Cashman Bingo

I've been hearing a lot of chatter about Cashman Bingo. This is a vulturable slot machine. The way it works is there is a 5x5 game field. If the player gets a coin on any of the 24 squares (the center square has a separate function), then that money is added to the corresponding square on a 5x5 bingo card on a separate screen. Any given square must have at least some money to count as being marked. When the any row, column, or diagonal is fully marked, the player wins all the money from the coins on that line.

So, if an abandoned game has a card with already so-many squares covered, it has a positive expected value. It's not just a matter of the number of squares covered, but how the marks are arranged and how much money is already in the marked squares. However, I'm looking for a basic strategy that considers the number of marks only. For purposes of discussion, you may count the free square as a marked square.

In preliminary discussions, I think that 16 is probably where a game becomes positive, but this is not based on feel from other players, who gave me permission to discuss this.

For the poll, please indicate the least number of squares you would play Cashman Bingo.

Finally, here is a video to help understand the game.


Direct: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmdpyaOLLt8

where's the option of:
i never get a play because of campers

anyway, i would play when i see two or more '4 to a bingo'.

In a normal game of bingo, it take on average 13.60808351 earned marks on the card to get a single-line bingo, counting bingos through the free square, but not counting the free square as a mark. My question is do you think this holds true for Cashman Bingo? Here are a couple of images I grabbed off of YouTube videos, showing cards at the time a bingo was hit.


The image above shows 16 earned marks.


The image above shows 18 earned marks.

They have this game at the Bally's Evansville casino. It is right next to the restaurant so I have watched it quite a bit and from what I have seen, the coins are not random in the sense that any one of the 24 available squares can be hit. In fact, I have seen the bingo cards (which are different for each bet level), get as many as 25 additional coins when there are just one square remaining for a bingo. It seems like the time it takes from the start of a game to get to where there is a "bingo square" is just as long as the time it takes to get a bingo with just one square left. There are people who kind of hang out and watch the machines to hope someone gets up when a particular board is deep in the game, but most of the time, I have seen it take more coins to hit the bingo (when it is down to one square to go) than it actually pays out when it hits. I dont have any data other than just watching it, but in my experience playing, it does about the same.

Here are the rule screens. I didn't notice anything out the ordinary.

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Sorry about the 11 big images in my last post. It is taking a while for them to load on my end.

In other news, I jumped on a game with the following card recently. $0.75 bet level.

	X		X
		X
		X	X
	X			X
	X		X

Yes, I know, not a very good card, but I recorded it for research purposes.

It took 57 coins to get a bingo. According to a random simulation, it should have taken 13.22, on average. The probability of it taking 57 coins or more is 1 in 49,800.

So, I think we can put to rest any debate that the game is gaffed for the coins to land on spots that already have a coin.

The question is what is a good strategy for when the game is positive EV. I've had some anonymous discussion on this and it would seem there is no easy rule of thumb. One must consider a lot of factors. Soon I will post some pictures of games and ask for your opinion on whether they are +EV.

Would you guys have played this card at the $1.50 bet level? I found this game at the Rampart a few days ago.

Yes, with already one possible bingo.

I have tried to vulture this game several times, but without a pending bingo, it is usually a tough battle

Happy Chinese new year everybody!

Here are some shots from a game I played through. I recognize the first screen is probably not playable. I only played it for research purposes. The screen titles shall be below the images. Please indicate which screen is the least you would have played and why. The bet is $0.75.


Card 1



Card 2



Card 3



Card 4



Card 5



Card 6



Card 7



Card 8

card 8.
it meets my criteria of at least 2 '4 to a bingo'