This site was created because we absolutely love online bingo and we wanted to share some of our favourite bingo sites with you. We regularly comb the net to find the newest and best sites to play bingo on so that we can list them here.
There are so many of them out there that it's difficult to tell which are the good ones and which ones suck and so this is where our reviews come in. We carefully check every aspect of each site out and then write a review which highlights both the positive and the negative points so you can make your own decision about which one you'd like to try.
Each review focuses on the key points that are important to bingo players who want to know more about a particular site. They include things like how the site is laid out, how easy it is no navigate around, how the game play is conducted in each of the rooms and where to look for the important information.
They also cover topics like security your money, the safety of your personal information, how easy it is to get your winnings back out of the site and the licensing status of the company that runs the site. As well as these basic points there are things like the kind of promotions they run, what prizes they tend to give away, the bonuses they offer and even the game variants they provide.
Before the internet came along bingo was a very popular game that people would play in their local bingo hall.
The halls took the place of closed or abandoned cinemas and during the early years quickly became the entertainment venue of choice for thousands of people.
Players would come back week after week for the cash prizes, nail biting games and the friendly social atmosphere that the halls offered.
This was a very lucrative time for the companies who operated the halls but eventually attendance began to decline for various reasons and people became less willing to venture out for entertainment.
Luckily however, this decline coincided with the rise of the internet and the operators were quick to realise that they had to evolve to survive.
Some of the big names in bingo at the time like Mecca invested some of their pots of cash into building websites which allowed people to play bingo on their home computers and so the online version of the game was born.
The first sites were primitive by today's standards but the creators worked hard to give them the essential ingredients that had already made the game so popular in the first place.
The cards where now on the screen and the action of using a pen to mark off the numbers was replaced with a click of the players mouse.
In most cases the bingo caller was eliminated entirely and replaced with a simple display of the current numbers on the screen, but they were to eventually make a comeback as the site operators tried to re-capture some of the original magic.
After a relatively short time of both the halls and websites existing side by side, the websites began to attract far more players and most of the operators then began to put all of their efforts in to their glittering electronic creations.
Two significant things have happened since the early days when the first bingo sites were created; the sites themselves have been improved immensely and there are now a lot more of them.
Not having to pay for a huge bingo hall, staff and all of the other costs that are associated with operating a live event has allowed the operators to focus all of their energy on the creation of fantastic bingo websites.
This means that most of the sites that are around today are packed with amazing features and exciting games.
When it comes down to playing the actual game on the site you end up choosing, although there are a few differences between playing in a hall and playing online, the basic concept remains the same.
All sites will require you to first register and provide a few personal details so they have a record of you but it's often just the usual stuff.
Many will also ask for a payment method at this point but usually only as a guarantee for future deposits and not for any immediate deposit.
Most of them will however, try to encourage you to make an initial deposit and tempt you with some kind of bonus but it's up to you decide if you want to do that.
Once you have registered and are logged in then it's time to head for the lobby which is the starting point for your bingo experience.
From here you will have access not only to all of the bingo rooms but to the other games that the site offers such as slots, scratch cards and blackjack.
These games are there to pass the time while you aren't playing bingo and they can be just as much fun as the main event and you could also win yourself a little extra money on them as well.
The rooms themselves are where all of the action is on a bingo site and it's also where the operator has tried to create the atmosphere of an original bingo hall.
There is a lot of variation in how they are laid out from place to place but they all tend to contain the same basic elements.
There will be a panel which shows you basic game information like the name of the game, current jackpot, your balance and the number of tickets you have.
Then there is the all important card area which shows the bingo cards currently in play and also the numbers as they are called out.
To make the whole thing a lot more social most rooms will also have a chat area where you can chat with other players and generally socialise. The creators of the sites use this feature to make players feel more at home and to get them chatting just like they would have done if they were all in a bingo hall together.
Some sites do use a live bingo caller to call out the numbers as they are drawn which adds a lot to the experience but most simply display the current numbers in a certain place on the room screen.
Also, in many cases, the site operates an automatic system for marking off the numbers on the cards which replaces the old system of using a pen or dauber to mark the paper cards.
The automatic system might sound a bit mechanical but it gives the player a lot more time to do other things like play the alternative games or better still, have a nice long chat with some other roomies.
Most sites that you'll come across will have multiple rooms and multiple game types to try so you'll probably find yourself spoilt for choice.
The bingo game variants that are most common are 30, 75, 80 and 90 ball with 90 ball being by far the most popular.
30 ball, which is sometimes called speed bingo is a fast paced game which is played on a small grid and has a very quick turnaround.
75 ball is the US version of the game and it has gained great popularity in the UK over the last few years and is played on a larger square grid.
80 ball is similar to 75 and is offered by some sites but certainly not all and is played by marking off certain patters of numbers in order to win the prizes.
The 90 ball variant of the game can be found on most sites and is generally played on a 9 by 3 grid of numbers.
The biggest prizes are awarded when a player gets a full house which means they have marked off the remaining 15 numbers on the card.
Just in case you were wondering why the total does not seem to add up, only 5 of the 9 squares on each line actually has a number so there are 15 numbers in total.
90 ball is often the main focus for a typical site and the operator will usually spice things up by awarding prizes when a player gets one line, two lines or is about to get a full house, also known as one to go.
On some of the larger sites players can also get involved in exciting linked games which allow players to compete en-masse for huge jackpots, sometimes reaching in to the millions. Some of the clubs used to do it too and their record breaking jackpots would attract thousands of players to the game each week.
Many of the online bingo sites out there, especially the big name ones will offer new and existing players some amazing prizes to either get them to sign up or spend more money. They include everything from a bag of sweets to a brand new car or an all expenses paid holiday so if you are planning on joining a site or depositing then it really pays to pick the best deal.
Many sites will reward you for depositing cash and playing bingo with it and they generally do that by giving you more cash, giving you tickets to some kind of prize draw or awarding loyalty points.
Loyalty points can usually be exchanged on the sites for free bingo cards or increased deposit bonuses.
The prizes in the draws are often gadgets such as iPads and things like shopping vouchers but they can vary wildly depending on where you go.
Not all bingo sites are created equal and although many of them offer some great incentives to sign up, there are quite a few whose prizes and bonuses are seriously mediocre.
The biggest problem is boring network sites that use the same set of promotions and, for that matter, tend to look and play exactly the same too.
By network sites, we mean ones that are all owned by the same company and tend to be carbon copies of each other and are only separated by the graphics they use.
There are also some sites out there that offer very little in the way of bonuses or prizes and often require the player to deposit an unusually high amount before they start giving anything back. Some of them are still good for a few games of bingo and can be quite fun but they don't tend to retain players due to their lack of variety.
As far as new players are concerned the whole subject of bonuses and the use of the term 'free money' can be a very confusing one.
You might have noticed some of them advertising things like 300% bonus on your first deposit or 50% reload bonus and aren't really sure what they mean.
The deposit bonus is usually an amount of credit that they offer when you first sign up and it gets added to your initial deposit.
This means, for example, that if they offer a 300% bonus and you deposit £10 then they will add 3 times your deposit amount to your balance which gives a total of £40.
It's important to remember that this bonus amount is not a real cash balance and so is not something you can just then withdraw.
When the site provides this kind of thing they require you to spend it on playing bingo and will only let you start withdrawing money when you have deposited more of your cash.
It's best to consult the site itself when it comes to the withdrawal rules but generally they won't let you start taking money out until you have deposited a number of times first.
Re deposit or reload bonuses are similar to first deposit bonuses except they apply when you deposit after your first one. They are put in place to encourage you to carry on spending money on the site and although they are usually lower than the first one, they are still worth grabbing if you like the site and want to stick around.
Security of payment and personal details is a primary concern for a lot of players as it is for most people who spend money on the internet.
We are always careful here to only show you the sites which we feel have built up a reputation of trust or, in the case of new sites, are backed by a trusted organisation.
If you are new to bingo then you may want to look for sites that accept payment methods other than credit and debit cards such as Paypal.
Using services like these gives you an extra level of protection and makes the process a lot safer.
We are also careful to only present sites that are legally allowed to target players from the UK and allow them to play bingo for money. These sites are sometimes referred to as Whitelisted and their activities are approved by an authority that is in turn approved by the UK Gambling Commission.
These authorities are often outside of the UK for tax reasons and include places like Alderney and Gibraltar but are still whitelisted and so are regarded as safe to play on.
If you are not sure about a particular site then the first place to look is towards the bottom of the homepage where you should find information about the licensing authority.
There is another good reason to check the footer of the site and that is to see if they have an approved random number generator.
This is a key component of any bingo site and governs how random and thus how fair the odds of winning are.
The bingo site in question should have a certification that theirs has been tested and deemed truly random otherwise your odds of winning may be affected.
It's important to bear in mind that most of the sites out there at the moment are considered safe and the bad ones only make up a tiny percentage. If you are not sure about a particular site then it's best to check out a few reviews first so you can get a good idea of what they are like.