Bingo Games A To Z - Variations On Bingo
Traditional bingo usually falls into one of two categories. There's the 90 Ball Bingo Game that is played in The UK. In this format there are 90 balls, a bingo card of 15 numbers and the aim is to get one line, two lines, and a full house. That's about it. Over in The USA the 75 Ball Bingo is the norm. This is usually called pattern bingo as the aim of the game is cover the numbers of a specific pattern. However online bingo has allowed operators to get more creative with their games. Adding speed, bonus rounds, different shapes and exciting themes has allowed for a whole host of variations on the bingo theme. Themes are very popular and the success of Deal or No Deal Bingo resulted in the arrival of other TV themed games such as The Chase, Emmerdale and Coronation Street.
Filter: A to Z, New Games, TV Games, Multistakes Bingo, Session Bingo, Closed Games
How Do Operators Adapt Bingo?
1. The Number Of Balls! Most UK bingo games feature 75 or 90 balls in play, but make games different game developers like to change things around. Currently you can play games with 30 Ball, 36 Ball, 40 Ball, 50 Ball, 52 Ball, 60 Ball, 75 Ball, 80 Ball and 90 Ball. These variations effect the tickets, the number of calls required for a full house, the speed of the game and potentially prizes on offer.
2. Speed! The more games an operator can get in during a session the more money they hope you'll spend. This is why speed games appear on the rosters. A game can be made faster by reducing the number of balls or as in the case of Bingo Blast taking players rapidly to the final few calls of a game.
3. Theme! To make a game more interesting an operator may offer games that feature themes. These are usually based on TV shows (Deal Or No Deal, Coronation Street, The Chase) or popular slots (Fluffy Favourites, Fishin' Frenzy, Clover Rollover). Quite often these themes are simply 75/90 ball games with different graphics and maybe a bonus game.
4. Multistakes! Multistake games are ones where players purchase a ticket for a game but have a choice of ticket price. All players play in the same game but the full house/jackpot is related to the initial wager. Multistakes games are usually Even Stevens games.
5. Even Stevens! These are games where all players have the exact same number of tickets. This means everyone has the same chances of winning as opposed to playing in a room where one player may have one ticket whilst another has 96!
6. No Number Games! Bingo games don't just have to have numbers. The numbers can be replaced by animals, pirates, emojis, words or even playing cards. The premise of these games is the same - complete a full house - but the visuals are normally a lot more fun.
7. Live Bingo! To make bingo really interesting operators have been looking at ways of adding in a live element. This usually has been in the form of presenters or via live game shows, like Mega Ball, but more recently Buzz Bingo have managed to incorporate live shows and gameplay. In fact they've now gone one step further and integrated live bingo online with bingo club games. A massive step forward!
8. Jackpots! One way that operators love to improve games is to offer big money prizes. Tombola's Britain's Biggest Bingo gave players the chance to win over £100,000 for the full house. Bingo Millions and Millionaire Games had huge headline cash prizes although the chances of winning were pretty remote.
