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As fans of bingo ourselves, we care about getting the most out of your bingo betting money. With so many new bingo games and bingo sites springing up left and right over the past few years, it has become especially difficult to figure out which games are good and which are not. That is our goal here at InsideCasino, we arm players with the knowledge and awareness of how bingo games work so you can make more informed decisions on what games you should be playing.

A Crash Course on Playing Bingo

While not all bingo games are created equal, all of them are more or less the same from a fundamental standpoint. For this reason, it would be a good idea to brush up on the basics of how to play bingo before we go straight to the games. At its core, bingo is a simple game of chance that is made up of three things – the bingo tickets, the bingo balls, and the tombola. The tombola shuffles the balls around until one falls out at random and is called out. Any player who has the ball number on their ticket gets to mark out that number on their card.

A win condition is reached when a player becomes the first to mark out a winning line on their ticket. These winning lines come in various forms, from the standard rows and columns all the way to special shapes and patterns depending on the bingo game. Of course, this gameplay flow is a bit different once we move online. For instance, elements like the tombola (the spinning cage that induces randomness in the bingo balls) in a physical game, is approximated by software in the digital online game.

The flexibility of digital software has also made it so that game developers could add various features that improve the convenience of playing the game. One great example we’ve seen across dozens of online bingo games is the addition of an auto-dauber that automatically marks off any matching numbers you have as the game progresses.  This is a useful feature for multi-ticket bingo games online that would otherwise require quite a bit of focus to keep track of numbers across multiple tickets.

If you would like to become a guru at playing bingo, you can learn even more by reading our guide on advanced bingo strategies.

A Brief History of Internet Bingo Games

The game of bingo has come a long way over its colourful 500-year history. If you want to dive a bit deeper into its real-world origins, we have a separate article on the history of bingo that you can read. But for the purposes of this guide, however, we start our story with the arrival of bingo on the shores of the digital world.

It is generally accepted that Bingo Zone was the very first bingo game ever released for online access and play. Launched by American developer Gamesville in 1996, Bingo Zone offered this bingo for free and despite its simplicity, it was fully featured and functional. To put it simply, this game laid out the general framework for just about every online bingo game that would come later.

Believe it or not, you can actually still play Bingo Zone today; however, since Gamesville’s shutdown, this can only be done on their sister site, Golden Hearts Games.

The 2010s would see bingo games online and gambling in general, explode in popularity around the world thanks to the introduction and proliferation of a variety of new technologies. With faster mobile devices, more powerful and more efficient web design, and more creative game developers entering the scene, it has now become vastly more convenient for players to start playing bingo.

What Makes a Great Bingo Game?

There are a myriad of factors that contribute to the overall quality and enjoyability of a good bingo game. As different bingo fans will have different priorities and preferences when it comes to what they want out of their bingo game, there really is no be-all, end-all path to finding the best ones from the rest. We’ve broken down the fundamentals of all bingo games into three simple concepts, all of which we assess thoroughly on our bingo site reviews.

Gameplay

At the core of every bingo game is the actual experience provided by the game itself. Since the games are designed to run as completely digital software, game developers like Playtech and Virtue Fusion have both the technical and creative freedom to take the classic gambling game into whatever direction they can think up.  Modern bingo games can land just about anywhere on a vast spectrum of complexity, from simple adaptations of classic bingo games to highly engaging licensed titles, so players have all manner of game choices.

Social Features

Compared to other ways of gambling like sports betting and most casino games, bingo is a game that places a lot of emphasis on the communal experience. This has been the case since the very inception of the game, which places its players in a space where they can mingle with other players throughout the course of the game.

With the shift to the digital world, social bingo gaming effectively has its work cut out in terms of social features. On the one hand, they can effortlessly facilitate interactions between players from across the Canada or even internationally. However, the developers do have to actually implement features like live chat, forums, and other functions adjacent to social media and there have been some cases of less-than-stellar performance on this front.

Types of Bingo Games

One of the most difficult challenges when it comes to playing bingo games is the fact that there are so many different ways to categorise these games depending on the kind of information you want to convey. You can break these games up into all manner of different categories such as the number of balls in play, the game’s developer, the number of tickets you can have, and the number of stakes you can wager.  And even all of these can’t cover the myriad of creative gimmicks these games employ to stand out from the crowd.

So for the purposes of this guide, we will be going through all of the most common types of bingo games to give you a better idea of what you can expect to play.

Bingo Games by Payment

Bingo games can be split into free games and real money games. Because of how critical they are to your gaming experience, choosing whether or not you want to bet real money is a decision you would probably want to make before anything else.

  • Free Bingo Games, as the name suggests, allow you to buy and play tickets for free. However, the way that ‘free’ works with these games can vary depending on the game. Some bingo is completely free (these are also called social games), while some simply give out free tickets as a bonus for performing certain paid actions.
  • Real Money Bingo Games are the de facto standard for bingo games in Canada and is this is our main focus. More numerous and more varied than their free counterparts, you can play this bingo for a chance to win real cash prizes.

Bingo Games by Number of Balls

The most basic way that bingo games are categorised are by the quantities of bingo balls in play. For most players, this is the most useful way to categorise bingo games since different ball amounts affect both the speed of the game and the layout of the tickets. A few of the basic examples of these games include:

  • 90 Ball Bingo
  • 80 Ball Bingo
  • 75 Ball Bingo
  • 52 Ball Bingo
  • 50 Ball Bingo
  • 36 Ball Bingo
  • 30 Ball Bingo

90 Ball Bingo

90 ball bingo is widely considered to be the game type that takes the longest to complete, owing to the number of balls available in play. Often referred to as European Bingo because of its popularity in the region, 90 ball bingo tickets are usually laid out in a 9-column by 3-row layout for a maximum of 27 spaces that can contain numbers. Of these spaces, only 5 numbers per row are typically filled out. Jackpots are typically paid out to the first player that completes 1 row, 2 rows, and all 3 rows (also called ‘full house’), respectively.

  • Coronation Street Bingo: A bingo game licenced and themed after the British soap opera of the same name, Coronation Street Bingo is mostly a bog standard game of 90 ball bingo, but with a special Golden Cobbles Jackpot ticket that gives a separate prize when a game is won at the same time the ticket is marked off, with a larger pooled jackpot paid out when the Golden Cobbles ticket is won.
  • Deal Or No Deal Bingo 90: Generally agreed to be the very first licenced bingo game to play online, Deal or No Deal Bingo 90 is one of the most popular versions available. Adapting some of the mechanics from the titular game show, DOND Bingo 90 features 21 red boxes with varying jackpot amounts that are opened when their corresponding numbers are called. A 22nd box is also in the game but does not have a number; instead, this is rewarded to the player who wins full house. At this point, the game makes a “banker’s offer” for the red box just like the game, and the winning player has the option to accept the offer or take the money in the box as their jackpot.
  • Deal or no Deal Bingo Multiplier: This is a special variant of DOND Bingo found on bingo websites run by Paddy Power. Instead of the 22 boxes like the “original” DOND Bingo games, the Multiplier variant reveals a single red box that gives out a random multiplier 2x to 5x that applies to the room prizes.
  • Cashpot Bingo: A Gala Bingo exclusive bingo room, Cashpot Bingo doesn’t have much in the way of gimmicks, which results in a pretty simple gaming experience. The only bonus feature here is the Cashpot Wheel, which pays out an additional reward to the person who won full house.

80 Ball Bingo

Combining the slightly slower pace of 90 ball bingo with the more generous winning lines of 75 ball bingo, 80 ball bingo is a relatively uncommon game version, that you will mostly find in bingo halls. This game uses a card with 4 columns and 4 rows that are all filled with numbers, with the winning lines consisting of completed rows, diagonals, and special patterns.

  • Level 80: This 80 ball bingo game is a title that is exclusively available at Coral Bingo, and features a relatively relaxed video game theme throughout without any major gimmicks in the way. This is arguably our choice if you want to avoid the frills and play bingo relatively cleanly.
  • The Voice Bingo: This TV show licenced bingo title has players daubing out numbers in an attempt to impress the voice judges, or rather, bonus winning numbers in each of the four seats. Players receive a bonus payout if they win full house on any of the four numbers on the judges’ seats. If a full house is one on the last seat on the panel, the player to land a number that matches the judge’s gets the game’s largest side jackpot.

75 Ball Bingo

As the version of the game that was developed and initially popularised in the US, 75 ball bingo (also called American Bingo) tends to be the most recognisable version of the game to anyone exposed to bingo outside of Europe.

With its iconic 5×5 card that contains a free space in the centre, 75 ball bingo plays a bit faster than its European counterpart and is open to a wider variety of winning lines such as diagonals and special shapes.

  • Bounce’T Bingo: This 75 ball bingo game from the Dragonfish game network keeps players on their toes thanks to a feature in which the prize money value actually bounces around within a set range. Outside of this, though, Bounce’T Bingo is a pretty standard game of 75 ball bingo.
  • Spirit Twister Bingo: This 75 ball bingo game taps into a bit of a mystical path, with the game’s Spirit Wolf appearing before the start of the game to offer a multiplier of up to 5x that applies to the full house jackpot.
  • Deal or No Deal Bingo 75: As the 75 ball version of the original DOND 90 ball game, DOND 75 adapts imagery from the American version of the game show. Gold briefcases take the place of the originals’ red boxes, while the 5×5 ticket ensures more numbers are called at a faster rate for more exciting gameplay, especially over long sessions.

52 Ball Bingo

While very close in number to the 50 ball bingo we discuss below, 52 ball bingo is a very different bingo game, with games like the below featuring cards instead of balls (hence the 52 balls in play – a reference to the size of a standard playing card deck).

  • Nevada: One of the new releases from renowned bingo site Tombola, Nevada is arguably the most ‘standard’ of the 52-ball bingo games, featuring a 4×4 grid of playing cards similar to 80 ball bingo and 4 major prizes awarded for every row of the ticket.
  • Housey Bingo: Released as a replacement to Virtue Fusion’s outdated bingo game Joker Jackpot, Housey Bingo gives players a hand of 5 cards with the game calling out numbers as with any normal game of bingo. In addition to the regular jackpot you get after claiming full house on your hand, Housey Bingo also has a progressive jackpot that can be claimed if you play your cards right and land full house within 7 card calls.

Special Mentions

One of the great things about games like bingo is the sheer amount of creativity that developers can inject into them. Never is this more true than in the following games that really break the mould of what most people consider to be a “standard” bingo game.

  • Rainbow Riches Bingo: This bingo adaptation of the popular range of slot games features cards with 8 numbers laid out in a format of two four-leaf clovers. Wins are paid out upon completing one and both clovers; but the fun really starts once we get into the game’s Rainbow Clover and Wishing Well bonus features.

The Rainbow Clover is a community jackpot feature that sees the game’s leprechaun move 1 to 2 spaces on the rainbow path when the game draws a Rainbow Clover. Jackpots are given out when the leprechaun lands on the 10th, 25th, and 50th space. The Wishing Well, meanwhile, is a long-term rewards feature that allows players to claim coins from landing player-chosen lucky numbers that can be used to redeem a special bonus later.

  • Roller Coaster: This Tombola original title takes the classic bingo game out to the carnival in which you buy rollercoaster cars with 5 names instead of balls. When a rollercoaster passes by the loop, one of the ride’s passengers are called. The winning jackpot is paid out to the first person who completes a rollercoaster car.
  • Age of the Gods Bingo: Another bingo game adaptation of a popular series of slots, Age of the Gods Bingo adapts the original’s unique bonus features into what is otherwise standard 90 ball bingo gameplay to really shake up the endgame payouts. The winner of the full house gets the privilege to turn over 9 coins until a match is made, with the face of the matched coin dictating how much of the jackpot is paid out to the winner and to the community.
  • Masked Singer Bingo: Red Spins has an exclusive bingo game that adds a layer of mystery to 90 ball bingo by having players guess which one of eight masks will be the one to win the game’s full house, getting a match awards the player with a free bingo ticket.

Bingo Games FAQs

What is the most popular bingo game online?

Arguably the most popular bingo game you can play is Deal or No Deal Bingo 90, the 90-ball variant of Virtue Fusion's series of bingo games that licence the popular game show brand. Besides the licensing gimmick, one of the reasons behind the popularity of Deal or No Deal Bingo is the availability of many other variations like 75-ball, 50-ball, and a Multiplier version.

Which site has the best bingo games?

Red Spins is widely considered to be one of the best sites you can go to if you want to play bingo games. Featuring a wide range of modes as well as several games that are exclusive to the Red Spins in Canada, players are sure to have a great time

What bingo games pay real money?

Bingo games from Virtue Fusion, Entain, and Playtech are all designed to pay out real money. If you want to learn more about them, you can check out our list of real money bingo sites to help you select the ones that you're looking for.

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