LazyPunt's Guide To Online Bingo
Bingo has been played for many, many years in smoky bingo halls and is pretty much famous for old people with purple hair spending their pensions on bingo cards and also cigarettes!
Now, things are much different. With the new laws governing smoking in public places the committed bingo players have been driven out and almost forced online, for those that are web savvy. As time passes more and more of these players are discovering the joys of playing bingo online, most thought they would lose the banter and social side but this is just not true. Modern day online bingo rooms thrive just like they used with massive bonuses to win and the community feel brought about by use of the chat rooms at all online sites. You can now stay in touch with your old bingo buddies, meet new people and swap recipee's with people from all over the world, it really is that easy.
Online Bingo Rules...
Explaining a game of bingo is pretty simple. Bingo is a game where a random selection of numbers is pulled either manually or electronically from a hopper full of moving balls, each with a unique number. Players have to match these numbers on cards or tickets and the first to complete their card, wins. Along the way though, players compete for a single line, two lines or a full house, as demonstrated below....
Single Line
This card shows, with our pink dabber, that we have won round 1 by completing a single line on the card that we purchased. Other numbers can be "dabbed" also but for clarity we have identified a winning single line card.
Two Lines
Again on the same card, we have managed to dab off two lines from the numbers drawn randomly by your friendly bingo caller. This means we have also won a prize for being the first to clear 2 lines!
Full House
This is really your overall objective, to be the first player to clear all the numbers on your given card. In doing so you win that game and the largest prize fund.
Dabbing your cards can be set to automatic or you can do this yourself with a choice of dabber colour and style. When you win a round you can shout out if you wish but these are called automatically in the bingo room itself and announced to the room who has won. So if you wish, you can purchase your cards, sit back and watch the cash roll in!
Buying your cards is straight forward enough at most online bingo rooms, especially at the ones we have chosen for you. The majority work on a sliding scale selector or you can also type in the specific number of cards you wish to purchase. Below we have an example of the purchase tickets area from an online bingo room.
Players who wish to participate purchase 'cards' at a set price given to you in the bingo room lobby. Prices can range from 2 pence a card to £1+ and have a predetermined set of numbers printed on them. Most rooms allow you to chose your preferred cards if you wish, this way you can get the ones with your lucky numbers on! Remember the more the cost of your card, the bigger the prizes.
Buying Your Cards
You can see the yellow bar, you are able to slide the small grey box from left to right. Right increases the number of cards and left decreases the number you wish to buy or you can click the '+' or '-' signs to increment your purchase by one card each time you click it.
From this example each card costs 10 pence, therefore if we chose to buy 6 cards it would cost 60 pence. You should also keep your eyes open for special offers such as you see here. Buy 6, get 6 free, still costing you 60 pence but you have 12 cards!
You can also see from this example the clock in the top right hand corner. This counts down to the next game and you must purchase your tickets before this reaches zero in order to be included in the next round. You also have 'Auto Buy' and 'Buy!' Auto buy continues to purchase tickets for consecutive games based on the number that you originally selected. To stop this simply click it to turn it off, to reactivate, click once more. The 'Buy' button will illuminate once you have selected the number of cards you are going to buy. Simply click this once to confirm that you have bought in for the next round. Funds will be taken automatically from your balance depending on the number of cards purchased.
There are two main variants of the game – 75-ball Bingo played principally in the US and 90-ball Bingo, played mostly in the UK, parts of Europe and Australasia.
This covers your first online gaming experience of the craze that is Bingo. Once you get comfortable in playing and purchasing cards, we advise that you take a look around the lobby as they vary in other offerings such as side games, scratch cards and online slots in which you have a chance to win more money. All this while the game of bingo is underway or you are waiting for the next round to begin.
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