How to play
In many Turkish homes the last evening of December ends around a bag of numbered wooden discs. That’s Tombala: a family number game built on the same card as 90-ball bingo, but played for the fun of shouting first rather than for a pot. Here you sit at the table with Grandma, Uncle and Cousin, and you’re the one holding the bag (the torba).
The cards. Every card is a strip of three rows and nine columns carrying 15 numbers, five on each row. Column by column the numbers go up in tens: 1 to 9 on the far left, then 10 to 19, all the way to 80 to 90 on the right. At the top of the screen you choose whether everyone plays with 1, 2 or 3 cards. All four players always get the same number, and a change takes effect from the next game.
A turn.
- Tap the bag or press Draw. One disc comes out, shows its number, and lights up on the board of 1 to 90 so everyone can see what’s been called. Counters keep track of how many numbers are out and how many are still in the bag.
- If the number is on one of your cards, it glows yellow. Tap it to drop a bean on it. Only beaned numbers count.
- When a card qualifies for the next prize, its call button lights up: Çinko!, 2nd çinko! or Tombala! Tap it before anyone else does.
Prefer not to draw by hand? Auto draw pulls a new disc every four seconds. Auto mark puts the beans on for you, though you still have to call your own prizes. New game deals fresh cards.
The three calls
| Call | What you need |
|---|---|
| 1st çinko | one full row on a card |
| 2nd çinko | two full rows on the same card |
| Tombala | all 15 numbers on one card |
The calls go strictly in that order. Even if your card already has two rows, you claim the 1st çinko first, and the 2nd opens right after. Each prize goes to whoever calls it first, and a prize nobody has called yet stays open through as many draws as it takes. The game ends at tombala, and the player who called it wins.
Racing the family
This is where Tombala parts company with hall bingo. Nobody hands you a prize: you have to notice it and say so. The computer players put their beans on the moment a number comes out, then wait somewhere between about one and three seconds before calling. If you and Grandma complete a row on the same disc, you’ve got roughly a second to beat her to it.
That makes your marking speed the whole game. A number you haven’t beaned doesn’t count toward your call, so a missed yellow square can cost you a çinko you’d otherwise have won. Since you hold the bag, you set the rhythm: nothing new comes out until you draw (unless Auto draw is on), so you can take a breath and check your cards between discs.
Tips
- Scan one column per card. A drawn number can only sit in its own tens column, so a 47 means a glance at the fifth column of each card. With three cards that’s three squares to check, not forty-five.
- Turn on Auto mark if the race feels unfair. It does the beans instantly, leaving you only the call. That’s often the best setup for young children, who can still pull discs and tap the big button.
- Start with one or two cards. Three cards give you more chances at every call, but the computer players get three as well, and you have more to watch.
- Watch the others. On taller screens the small cards at the bottom show how many numbers each relative still needs. When Uncle is one away from tombala, have your finger ready.
- Draw at your own pace. The computer players mark instantly however fast the discs come out, so rushing the bag only cuts into your own marking time.
If you’d like the same ticket with automatic marking and a prize pot, try 90-Ball Bingo. For another table game Turkish families play together, there’s Okey.
If you enjoy Tombala, try Turkish Draughts or Twelve Men’s Morris next.
