When it’s time to find a new online bingo site to try, online review sites can be a valuable tool in determining which sites might appeal to you.  With hundreds of online bingo sites on the internet, it would be close to impossible to compare them all by visiting each and every site.  Even if you tried to do this, with the rate new sites are being launched, you just might never see the end!

You must take online reviews with a grain of salt, as we’ve mentioned here before.  That’s because many of them are posted by affiliates who want you to join a site so they can get a commission off you.  Since there is a monetary interest, you can’t count on all of these reviews to be unbiased and objective.  However, by reading at several review sites across the net, you will get a pretty good picture of the online bingo sites as well as learning all the various features.

The best review sites will have indepth, well researched reviews that will show you the games offered at a particular site, any special features and the bonuses or promotions being offered.  If you have certain features or game variations in mind to begin with, these reviews can help you quickly eliminate online bingo sites that don’t have the features that you want.

It is a review site that offers reader ratings, that is even more valuable as a screening process for selecting a new online bingo site to play at.  As long as several people have given a rating, it will give you a much better picture of what other people are saying about a site.  If the majority are giving a bad rating, that is a pretty good warning sign to stay away from that online bingo site.

Use the review sites to create a shortlist of online bingo sites that offer the features that you want the most.  Then compare the bonuses and promotions offered by those sites.  When it’s time to go to the site yourself and see it in more detail, start with the sites that will give you the most bang for your buck.

Bingo was a hit in America for many years before finally making the trip across the pond to the UK in the 1960s.  In the US, the game favored was the traditional 75 ball bingo variation and it’s still the game played in bingo halls all over the country.  That game just wasn’t exciting enough for the UK fans, however, and they wanted games with more winners than just one.  Promoters of bingo in the UK quickly devised a game that filled that need and the 90 ball bingo game was born.

90 ball bingo is still the main bingo game of choice in the UK.  It’s played in bingo halls all over and when bingo made the transition to the internet, the 90 ball game remained a UK favorite.  Now that Americans have had a taste of the more innovative 90 ball bingo game, it is fast growing in that segment of the market, as well, although 75 ball bingo is still the one played in bingo halls there.

While bingo is a traditionally American game, the UK market has proved to be just as addicted to bingo as the Americans, if not more so.  We may have to credit the origination of the modern bingo game to the US, but the UK market is where the creativity and innovations are coming into play.  More and more online bingo sites are appearing out of the UK and new games were a big part of the attraction to be in competition to the older sites.  The Uks latest contribution is the new 80 ball bingo game.

80 ball bingo follows the same basic rules as in any other bingo game.  The numbers are called or shown on the screen and players mark them off on their bingo tickets.  However, 80 ball bingo is a lot more colorful and has introduced many new patterns to the world.  The call board is a work of art with 5 rows with 16 columns with 1-20 being in red, 21-40 in yellow, 41-59 in blue and 60-80 in silver.  It’s a veritable rainbow!

A lot of newcomers to the online bingo world get confused over some of the terminology used by the online bingo sites.  A common source of confusion that I’ve seen asked repeatedly on bingo forums is what points are and what they are good for.  Many people have been turned off online bingo until they are corrected because they think they are merely earning points and not real cash.  In case you are one of those who have been puzzling over this term, I’m going to clear it up with this post.

Bingo bonus points, sometimes called loyalty points, are a completely separate thing from the cash and other prizes you can win playing online bingo.  Loyalty points is actually a much more accurate term as that is exactly what bingo bonus points are.  They are awarded to players for all sorts of activities on the online bingo site that show they are loyal, participating members.

How to earn points and what they are used for varies pretty widely across the online bingo sites.  Some sites will allow you to purchase bingo tickets with your points or enter drawings for cash and/or prizes.  Others allow you to redeem your points for the bingo branded merchandise such as a hat or a t-shirt with the site’s URL imprinted on it.    There has even been one or two sites that allow the points to be used to make discounted purchases from retail outlets associated with the site.

Common ways to earn bingo bonus points include making a deposit, buying bingo tickets and referring friends to the site.  Quite often, bingo bonus points are given out for winning chat games or participating in special games or promotions.  One of the newest ways to earn bonus points is participating in team bingo sessions.  The teams share the bonus point jackpot between them.

If you’re a frequent online bingo player, these bonus points are a great extra benefit for playing in your favorite sites.  Not only does it usually give you extra bingo games, sometimes you can even get some really cool stuff with your points.

We all love to play online bingo or we wouldn’t be here with me writing about online bingo and you sitting there reading it.  As much as we love the excitement of the game itself, though, do you know what really makes online bingo so entertaining?  It’s the social aspect and the community feeling that we get from being involved.

Sure, winning a prize or even a big jackpot is quite a rush but can anything beat the feeling of being greeted by name when you enter your favorite bingo chat room?  It’s a great place to have your offline friends meet you for a friendly hour or two of bingo and it’s also a great place to make new friends.  Where else can you become friends with people from all over the world while playing a game?

It’s almost as much fun when your friend wins as it is for you to win yourself, isn’t it?  Who here hasn’t cheered when one of their favorite roomies won a prize?  Often the chat moderator will foster this spirit of camaraderie by having chat room games where when you win a prize, so does your nearest neighbor.  The chat games not only add to the fun they also break the ice and help you get to know one another better.  Some people have even met and dated directly from their time in the online bingo chat rooms!

Now there isn’t just the chat rooms and the bingo forums springing up all over the net.  Bingo players and bingo administration are both connecting through the many social networking sites that are so popular now.  Twitter is one of the most recent additions to social media and bingo is a hot topic on there.  I did a search by keyword there this morning for the word “bingo” and pages upon pages of “tweets” came up.

Many of the online bingo sites are posting their usernames at Twitter and other sites like Facebook right on the online bingo websites.  Players can follow them in their favorite social media website or all of them, for that matter.  The sites are posting tips and specials for their followers all the time.  This is a great tool for finding out the very latest promotions and news from your favorite online bingo sites without having to visit the site or wait for a periodic newsletter.

Most online bingo sites realize that their players probably like other games once in a while, too.  That’s why almost every online bingo site will have a variety of other games to tempt you whenever you need a bit of a break from bingo or perhaps to kill time waiting for a special bingo game to begin.  Not all the games we describe here will be found on every site but these are the ones most commonly found as sidegames at the online bingo sites.

Slots are always popular and can be found at most online bingo sites.  Video slots games come in such a huge variety of styles and themes that you could play across several sites without encountering the same slots game.  Starting at the simple 3-reel, 1-payline classic slots game up to huge 25 reel slots monsters, these games are an easy and run break from bingo.

Video poker can be found in the sidegames at some online bingo sites.  These games also come with some variations among them but the basic premise is the same no matter what – get the best hand you possibly can.  If you have ever played five card draw poker, you know how to play video poker.

Many online bingo sites offer several types of scratchcard type games in their sidegame offerings.  These are virtual versions of the instant scratch lottery tickets that you can buy at the corner store.  Like video slots games, the themes of online scratchcards are just about endless.  Some scratchcards have even been connected across networks to create large progressive jackpots.

Pull tabs are another very popular sidegame often found at online bingo sites.  Another game that has been translated from offline to the virtual world of online bingo, instead of scratching the card, you pull the tab to reveal the hidden symbols.  If your symbols match the winning symbols, you will win a prize instantly.

Many of the online bingo sites are also offering real casino style games in order to attract more serious gamblers.  Games like keno, roulette and craps can be found at a number of online bingo sites these days.  This crossover between the online bingo and the online casino industry shows how big a market online bingo has acquired and how serious the online gambling industry is beginning to be taken.

Game Village Bingo has introduced a fun new variation on the traditional bingo game and we would like to see this expand to other sites in time.  The game is called Elimination Bingo and is the only bingo game we’ve ever heard of where you don’t want to have your numbers called.  This is definitely a bingo game with quite the twist.

The game starts like any other bingo game, with the numbers being called and marked on your card.  It starts with 10 numbers that you can match before your card burns up and your out of the game but as the rounds go on, the number of matches allowed shrinks.  The winner is the person with the last bingo card still in play.

You must play at least 3 cards to be in the Elimination Bingo game but you can play up to 50 if you feel you can handle that many.  Each card costs only 5p so it’s not an expensive game to be involved with.

Another really interesting cross between a television game show and a bingo game is Price is Right Bingo.  I’m quite sure most of you are familiar with the very long running television game show out of America that was hosted by Bob Barker?  The theme of this unique online bingo variation is all about that game show.

With a number of bonus rounds like Way to Go Plinko, Cliffhanger, Come On Down, Spin the Wheel and Players Plinko, this game offers tons of fun and excitement.  I didn’t think it could get much better than that and then I found out that Price is Right Bingo is a progressive game so builds up lovely jackpots along with all the rest.  There really isn’t much that they could do to improve on this one.

This innovative online bingo variation can be found at Jackpot Joy Bingo and a new game starts every six minutes.  You can buy your bingo tickets for the next game or the next hour or even for a full day if you’d like.  Besides the possibly huge progressive jackpots attached to the game, there are also plenty of great prizes both in the full game and each of the many bonus rounds.

The growth of the online bingo site has been explosive and shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.  Along with the launch of site after site where players can go to play bingo and hopefully win some cash, there are a number of other sites that continue to spring up on the sidelines.  There are websites, blogs and forums dedicated to online bingo all over the net.  Some of these are run by the online bingo sites themselves but many are simply started by true fans of the game.

One of the major attractions to offline bingo throught the generations is the social aspects of the game.  People often meet their friends for Saturday night bingo sessions at the local bingo halls.  Because of the ability to talk to one another, it is common for people to make new friends at the bingo halls, as well.

This social aspect of bingo has been recreated quite well with the live chat features at the online bingo sites.  Not only can you get your questions answered by a chat moderator, you can also interact with all the other players in the bingo room.  People still have their friends meet them on Saturday nights only now they set a time and online bingo room to meet in, rather than driving over to the local bingo hall.

The fan based websites, blogs and forums that can be found foster that sense of community on a wider scale.  After all, it’s not really proper to discuss other bingo sites while playing at one but you can do that in a forum setting.  Often these forums have more sections than just online bingo and the members get to know one another by discussing almost any topic under the sun at many of them.

Rather than being limited to who lives nearby like with local bingo halls, online bingo sites have brought a new global level to the bingo community.  You can play bingo in the same room as someone from Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, Europe and Singapore all at the same time.  Love for online bingo transcends all country and continental lines and has become a truly global community experience.

I was visiting a few online bingo forums today and I see many new online bingo players are still confused about the terms of the various online bingo bonuses.  Unfortunately, some less scrupulous affiliates take advantage of this to steer new players to the online bingo sites that they are promoting.

Don’t get me wrong – there is absolutely nothing wrong with promoting an online bingo site.  I do, however, take issue with twisting the facts and deliberately misleading people to do it.  Online bingo has a lot of reasons to play and there shouldn’t be any need to be dishonest in your promotions.

I’ve seen three different sites today that claimed people could make “free” money by signing up at the recommended online bingo sites because each site would give you a cash bonus just for signing up.  While it’s true that all of the sites being promoted did give out sign up bonuses, none of them equalled free cash due to the stipulations placed on each bonus.

There isn’t any online bingo site around that is going to simply give you money for signing up and you can just cash it out and go.  Not going to happen.  How long do you think an online bingo site or any company would stay in business if they did this?  Yeah, not long is right.

The online bingo sites do mostly give out sign up bonuses but you can’t look at them as free money.  The bonuses are always conditional.  Some state outright that the bonus cannot be cashed out ever nor any winnings from that bonus.  This is more rare, though.  Most will let you wager any winnings and then be able to withdraw those further winnings.  Other sites will let you cash out the bonus but only after wagering that amount a certain number of times.  Once you have met the wagering requirements, then you can withdraw what is left.

Reading about a woman who celebrated her 103rd birthday at a Mecca Bingo hall made me really think about the traditions that have built up around bingo.  This lady, Sally Melia, has been a member of the Liverpool Mecca Bingo club for forty-three years!  That’s a long time to be devoted to a game but bingo seems to be that type of game for many people.

I’ve heard people worry that this kind of tradition won’t carry over to the online environment but I disagree.  I think that most who say this are not playing online themselves so they don’t realize that many of the same elements are still there online.  The live chat enables players to talk to each other, about the games or their lives.  It’s easy to still have all your offline friends meet you in a certain bingo room, just as you would have the local bingo hall.

Not only does online bingo have the same features as the bingo halls, they also have other features unavailable in a regular landbased bingo hall.  Many of the patterns that are made possible by software are not possible on paper tickets.  Also many other games are available to someone who needs a quick break from bingo so you see video slots, slots and scratchcards alongside the bingo in most online bingo sites.

There is just something addictive about bingo that isn’t a part of many games.  I think it’s partly because it’s such a low cost form of gambling.  There are many sites that offer cards for only a penny and of course, many are offering free bingo games.  Budget is not much of a factor with prices so low.  I think the social interaction is a large part of the draw to bingo.  Most bingo players are highly social people so this provides a social outlet for many.

I’ve seen a lot of speculation as to the affect that the proliferation of online bingo sites are having on the traditional land based bingo halls.  There are people who say that the rise in online bingo is causing a downshift in the popularity of the bingo hall.  I’ll have to say that I disagree with that premise.  I believe that the online bingo sites are filling a void that the bingo halls are unable to fill.

Those who enjoy bingo and have a local bingo hall still go to their weekly bingo games.  It is a way to be able to socialize with friends while enjoying a friendly game and maybe win a prize.  Those people either don’t play online bingo or use it to while the time away during the week when they are unlikely to attend a local game.

The economy and smoking bans and now the excessive taxes are doing a number on the land based halls.  More and more are shutting down or consolidating because of the dwindling attendance.  Some areas don’t have land based bingo halls, too.  With the price of gasoline and travel, many people can’t travel several towns away just to play bingo.

Online bingo is filling the needs of those who can’t afford to travel to a local bingo hall as well as those who just don’t have a local hall.  Traditional bingo halls are facing tough times but it’s unfair to blame that on the online bingo sites.  Most players online are not the usual players who go to land based halls in the first place.  The tight economy has done the most damage to the bingo halls and online bingo sites are just providing an alternative so that people can still get their game on!