the host distributes the tickets to the players.
- The host then randomly picks out a number from the box without looking at it. The box contains tiny round badges/coins or chips that have numbers from 1 to 90.
- The host calls out a number and the players strike off the number if it exists in their tickets.
- Each number is called out only once and not repeated again by the host. For example, the host picks the number 25 and it will be called out only once.
- Likewise, the host calls out other various numbers and the players cut off the called out numbers from their tickets.
How the player win in Tambola
The players can claim for a win if they have completed/strike off any of the following:
- First row/Top row: The player can claim for a win if he has struck the first row of the ticket first.
- Second row/Middle row: The second row of the ticket has been struck first.
- Third row/Bottom row: The third row of the ticket has been struck first.
- First five: The ticket that has the first five numbers struck.
- Corners: The player can claim for a win if he has struck the four corners of the ticket first.
- Full house: All numbers of the ticket struck first.
Also, the person should inform the host to claim his win. If he misses out, he may not win the game.
Earlier Tambola was usually played on the Tambola board with the physical presence of the host and participants. But now you can also play it online. Many apps are available online and you can download it and play with your friends. Especially during this pandemic, people are playing games online.
Now we know the rules and understand the game. Let’s look at the steps to play Tambola on WhatsApp or Housie on Whatsapp.
The host of the game is the person who manages the Housie game over whatApp and creates the event. The participants are real players who play the game. There is a need of at least 3 players in the game but the more players you have the game will be more fun and exciting.
Key tasks of the Host:
- Create the whatsApp group and send it to the participants.
- Generate the tickets
- Collect the money by selling the tickets.
- Create the game rules like different prizes by winning the challenges.
- Generate and announce the Housie numbers.
- Validate and announce the winners.
Key tasks of participants:
- Join the whatsApp group created by the host.
- Pay the money for the ticket cost.
- Need to draw the ticket in piece of paper.
- Follow the game rules announced by the host.
- Shout out for the winning streaks.
- Provide your ticket for the review.
Step by Step Guide to play Tambola over whatsApp
Create the whatsApp group and send it to the participants.
The very first step, the host will create a whatsApp group. This group should be specific for the round of Tambola game only. The host will invite their friends and family members, who wanted to play the specific round of the Tambola game.
Generate the tickets
The host have to generate the tickets for each participant. Download the file here to generate the random tickets, as many as you want. You can click here to download the Random Ticket Generator File.
Collect the money by selling the tickets.
The host to decide the ticket amount as per the number of participants in a specific round of Tambola game. This amount of each ticket must be collected from each participant from the group. You need to collect the money online because the participants are not at one place. You can use PayTM or GooglePay or PhonePe or any other online application to collect the money form the participants.
Create the game rules like different prizes by winning the challenges.
The Tambola game can be played by multiple rules and all these game rules must be decided by the host before the game starts. The rules must include the ticket price as the number of participants, how to play the game, different conditions/challenges to the winning tasks and winning prize for ultimate winner at the end of the game.
Example of Tambola Prize winning conditions:
1st line: Rs. 100
2nd Line: Rs. 100
3rd Line: Rs. 100
Early 5 or Early 7: Rs. 75
4 Corners: Rs. 75
1st Full House: Rs. 150
2nd Full House: Rs. 125
3rd Full House: Rs. 100
4th Full House: Rs. 75 … so on.
Total of Rs. 900
The most common gameplays to be followed:
- The host will share the screenshot of the ticket to each player. You can note down the ticket number for you’re the reference.
- Players need to draw the ticket on a blank piece of paper along with the ticket ID and own name for the validations.
- The host will announce the housie number in the group which is randomly picked by the host. The random can be generate by any only application.
- The players need to shout out STOP as soon as they win any of the game conditions considering the game rules.
- Players will share the ticket photo to the host to get his/her ticket validated and declare the winner for the condition.
Game rules to be followed to play Tambola over whatsApp
- If there are 2 or more winners for any specific condition, then the winning prize must share equally among them.
- If the next number has been called and player claims for the winning condition with the previous number, then this will not be taken as valid and the ticket is marked as BOGUS (disqualified).
- No Boogie or false calls are allowed, if player found to do so, then the particular player of the ticket is marked as BOGUS (disqualified).
Tambola Tickets Generation and distribution
The host will generate the Tambola ticket and distribute the ticket to the participants. He/she has has to keep the reference of the tickets numbers along with the participants name for validation purposes.
The host need the share the screenshots of the generated ticket. These tickets will be distributed among the respective participants of the game.
Players must be ready before time
The participants need to draw the provided ticket to a piece of blank paper along with their name and reference ticket ID. You can also take the printout of the ticket.
Host to generate the Housie numbers.
The host can use any online tambola generator application over the web.
Host to announce the housie numbers in the group
Every number generated to be shared in Tambola whatsApp group for the participants to play accordingly.
Review of the tickets.
The players have to shout out STOP to pause the game and share their ticket as a screenshot to the host for validation.
Announcement of the Winner
After validating the ticket the host has to announce the winner of a specific condition/challenge. The respective winning amount must be transferred to the winner via PayTM or GooglePay or the application you want use to collect the money.
