Learn the Keno Language

Keno like any other game has its very own lingo, learning these keno terms will bring you to speed while playing keno.

Keno of the Orient

Keno made its way all over the world from the orient where it was a common game which and legend has it that keno even saved an ancient city from being destroyed by a war. There is an even more interesting story that tells a tale of the Great Wall of China being built with the funds raised by playing keno. For a game that has widespread popularity, keno is astonishingly almost twenty centuries old!!! The Chinese taught the Americans to play it in the 19th century, and they taught the rest of the world after that.

The Keno Lingo

This game has been around for many centuries, so playing it won’t be too hard. But getting to know the different terms being used in keno will surely take some time out of your busy schedule. For starters, keno is almost like bingo and is a gambling game that is being played all over the world in casinos. It has got 80 balls resembling ping pong balls, all of which are numbered from 1-80 and are also encoded so that the computer will be able to read it. These balls are then mixed inside a circular glass enclosure with a lovely name, the “bubble”. The mixing is done with the help of a blower inside the bubble.

A “caller” hits a switch which opens a tube where all the balls are lifted one at a time. These balls are lifted into a v-shaped tube interestingly called the “rabbit ears”. Then comes in the “verifier”, who along with the “caller” does a wonderfully great job by recording all of the 20 balls that have been drawn. Meanwhile, the computer too does its job by reading the balls that have been drawn and works on the calculations and wagers based on the numbers that have been drawn. Then comes the easy job, marking the keno ticket with Xs on 20 of the 80 selection boxes, one for each ball.

The winner is decided by the computer which has received all the players’ wagers. It calculates and sees how many players have got the numbers right in the selection boxes corresponding to the numbers in the balls that were drawn. As the girls in the world’s most loved Swedish band sing, “the winner takes it all, the loser standing small; beside the victory”.

Easy Keno Terms

The “caller” is one term you can’t forget because that person does a lot for the game by pressing a lever that begins the ball draw. Then comes the “rabbit ears” which do an even more important job in drawing the balls. The “verifier” does an even better job by helping in recording the numbers of the drawn balls. Then come in the “keno runners” who are well dressed lovely young ladies who help the players in getting their keno tickets processed. Technically now you know all the terms that one must know in keno!