Bingo Hideout

Online bingo side games

When considering what to look for in a new bingo site, looking at our player type guide will help you to decide which features are most important to you. Once you have this in mind you can focus your hunt for the best in your favourite feature and get the best in internet bingo to suit the way you play.

Some sites focus their online bingo games on good loyalty returns for returning players. On sites such as these you can collect points for your loyalty as well as bonus bucks on others. Loyalty schemes are not part of the online bingo package per se so it's worth looking up how your site rewards you if you intend to play there often and want to be thanked for your dedication.

Another feature that often replaces loyalty schemes are excellent promotions with big jackpots on sites. These Internet sites put the kitty toward PJPs and coveralls rather than focusing on bonus points; so if you're in it for a quick win with more irregular play, sites such as these are the best option for you.

The Sun online bingo

Which will you choose: uk bingo's favourite site as you know it or bingo with a side order of side-games? As you will be aware as an existing Sun Bingo player, the biggest online bingo site in the UK is about to leave partnership with Tombola Bingo and re-launch itself with the Gamesys platform, which runs Jackpot Joy.

There are many benefits to playing the new internet bingo site from Gamesys. With more choices of side-games and bigger brand names to play on, you can expand your game and enjoy some skill-based games while online.

How to pay for online bingo

Further to our feature on ways to pay for your favourite online bingo site other than by card we have another feature this time on different methods of payment.

Bingo Hideout has recently covered pre-pay cards and debit card payments systems in our discussion of ways to pay for your play, but this week we are shifting our attention to money transfer systems. For example, payments made via Click 2 Pay are accepted on the bigger bingo games sites and mean that no matter where in the world you're playing from you can still deposit in your account.

Offering you more options than other transfer systems, Click 2 Pay can make real time transfers from your account to the internet bingo site of your choice as quickly as a debit payment. Using this facility your account will see no drag of payments so you can stay on top of your money and you won’t have to share your personal details with any bingo site.

Congratulations to KellyBear who has just won a brand new 40 inch sony bravia lcd TV, and a brand new Panasonic digital camera, and a Toshiba satellite big screen laptop on Bingo On the Box.com and all she did was to be a depositing player.

This means, that as well as some huge PJP's running into the thousands, in the last month and a half, Bingo on the box has given away a Nintendo Wii, a spa break, a weekend break to Venice, a TV, a camera, a laptop, loads of experience days, bonus bucks and a whole load more. Even better, with their bob and a beanstalk promotion, the next prize is a trip to Disneyland for four people!!!, Then a years bingo, £2000 shopping voucher, trip to London +£2500, a trip for four to the Caribbean and a brand new Fiat 500!!!! and they guarantee to do all this before Christmas!!!

Summer bingo promos

Wink Bingo – Super Cleaner

One of our favourite promotions for August is the Super Cleaner promotion from Wink Bingo. Players are entered into the points accumulator simply by playing bingo until the end of the month. The prize means is to have a professional cleaner come to your house for four hours a week for 12 months! What could be better than a house that is spotless without having to lift a finger?

There are other ways to collect points in this fab promotion aside from the normal bingo play, which include tasks as simple as sending an email to state what you'll do with your new found extra time once the Super Cleaner comes to your house, and sending a photo of you multi-tasking while winking. A fun promotion that is well worth winning, we love the fact that this summer promotion will result in more photos of players in the gallery as well as one very happy roomie.

Behave yourselves!

Every bingo site in the world of Internet bingo has its own rules and regulations as to what is acceptable in live chat. Depending on the site there are games where it is fine to get flirty with your roomie friends and even be a little risqué. There are of course ways that you can behave that will mean you will be ejected from the game no matter where you play. Bingo Hideout is here to help so we have put together a basic set of rules, which should keep even the most excitable players on the straight and narrow.

Never be rude to the Chat Host

Although this should be a given we often hear stories of how players can speak out of turn to CM's. This is usually comes about as a result of a site grievance (we'll cover this in a moment) or if the player mistakes the CM's friendly attitude as a laidback approach to the rules. This kind of behaviour clearly spells disaster and you will be put on their personal blacklist - if not the site's blacklist - depending on the severity of your misdemeanour.

Never complain about losing

Although we can all get frustrated by the absence of a winning streak from time to time it's considered extremely rude to make a point of this in chat - especially if you labour the point. Any grievances with the game should be taken up with the CM but site grievances should be addressed via email to the admin or complaints department on your site.

Never be rude to a roomie

This includes writing in capitals, using insulting language or even misspelled versions of insulting or discriminatory language. If a CM sees any example of this you will be excluded from chat immediately as all bingo sites work hard to make sure all players are included in every game.

Community spirit

There are many ways in which an online bingo site can promote a strong community of players on its site, though some are better at this crucial aspect of roomie fun than others.

With online bingo being such a popular pastime with UK players, the choice of sites is always growing so your choice of site to play on can change according to offers, games and how your fellow roomies respond to you.

There are many reasons why playing bingo online has become so popular but it's the live chat that most players cite as being their favourite feature of the game. Given the impact this interactivity between players has on player retention it is in the best interest of any site to promote further interaction between players outside of the game too. This can take the form of a message board, forum, or, in the case of foxybingo.com, a live radio show that players can listen and respond to.

Players like exploring new ways to get to know each other and while player galleries are an excellent means of putting a face to a name, features which promote closeness between players by adding another dimension to this familiarity such as those demonstrated by Game Village Bingo (street scenarios where you move in and become friends with your neighbours) and Bingo Café (3D avatars of each player move around the space and chat to each other) are very appealing to roomies who are looking to form strong friendships.

These are just a few examples of how you can make your time playing online bingo more enjoyable; to make sure you are getting what you want from your site, check out our directory and see what community features are on offer. After all, choosing a site that gives you more ways to meet others can boost your gaming experience and your enjoyment of the game!

Sign-up war

Foxy Bingo's decision to cut the £10 incentive for new players back in June seemed like a radical move to stop the highly competitive recruitment drive for new players that exists in online bingo. Any online bingo site which is pooling its resources into better promotions and rewards for players always gets our vote, but since Foxy is already such a popular and established site can we really expect all the latest additions to the bingo universe to follow suit?

Since our article about this change of tactic was published we have taken on many a new internet bing site in our directory, most of which offer new players an incentive in the form of free cards or a free cash bonus to play. This can only be expected from new sites that need to boost numbers but how has it affected other sites that have been around longer?

Sites such as Gala Bingo now offer free bingo games once you are a depositing player and Jackpot Joy offer £10 free plays on sign up. Mecca are still offering their massive reward of up to £50 sign up reward, so no matter how it's worded newbies are still in the main being given an incentive to sign up with the bingo giants despite Foxy having withdrawn their offer.

We at Bingo Hideout love any site that is working primarily in favour of its existing players although we understand newbies like to feel welcomed to a bingo site too, so it's a difficult call for any new online bingo site to withdraw sign up incentives completely.

Desperate Wives Bingo

Set up by the Big Bingo Network Desperate Wives Bingo is a light-hearted spin-off of the hugely popular TV show that will surely satisfy your need for hot gossip and fun among friends in between episodes.

With games from as little as 5p you can get a taste of the high life as lived on Wisteria Lane without the strain on your purse. Signing up with Desperate Wives is, as you would expect, a generous and welcoming affair with 5 bonus cash bucks added to your account so you can get around straight away.

Littlewoods online bingo

Madonna at Littlewoods?

Littlewoods Bingo's latest promotion to win Madonna tickets has already kicked in but rest assured players still have a chance to be registered for this great prize until the 13th August, so there's still plenty of time to play for cash and get entered into the draw for the hottest tickets in town this summer.

This is an amazing chance to see one of the most influential women in modern music strut her stuff and since the “Sticky And Sweet” tour is a greatest hits celebration, you'll still be in vogue when you Vogue with her whether or not you have caught up with her latest album. The winner of this prize will surely Cherish the Lucky Star that gave them a night out with Madonna, complete with overnight stay at a top hotel in Cardiff and travel expenses.