The Bingo Player application uses the Ross XPression CG  to display the graphics required for the Bingo TV game. As such minimum hardware requirements must be met to be able to run the application.

Start

When you launch the application, it requires elevated privileges to run and so you may be prompted to allow this.

The bingo player prompts for the location of the supporting data and XPression project files each time when opening. The player can operate without a vendor file or a card file but not without the XPression Project file.

The [Browse....] button will start in the My Computer folder by default.

Bingo Player Main Form

After the player has opened the XPression project file and is ready it displays the main form.

Active Scene

This section of the interface is used to display and control which scene is active.In most cases only a single scene is displayed at a time. The exception to this is the Verifying and Card scenes which display with the Game scene.

Only scenes that are available in the XPression project will be enabled and display with a bold font. Unavailable scenes will be disabled and not bold and their shortcut keys will not display.

The F3 - F12 keys are enabled to show the scenes they are associated with for quick key activation. The verify check-box is a toggle that can be turned on and off with the Alt-F8 key. The “with card” scene option is activated when showing a Bingo card with the matching numbers (Ctrl-F8) . The Other option is activated when either Promotions or Credits are active.

Game Selected

This section displays in 1 of 2 formats - the first if the L-I-O-N-Full game types are being used and the latter if any other set of game formats is defined for use.

  
- or -

This section displays and controls the active game type.

 When a game type is selected: 

1. The operator is prompted to clear all the called balls

2. The new winning formation data is applied to the card scene so that a display of a card will only show the called numbers for that game type formation

3. The following related data can be applied to the Card Layout and Game scenes:

   1. Game type name

   2. Game layout

   3. Jackpot amount

   4. Game card color

   5. Phone number or phone message

Vendor Display Control

The use of vendors is completely optional as of version 3.0. If the use of vendors is disabled when the application launches the vendor section will not display at all.

The vendor section at the bottom of the form provides control over the display of the vendors loaded from the selected vendor file. The vendors cannot be edited in the Bingo Player.

The vendors are displayed in the Game scene and can be enabled to automatically change every n seconds. This automatic feature can be disabled by clearing the check-box in this section and then the [Next] button is enabled and manual control can be used instead.

During automatic operation the vendors will only change while the Game scene is active and the vendor text area is thus visible. When a different scene is activated the automatic vendor updates are stopped until the Game scene is reactivated. The vendor list will loop back to the beginning when it reaches the end of the list.

Vendor File

The vendor file can either be a Microsoft Access Database file or a comma delimited text file.

Using a Text/CSV file

If using a text file it must be formatted as a comma separated value file. The application will display the data in the order given in the text file. Each line should contain 3 values in this order: Name, Address, City.

Using an Access Database

If using an Access Database file (*.mdb), it must contain a table or view named Table1 and the following 3 columns:

1. Name

2. Address

3. City

The bingo application will load the data from this table and sort it by City first and by Name second and Address third.

Pre-Play Setup

Each time the games are played settings for the show, game and winners tabs’ settings should be checked before play begins.

Show Setup

Tonight’s Code

The Tonight’s Code box should be updated to reflect the relevant code for the shows’ games. It is highlighted in a light yellow as a reminder that it should be changed. Once modified the text box will return to a white background.

Phone Number

The phone number is displayed in the Game scene and can optionally be used in the Rules scene. It is saved and reloaded for next use. Note that each game type can be configured to use either the phone number or the phone message in the Game scene but not both.

Phone Message

The phone message is optionally displayed in the Game scene for selected game types. It is saved and reloaded for next use. If if the phone message text is selected for display the phone number will not be displayed - only one is shown for each game type.

Host

The host name and title are displayed in the Host scene. They are saved and reloaded for next use. The host name and title are applied each time the Host scene is activated.

Scene Transitions

Scene transitions can be either a fade or cut. If using a fade then the duration of the fade can be controlled by adjusting the value in the duration box. This setting applies to all scenes.

Winners Setup

This tab only displays if a winners scene is available in the XPression project file in use.

This section allows you to enter and display winner names. The entries can be saved and then will automatically be reloaded the next time. This allows the full game winners in particular to be remembered for the start of the next show.

Additionally a sub-title can be entered to display on the winners scene. Appropriate text might be for displaying the date of the previous show that the winners came from.

If the Winner scene is activated by selecting it in the Active Scene section - the currently selected Game type will start to be played using the settings shown on the Winners setup tab.

Game Type Setup

This section allows you to customize the jackpot amount and card colors associated with each game type. The values set for each of the game types are saved and reloaded next time.

  
 The current values are what are selected for display. Changing the current jackpot amount while the game scene is active and press Apply to update the value displayed on the game scene. The current values are reset to the selected game type when a new game type is selected.

Scene Texts Setup

There are a few texts within select scenes that lent themselves to requiring the ability to embed custom tokens within the text that was to be displayed. These are editable on the Scene Texts tab.

There are two named tokens that are available:

• <Type> - is replaced by the game type Eg. <Type> Game becomes Full Game

  • when the uppercase version is used the game is shown uppercase Eg. FULL

• <Color> - is replaced by the game card color as set in the Game Setup tab

These tokens are only enabled for use in the instances indicated on the Scene Texts tab.

The above values are the default values used.

Game Play

Once the setup has been completed, then game play is ready to begin. The Game scene displays all the primary game information and will be the scene that is active most of the time. Initially the game scene starts will all balls hidden. Balls are revealed when they are called by the Bingo Caller or host of the show. Reveal a ball use the Ball control section as seen below:

Showing and hiding balls will automatically update the Game scene in the following ways:

1. Updating the main ball board to reflect which balls are called

2. Showing the most recent called ball as well as the 2 previous

3. Updating the count of the total number of called balls

Showing and hiding balls will automatically update the Card scene in the following ways:

1. Highlight the called ball on the card if the ball is part of the current game type formation

Verifying a Win

When a BINGO! is called the Verify scene can be activated while the Game scene continues to be displayed. The Verify scene can be toggled on and off by clicking the check-box or using the key-board shortcut assigned to it (Alt-F8).

Vendor Display During Game Play

The display of the vendors will automatically advance as long as the Game scene is active and the auto update is enabled. The changing of vendors is paused when another scene is activated and the Game scene is no longer visible. When the Game scene becomes visible again the vendor updates resume where it left off. The player will cycle through the list and will restart at the beginning when it reaches the end of the list.

Starting a New Game

To start a new game only 2 steps are essential

• Select a new game type (Game Selected section)

• Hide all the balls

  • The operator is prompted to clear the balls when the game type changes

  • If the operator declines they can also click the [All OFF] button or press Alt-F12.

You may choose to follow a process such as this though:

1. Clear the game scene

2. Select a new game type

3. Display the Card Layout scene for the new game type

4. Show the Game scene

5. Begin play

Viewing Winning Cards

When a card file which provides a list of all the possible cards is made available to the application it will automatically identify winning cards and allow you to display any card in play.

The Winning Cards list will display a list of all cards in play that are winners. To view a card from the winning list simply click on it to select it. That will load that card into the applications preview and apply the card numbers to the card scene. If the scene is active - the changes will display immediately on-air. Otherwise the operator can show the card on-air by pressing the green [Show - x] button (The “x” is replaced by the card id of the previewed card.) or selecting the Card scene in the Active Scene control at the top of the application window.

To view a specific card by id that is not currently in the winning card list simply enter the number in the ID box and press the [View] button. The updates both the in application view and the live scene. Note that the application only searches for winning cards for cards marked as in play.

Managing Winners

The Winners tab of the middle setup section of main form allows you to manage winners. You can enter as many as you need for each game type. The Game drop-down list allows you to control which list of winners you are using. Below the winners of a full game are shown:

  
New winners can be added by typing the name and location in the last row which is marked by the asterisk (*) character. Each row can be edited as necessary by simply selecting the field and click or pressing F2.

To delete or remove a single winner from the list - click on the row header column (where the > and * are visible) of the row you want to delete. Both the name and location fields will become highlighted. Pressing the [Delete] key will delete the record.

To delete all the winners and start over for all games - click the [Remove All] button.

Saving Winners

The winners list is saved automatically when the application is closed. Optionally the winner lists can be saved any time by using the [Save All] button. Saving the list saves all winners from all games. The lists are automatically re-loaded when the player is launched next.

Displaying Winners

The Winners scene is used to display winners. When the scene is activated, it automatically:

Opens the Winners setup tab Displays winner names for the game type that is selected in the Winners setup tab. Update the progress on the timer for each page of winners Highlight the rows in the list that are being displayed

If there are too many winners in the selected game type to display at one time in the scene then the application will wait for the given number of seconds in the Winners setup tab before automatically updating the scene with the next set of winners. It will repeat this until all the winners for the game type have been displayed.

Displaying Multiple Game Type Winners

If you want to display more then one game type of winners in sequence -

1. Open the Winners setup tab

2. Confirm the sub-title

3. Select the first game of winners to display

4. Confirm the number of seconds to wait between automatic changes

5. Activate the Winners scene

6. Let the winners for the first game play out

7. Wait for the last page to finish being displayed

8. Select the next game of winners from the drop-down list on the Winners tab

9. Click the [Show__ Game] button to start showing the new game’s winners

Displaying All of the L-I-O-N Game Winners

The application can automatically cycle through all of the L-I-O-N games. To activate this feature simply click the [Show L-I-O-N] button. Be sure to confirm the settings for the sub-title before activating.

Displaying Promotions

The application can display promotion scenes. Each is defined as a unique scene in the XPression project file and the name must start with Promo_ and then a descriptive name. When the application launches it will search for these scenes and add them to the list on the Promos tab. The Promo_ prefix will be dropped when displaying in the list.

Displaying Credits

Credit scenes are displayed in sequence order as a group at the end of the show using the Credits tab.

  
 The application can automatically calculate the amount of time remaining based on the local computer time before the set end of the show. It then divides that time by the number of available credit scenes to give equal time to each.

Troubleshooting

If there are any errors or issues encountered while using the Bingo Player details of errors may be automatically written to a log file by the application.

To access the log file

Use the menu item: Help - Diagnostics - View Current Log 

To find the location of the log file

1. First view the current log

2. Use the File - Save As... menu option of the log window to identify the location where the log is saved.

Why Don’t I See...?

If you don’t see content such as a setup tab for Promos or Credits - this is because there was no corresponding scene in the XPression project file and so the related content in the app is hidden. To show the missing features - add the related scene and restart the application.

XPression Scenes And Naming Conventions

See the page Bingo XPression Scenes and Naming