Bingo Hideout

Play to win

Even if you’re a seasoned player of internet bingo, it’s always good to pick up a few insider tips to boost your current game. So, we have put together a quick guide to help you improve your gaming experience.

Although we all know that our favourite game is a game of chance, online bingo is also brilliant fun that can be enjoyed more when you think you’re in with a better chance of winning!

Follow our simple rules and you could hit the jackpot

The golden rule of play whether it’s your first time or if you’re trying out a new site is to never give your account details unless you trust the site implicitly. Using big name sites or sites recommended by trusted sites such as ourselves can point you in the right direction and help you to avoid online scams. Look for obvious contact details on the home page if you are unsure and if these are not in evidence, choose another site to play on.

online bingo or bingo halls?

Bingo halls are still an incredibly popular way to play our favourite game, and the chances are if you’re a regular on any of our recommended sites you might have missed the changes going on in live bingo. After all it is of course still possible to enjoy both - especially if you’re a currently a member of Gala or Mecca.

The main thing we’ve definitely noticed over the last few months in various forums are comments that bingo halls are now much nicer environments to play in now the fug of smoke has been lifted. Since the permanent smoke screen was the biggest turn off for less regular players, live bingo is becoming more popular again since the smoking ban came into affect.

Back by popular demand, here’s part two of our chat glossary. You can read the first part of our chat glossary here. Every time we notice new phrases appearing in chat, we add them to our ongoing study of this evolving ‘language’, which is created by you, the players.

Used to save time during game play, these acronyms can come across as quite puzzling to newbies. This is the Bingo Hideout attempt to demystify what’s going on for new players and for those who have been out of the game for a while.

AFAIK: as far as I know.

AFK: away from keyboard. Used in polite conversation to let CMs and other players know that a player is absent momentarily. Often used instead of GGP, which is generally frowned upon in most chat rooms.

Chat rules

• Offensive language is never acceptable, and will always damage your privileges within a site. If you offend a member of the chat you will be asked to leave the room if it’s your first offence; after that it is up to the site how they will stop you from further causing a disturbance.
• Offensive words are not acceptable, even if mis-spelt
• Players must not use capital letter sentences as this comes across as being threatening. Any threatening or slanderous language is not permissible. Ever.
• Players must always be respectful of the CM in charge of the chat and never argue with their decisions in play.
• Finally, most sites do not allow the exchange of email information between players.

Bingo is historically associated with older players, though in the last 10 years the bingo game has become more appealing to the younger generations with the introduction of nationwide jackpots and larger Progressive Jackpots (PJPs).

Bingohideout is very interested in finding out who is playing online bingo games in the newest age of the bingo revolution: the online bingo game.

More accessible (even to those players who are unable to leave home to play) and more appealing to a wider audience than ever, the modern 90-ball online bingo game couldn’t be further from the traditional images of dabbing numbers quietly in cold church halls for a small prize!

As a first impression of the current market, it would seem that a large number of the modern online bingo sites are aimed primarily at women with families or busy work schedules who are unable to get to bingo halls for games. Women aged between 25-40, these mums are looking to meet friends online and enjoy the thrill of the game as much as chatting online and this focus is reflected in endorsements such as Sharon Osbourne’s celebrity sponsorship of Gala bingo.

However Internet bingo is increasingly becoming tied to betting sites traditionally aimed at men, for example Ladbrokes and Betfred . Online bingo has spilled into the male gaming market since the gaming laws governing the Internet changed and this is reflected further in the placement of casino and slot games, even on more traditional bingo sites such as Mecca. With increasingly huge PJPs available it is no longer a female dominated fight to the jackpot in the modern game.

There are many sites to access and new ones turning up online all the time offering you fun in the comfort of your own home and, with the benefit of allowing anyone who has an Internet connection to play, there are no limits to the increasingly diverse audience of these great games.

There are additional benefits too, from roomie holidays and days out (e.g. with Foxy ), team bingo games on sites such as Bingo Jet Set or, as with the Bingofriends site, as a member you can simply have access to horoscopes and recipes. Choosing your home site carefully means that you can decide whether your gaming experience is private or a social whirlwind of new friends!

Bingohideout are hoping to make playing online bingo games for new comers and those who join different sites easier by starting and constantly updating our new bingo glossary so that you can try new things without guessing what you’re doing. If you notice any glaring oversights let us know and we’ll start the updating processing; as always we are very grateful of member feedback.

Bingo Card
A usual bingo card as played in a 90 ball game has 25 squares in total of which 24 are numbered and 1 is blank.

Cash Ball
Drawn before the game the cash ball denotes a pay off from the progressive jackpot in that game.

Chat Master (CM) or Chat Host

Known under a number of names depending on which site you play on, the chat master is the person in charge of monitoring the players chat during any game. The chat host is responsible for ensuring that no one is using rude or offensive language and instigates chat games as well as encouraging players to join in other online games and to take up bonuses as they become available.

Chat Games
Chat games are bonus games played between online players involved in the live chat during any game. Every bingo site offers chat games at different times, with some holding ongoing tourneys which mean players join in with chat games every day for a month in order to be in with a chance of winning the jackpot.

Coverall or Blackout
A coverall or blackout refers to a pattern on any card where all the numbers are marked. Often used for play in Progressive Jackpot games, coveralls are hard to achieve but are usually worth the wait.

PJP
Progressive Jackpots can be played for bingo or slot game and are frequently a very big amount of money.

Roomies
Referring to the other players in the game, roomies are the people online that you can chat live to while you play. Some sites offer roomie meets as well as team bingo games to encourage roomie friendships and others sites offer chat games where you win for your neighbour in the game.

Jackpot
The reason why we play, the jackpot is the big payout in every game. Jackpots can be a static set amount or PJPs where the amount increases as the game progresses.

Pattern
The shape the player needs to match in order to win the jackpot or prize in any game.

Win Big

At Bingo Hideout we have been looking around to see what’s on this Holiday period for you so that you can check out a new way to play that could win you up to £10,000 or more in one of the many progressive jackpot payouts.

Check out Mecca bingo, for example: with their current promotion on slots you can get a £50 cash back sign up bonus when you register to play slots and you can still play bingo! As the winner of the WhichBingo.co.uk 2006 Site of the Year Award, Mecca is a name you know you can trust to keep you flush with both excitement and cash prizes! By combining this great offer with the odds of winning in their great prize draw promotion (where Mecca are giving away 2K of prizes over the Christmas Holiday) you know you are onto a winner.

Over at Bingo Liner there’s also a weekly promotion offering you the chance to win extra cash prizes in their slot Tourney. Running from Friday to Sunday every week this is a great chance to win additional money on your favourite slot or video poker machine. 

Foxy Bingo has a great number of instant win games available including the ever popular slot machines.  So if slotties are your thing head over to this site and get them wheels of fortune spinning!  There are six games to try your hand at, some of which are special multiplier games that enable you to increase your winnings by up to 5 times - that’s right, up to 5 times your winning amount.  Now that’s quite a spectacular come back no matter how you look at it.

One that certainly catches the eye is the Pirates Gold Multiplier offering a jackpot of £25,000, which can then be boosted 5 times with the multiplying feature.  So take to the high seas and start finding that there treasure!!

Dream Bingo is well known for being one of the strongest bingo communities on the net and also has some of the best slot machines this side of Vegas.  Not only do they have all the great 3 Reel classics but they also have the visually stunning Video Slot Busters. These will not only blow your mind with the amazing graphics but will also blow your winnings sky high!  And if this isn’t enough to entice you over to their site, like the thousands of other daily game winners, then surely the jackpots, which can run into millions, will.