Bingo Blitz - Holders

A topic of great debate over the years of Bingo Blitz is the 'holders'. People's opinion on them is divided and people call them unfair, where as some people think it helps. We will set the record straight here.


It is important to define the term 'holder' to those who do not know. 

A holder is a player who gets a bingo but doesn't press the bingo button. Instead, the player waits until the end of the round before calling the bingo. 

It does seem a very innocent act for a player to do, but there are people who complain about it and call it unfair. Firstly, before giving the actual article's view on the holders, we will give the advantages and disadvantages of someone who 'holds.

Advantages

• Gain more coins
• Gain more treasure chests
• Be able to click more numbers - more xp and more numbers to daub for power up meter.

Disadvantages

• Possibility of missing bingo if the final few bingos are called quickly.
• More cards to focus on than if bingo was called.

It seems quite obvious for a player to hold. Players can call it selfish if they hold to get more coins and treasure chests, but it is a very legitimate and honest tactic. These extra coins can be used for the slot rooms and the extra treasure chests could contain credits or even a collection item! The player could miss the bingo if they aren't careful, but any good holder will keep an eye on the bingos remaining in the round to ensure they get the bingo. Below we will address some of the questions and complaints people have about holders.

It's selfish!

Is it? Isn't human nature all about getting more for yourself for free? Holding just ensures that a player can collect the coin squares and treasure chests on a card without them being wasted. It is a tactic available to everyone and cannot be considered selfish if everyone can do this and not affect anyone else.

They take my bingos!

This is the common misconception associated with holders; other players think they are 'stealing' their bingos. Personally, I just see it as a gripe opportunity for a player who loses. It is simply optimising the payout a player gets. There is no mathematical sense to the notion of 'stealing' bingos. Below I will show why there is nothing to back up the claim of 'stealing' the bingos.

Ok, let's say we are in a room with 40 bingos. The average games lasts for 23-24 balls called. Let's say that the first bingo is called after 2 balls have been called. Second and third place follow shortly after on the 3th and 5th balls called respectively. Now, the holders come into play. Every bingo from 4th to nth (where n is the number of bingos in the round; n = 40 here) pays out exactly the same in terms of coins and credits. Why would a player call a bingo now on the 6th ball when they could call it on the 22nd ball and have more coins, more treasure chests and more XP? This is holding. A player may get a bingo on the 7th ball, another five players may get a bingo on the 9th ball and another two players get a bingo on the 8th ball. It does not matter when these players call the bingo; the fact is that they have one and can call it anywhere between now and round over. Their actions do not affect any other player. This is what causes the confusion and anger amongst non-holders. They think that holders are stealing their bingos when, in fact, they already had a bingo and can call it anytime. Hopefully this can be explained better in the diagram below.

The round ends too fast!

Does that not mean that the middle of the game goes slow? Let's not forget that Bingo Blitz is a fixed game based on a random number generator which allows for the game to end at roughly the same time each time, given that there are enough players playing. As stated, the average game lasts for 23-24 numbers. A person once said to me "the game ends too fast because of holders", which I think is silly really and just a chance to complain about something due to them being a sore loser. Not all players are holders and they call their bingos when they get them. This allows holders to judge when to call their bingo(s). This is what causes a lot of bingos to be called at the end of the round. Because the holders didn't call the bingos when they actually earned them, this surely slowed down the round in the middle part.

Note: It isn't just holders which cause an end-of-round rush of bingos. Mathematically speaking, after 20-odd numbers called and single/double daubs used, it is very likely that many players will need the same number anyway.