# National Bingo Night 6/15/07--I Call Major B.S.! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-bingo-night-6-15-07-i-call-major-b-s/408281 "2007-06-16T19:42:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-bingo-night-6-15-07-i-call-major-b-s/408281/1 "2007-06-16T19:42:11Z")
I’ve been watching this the past few weeks. As game shows go, it’s not the best, but far from the worst. The contestants are entertaining, the host does a credible job, and as an occasional Bingo player I find enjoyment in it. But last night, something happened that had Mrs. Know and I scratching our heads and asking, “WTF just happened here?” If you’re a Bingo player, you’ll understand. Here goes: In Game 2, the first 5 numbers drawn were 4 I’s and a G. After the fourth I was drawn, 8 people were “one away” from having Bingo. Not very probable in a group of 200, but possible nonetheless. The next number drawn was G-57. On that number, 10 more people stood up as “one away”. Without going into a tedious discussion of the rules and probabilities of the game, suffice it to say that there is no possible way for that to happen. I figure one of two things: someone in editing really screwed up, or there are serious questions regarding the game’s integrity. Did anyone else watching notice this? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-bingo-night-6-15-07-i-call-major-b-s/408281/2 "2007-06-16T19:59:55Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] I’ve been watching this the past few weeks. As game shows go, it’s not the best, but far from the worst. The contestants are entertaining, the host does a credible job, and as an occasional Bingo player I find enjoyment in it. But last night, something happened that had Mrs. Know and I scratching our heads and asking, “WTF just happened here?” If you’re a Bingo player, you’ll understand. Here goes: In Game 2, the first 5 numbers drawn were 4 I’s and a G. After the fourth I was drawn, 8 people were “one away” from having Bingo. Not very probable in a group of 200, but possible nonetheless. The next number drawn was G-57. On that number, 10 more people stood up as “one away”. Without going into a tedious discussion of the rules and probabilities of the game, suffice it to say that there is no possible way for that to happen. I figure one of two things: someone in editing really screwed up, or there are serious questions regarding the game’s integrity. Did anyone else watching notice this? [/QUOTE] I noticed that as well. I agree that there is no way to pull the balls like that and go from 8 to 18 people. The only possible bingo is along the I column. One other possibility is that the other people who stood up after that second G was drawn actually had all four of those I’s as well and just didn’t notice before. I don’t see how, and to have basically 10% of all distributed cards out of 200 to have those same four numbers (out of 15 possible) seems low-probability, but I’d be happy to be corrected on the math. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-bingo-night-6-15-07-i-call-major-b-s/408281/3 "2007-06-16T20:09:23Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] One other possibility is that the other people who stood up after that second G was drawn actually had all four of those I’s as well and just didn’t notice before. I don’t see how, and to have basically 10% of all distributed cards out of 200 to have those same four numbers (out of 15 possible) seems low-probability, but I’d be happy to be corrected on the math. [/QUOTE] If I understand correctly: Number of ways to have five of the 15 possible I numbers = 3003 ( = [sub]15[/sub]C[sub]5[/sub]). Number of ways to have those 4 particular numbers that were called (and one of the others) = 11. Therefore, the probability that a particular card would have those four numbers in its I column = 11/3003 = 0.003663 (around 1/3 of one percent). ---
**Author:** ![Commodore\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Commodore\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-bingo-night-6-15-07-i-call-major-b-s/408281/4 "2007-06-16T22:28:00Z")
During the following commercials was there an advertisement reminding you to drink your Geritol?