| Host | |
| Ed Sanders | |
| Number Caller | |
| Yesenia Adame | |
| Commissioner | |
| Sunil Narkar | |
| Broadcast | |
 | |
| Packager | |
| Glassman Media | |
National Bingo Night (usually shortened to "NBN") was a short-lived interactive experience for both the studio audience and viewers at home. On NBN, members of the studio audience attempted to win a game of bingo while competing with a solo studio contestant.
Home viewers play along with pre-printed game cards that are available from the network website just before each episode airs, and are also eligible to win prizes. For example, on the first episode the prizes included gift cards from show sponsor Kmart, a trip to the Indianapolis 500, a seven-night cruise from Royal Caribbean, a visit to the set of fellow ABC series The View and Ugly Betty, and a CD from the music group Rascal Flatts.
The show was expected to return for a five-episode run during the week of December 17, 2007, but on November 13 ABC decided to replace it with its new game show Duel. In 2008, NBN was cancelled and was afterward shopped to other networks.
Eventually, GSN acquired the rights and the game was repackaged into a daily half-hour version called Bingo America, with some modifications.
Gameplay
Each hour-long episode of NBN was divided into three games - Red, White, and Blue. Only cards with the correct designation were eligible to win prizes. Unlike the audience members, studio contestants did not actually have a bingo card. Instead, they participated in stunt games – for example, a simulated automobile race or a simulated wedding. During these games, they took guesses on what the next ball to be drawn from an oversized bingo drum will be. On the premiere, the choices were "Higher or lower than the one before it?" (first selection is based on the player's age), "Odd or even?", and "With red or black decals?" (later changed to "Red or black numbers?" due to some confusion which happened on the premiere) like a roulette wheel.
On at least two occasions, the stunt was to draw balls that contained a certain number, such as five 5's ("High Five"; drawing G-55 would count for two 5's) or four 9's ("Baseball").
If the contestant successfully completes the stunt before anyone in the studio audience gets a bingo, the contestant wins one of various prizes. If not, then an audience member wins $5,000 (or a prize the studio contestant failed to win on at least one occasion). In the event that the in-studio contestant completes their game and an audience member gets a bingo, only the audience member wins; this fact caused much criticism, especially as the games usually took much longer than what was aired and tended to last quite a while even after being edited.
All games were winner-take-all - non-winning contestants received nothing, not even consolation prizes.
Set Photos
International Versions
Countries that have previously aired their versions of National Bingo Night.
- Australia: as National Bingo Night!, hosted by Tim Campbell along with Renee Bargh as "Number Caller" and Tanveer Ahmed as "Commissioner". Aired on the Seven Network in 2007.
- India: as National Bingo Night, hosted by Abhishek Bachchan (the son of Amitabh Bachchan). Aired on Colors TV in 2010.
- Philippines: as Pinoy Bingo Night, hosted by Kris Aquino along with Isko "Brod Pete" Salvador as "Number Caller" and Mel Feliciano as "Commissioner". Aired on ABS-CBN in 2009.
Inventor
Andrew Glassman
Rating
Trivia
- Prior to National Bingo Night, number caller Yesenia Adame was one of the "Million Dollar Dancer" on the short-lived ABC primetime game show Show Me the Money in 2006.
- Sunil Narkar, the show's referee, went on to host Bingo India, the Indian version of Bingo America.
See Also
Links
Official website, via Internet Archive
YouTube Videos
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