Bingo Dauber

Bingo Dabber or Bingo Dauber is the name given to the felt-tipped marker pen that bingo players around the world often use to mark their tickets. Bingo daubers come in all shapes and sizes, though the most common daubers are less than 14cm in length, approximately 3cm in diameter and hold around 2.5 fluid ounces (74ml) of ink. The circular felt tip of the dauber is generally slightly less than 1cm in diameter.

Bingo daubers are designed to be easy and comfortable to hold for lengthy bingo gaming sessions, and they need to be shaken vigorously before use so that the ink within the container is well mixed. Ink colours vary, but tend to be fairly light so that the numbers daubed remain visible when the ink is dry. The most popular colours among bingo players are red, blue, green, yellow and pink.

Although the bingo dauber looks like quite a simple invention, a great deal of research and development has gone into their creation. Over the decades, various types of ink, daubing tip and internal structures have been experimented with to try and give the bingo player the best possible daubing device available. Anyone who doubts the amount of thought that has gone into this apparently humble instrument should take a few moments to look at the number of US Patents that have been filed by those looking to “build a better dauber” for the gaming community.

Daubers are generally available from all regular bingo halls. They are produced by many different manufacturers and there is no real brand leader. In fact, some large bingo chains sell daubers that are produced under their own names such as the Mecca Dauber.

Online bingo players do not physically mark their cards, so traditional daubers are obviously not required. That said, daubers have been associated with bingo for so long that even online player have “virtual daubers” to mark their tickets. Many online bingo rooms allow players to select the colour of dauber used and also the way a daub mark appears on screen. For example, a player can make their daub mark look like a smiley face, a star or a simple shape such as a square or circle.

Article Last Updated: 29/9/2008