Tippett's Bingo Strategy: What It Says and Why It Doesn't Change Your Odds

Tippett’s strategy is one of the two “card-picking” systems you’ll find on almost every bingo strategy page, alongside Granville’s system. It sounds scientific and comes with a real statistician’s name attached. Here’s what it actually says, where the name comes from and what happens when you test it.

What is Tippett’s bingo strategy?

It’s a rule for choosing cards based on how long a game is likely to last. The idea, as it’s usually written, goes like this:

1. The numbers in 75-ball bingo run from 1 to 75, so the middle value is 38.
2. The more balls that are drawn, the closer the average of the drawn numbers gets to 38.
3. So in long games, like a blackout, pick cards with lots of numbers near 38.
4. In short games, like a single line or four corners, pick cards with numbers near the ends, 1 and 75.

For 90-ball bingo the same rule is applied with a midpoint of about 45.

Who was L.H.C. Tippett?

Leonard Henry Caleb Tippett (1902–1985) was a British statistician who spent his whole career, from 1925 to 1965, at the Shirley Institute in Manchester, a research body for the cotton industry. He is remembered for two genuine contributions:

• Random Sampling Numbers (1927). Tippett published one of the first tables of random digits, used by researchers to pick random samples before computers.
• Extreme value theory. With R.A. Fisher he worked on the statistics of the largest and smallest values in a sample. The Fisher–Tippett distribution is named after them.

What we could not find is any book, paper or article in which Tippett wrote about bingo. His Wikipedia biography doesn’t mention it, and the bingo pages that cite him give no source. The theory may have been inspired by his work on extremes, or his name may simply have been attached to it later. Either way, treat “Tippett’s bingo theory” as bingo folklore with a famous name, not as a published finding.

Is the “average moves toward 38” idea true?

Yes, that part is true, but it’s about the average, not about any single number. The average of all the numbers 1 to 75 is exactly 38. If you draw some of them at random, the average of what you’ve drawn will usually be near 38, and it gets closer the more you draw.

Here’s how much the average of the called numbers typically wanders from 38 (one standard deviation), calculated exactly:

So after 60 calls, the average of the called numbers is almost always between about 36 and 40. That’s just what happens when you’ve drawn most of the balls.

The mistake is jumping from “the average will be near 38” to “numbers near 38 will be called more.” An average near 38 comes from high and low numbers balancing each other out. At every single call, ball 1, ball 38 and ball 75 each have exactly the same chance of being next.

Does Tippett’s strategy work? We tested it

No. In a fair game, the chance that a card completes a pattern depends only on how many numbers the pattern needs, never on which numbers they are.

We simulated one million random 75-ball draws and compared “extreme” numbers with “middle” numbers:

The differences are tiny and go in no consistent direction. That’s random noise. If Tippett’s rule were right, the extreme numbers would win clearly in the short test and the middle numbers would win clearly in the long test. Neither happened.

The exact formula explains why: the chance that k particular numbers are all among the first n balls is C(75 − k, n − k) ÷ C(75, n). Nothing in it refers to the values of the numbers. See our bingo odds guide for more on the math.

Can you even pick a “Tippett card”?

Only partly. A standard US card puts five numbers from 1–15 under B, five from 16–30 under I, four from 31–45 under N, five from 46–60 under G and five from 61–75 under O. Every card is spread across the whole range by design.

The most “middle-heavy” card possible would use B numbers near 15 and O numbers near 61. The most “extreme” card would use B numbers near 1 and O numbers near 75. Both still have the same odds. Our guide to how many numbers are on a bingo card explains the layout.

Why do people believe it?

A few reasons the theory sticks around:

• It contains a true fact. The average really does settle near 38, so the theory feels grounded.
• It has a real statistician’s name. That lends it authority, even without a source.
• Memory is selective. If you pick a middle-heavy card and win a blackout, it feels like proof. The losses are easy to forget.
• It gives players something to do. Choosing cards carefully is more satisfying than accepting pure chance.

There’s no harm in picking cards you like. Just don’t pay extra for “better” cards, and don’t believe anyone who sells a system based on this idea.

What helps instead?

If you want to improve your real chances, focus on the two things that matter: the number of cards you play and the number of cards in the room. Our bingo strategy tips cover both, plus habits that stop you missing a win. For more popular beliefs put to the test, see bingo myths debunked.