Bingo Bombshell

Astro Bingo has announced a new bingo competition with the prize being a trip for two people to Orlando in Florida. Flights and accommodation are included in the prize. The competition will be on between the 4th October and the 24th December. They haven't given full details as yet but it's something to look out for. It looks like they are going to have a number of special deals leading up to the Christmas period so you may as well sign up for their free £5 pound offer and get in the running.

I just noticed that AstroBingo has a loyalty program. It's an incentive to keep you in the game and not to redeem your winnings. How it works is every time you make a deposit you gain points and with those points you can redeem free gifts like chocolate, champagne, and perfume. What more could a girl want? You can also redeem it for bingo money but I'd rather the gifts. Seeing it's a loyalty program you gain extra points if you don't withdraw any money from your account. Full details are available from their website.

Not much else is happening over at AstroBingo apart from the usual bingo games. They have a lot of specials at different times of the day and different days of the week but I can't keep up with them all. I just login when I feel like playing and so far have won something every time. Don't forget that they do still have their flat screen TV competition going which will be decided on the 4th October.

What I like about AstroBingo is that they are always offering new games, jackpots, and prizes. The other great thing is that it is so easy to win. I'm still playing with my free 5 pound sign up bonus which I got 3 weeks ago. Yay! I also love that you can play in different rooms at the same time so there is always something going on and always a chance to win.

They have announced a new bingo room called 2 Lil' Ducks where you can play bingo from as little as 5p per card. This is good if you don't want to spend too much or risk too much. You can play for free for ages if you stick to the 5p cards.

If you're a British or Irish resident you can play bingo for a LCD flat screen TV. You'll have to watch out for the PlayBingo button as it will only appear once or twice hourly. The card price is 35p but the prizes are pretty good. You can win bingo bucks and AstroBingo stamps. Whoever wins the most stamps wins the TV.

Don't forget all the regular afternoon and nightly specials which are too numerous to mention here! Good luck!

I was offline for most of last week due to a fun problem with my ADSL. Thankfully it is fixed now and after logging in to play Spades was pleasantly surprised to see 3 more versions available.

Suicide Spades

One player from each team must bid nil. Success in this game really depends on having a clever team mate which is rarely the case when you play with a computer. This game is often very quick and if you do win it is often due to the other team heading deep into negative territory rather than you reaching 500 points. I really like this game even though I only win about half the time - much less often than with the standard game.

Mirror Spades

In this version of Spades each player must bid the number of spades they hold in their hand. This is really tough because if, for example, you have 6 spades but they are cards 2 to 7, chances are you'll find it tough to take 6 tricks. Another tough situation is if you have no spades and yet your hand is stacked with kings and aces. So basically to win this game you have to be pretty lucky as well as patient. Winning or losing more or less depends on the toss of a coin so it can take forever to get to 500 points. In fact, I've played the game twice and didn't complete it either time because it was taking forever. As much as I like to take a break from work, I don't have all day to play cards. I don't think I'll play this one much.

Whiz Spades

In this card game, one player must bid the number of spades they have in their hand and the other must bid nil. I think this is called Whiz Spades because you whiz through the game with an outcome after a few rounds. I don't like this because winning or losing is determined by luck. I want the way I play to determine whether I win or not but there is no chance with this game. It's really up to the draw of the cards. I've played it 3 or 4 times and that's enough for me.

I spent a few hours last night playing Astro Bingo. It's much better than any of the other bingo websites I have used for a number of reasons. It's definitely my favourite place to play bingo online.

The signup process is very easy. Just fill in the form with your name, contact details, and date of birth. They will send you an email to validate your registration and you can then login. You don't need to download any software and your account is immediately credited with £5. You can start playing with this money straight away.

I went straight for the 75 ball bingo room and won £10 on my second game. Obviously I was pretty happy with that as it enabled me to continue playing for the rest of the night. If you are looking to chat and meet people then this is a good site to use because as soon as you enter the room you are immediately able to chat. You can chat to others or just sit back and read what they have to say as you are playing. It's up to you if you join in or not. The price of the cards vary depending on the game and the payout depends on how many other people are playing. I saw quite a few people win £25 while others won less than £1.

After a while in the 75 ball room I headed over to the 90 ball room. Again, the cost of the cards and the prize money varied. Generally if you buy 6 cards then you get 1 free. In my first game playing 90 ball bingo I won £2.87. Not bad. A few games later I won the full house game and won £11.43. So after a couple of hours of playing I still have around £15 of bingo money. You have to deposit money before you can withdraw money but I was planning on making a deposit anyway. I enjoyed chatting with everyone and of course I enjoyed winning so I'll continue to play bingo at Astro Bingo.

View Current Promotions

It's free to sign up and you don't need to give your credit card details unless you want to make a deposit.

One of the great things about Bingo Broadway is that they always have special promotions and deals to keep you interested. Some are one off deals while others are regular offers. I've outlined below some of the latest offers from Bingo Broadway.

Early Bird Special

A daily early bird special is available between 6am and 7am. This is available in the Cabana and Liberty rooms. Double bonuses are available during this period. So if you are up early in the US or later if you are in the UK then stop by for an hour of specials.

90 Ball Bingo Offers
Bingo Broadway has both 75 and 90 ball bingo. The 75 ball bingo is very popular but the 90 ball bingo games have plenty of specials to tempt you away from the regular game. The specials start at noon and continue until midnight occurring at both the top of the hour and the bottom of the hour. They also have double bonuses every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Roo Races.

Speed Bingo on Saturday Nights

Every Saturday night at 10pm you can play speed bingo. These games have a $100 minimum prize and a progressive jackpot. With every jackpot one more ball is added to the jackpot total thus increasing your chances of winning the jackpot. This is a pretty good offer. Check the site for full details.

Sunday Specials

The rainbow game is played at 11pm in the Liberty lounge. A progressive jackpot and free cards are offered. The Cabana Cafe has a midnight special with free cards, guaranteed prizes and a progressive jackpot.

Special offers change regularly so check the Bingo Broadway website for details.

If you like both bingo and slots then you might want to look at Slingo which is available for download for free over at Big Al Games. It uses a slots type of interface to determine the bingo numbers. It is very basic but could be ok if you just want to pass the time but is more suited for children. There is not much too it, you spin the slots and the bingo numbers spin. You can then cross off the numbers you have on your bingo card. Once you match the pattern you then continue to play until all the numbers on your card are crossed off. You only have 20 spins to complete the card. You must at least complete the pattern to continue. Like I said, there is not much too it and there is no skill involved, just like with regular bingo and slots.

The free download version is limited so if you particularly like it you can buy the deluxe version for only US$19.95. I didn't find it interesting enough to do that but, like I said, it suits a younger, much younger audience. Give it a go if you child is looking for a simple game to play with, so long as you don't mind that these kind of games are generally used when gambling. So maybe it's not so suited to children after all.

Big Al Games do have quite a lot of other games on offer including arcade games and action games, some of which I will be reviewing in the future. The most interesting for me is that they have a free version of Hearts and Spades which can be downloaded. That might be an option for me which will allow me to play offline.

I just signed up for my first online bingo account. I've played bingo offline many times but the online world is new to me. The site I signed up with is Bingo Broadway. I didn't choose them for any particular reason, I just happened to come across them first.

My first surprise was that you have to download software onto your computer. I don't like having to do that. You never know what you are going to get. I ran my anti-virus and anti-spyware software after the download and everything seems to be ok.

After installing the software you have to sign up with your email, name, address etc. You are then given a username which you couldn't possibly remember. It gets emailed to you so that's not a huge problem but I would prefer to have something I can remember. You can then choose a nickname. It took me a while to find one which wasn't already taken but that's pretty standard these days.

Bingo Broadway offers a signup bonus of $5 to enable you to try it out for free. To receive the bonus you have to email the bonus email address as well as the support address. This was annoying. I'd prefer to have the money automatically credited to my account. I imagine they do this so people who don't realise there is a bonus won't get it, thus saving them a few dollars. I want the bonus because it's the only way to know if I want to continue playing. If I don't like the layout or game features or whatever then I won't deposit any money, I'll find another site. It didn't take long for the bonus to be credited though.

It is easy to purchase the cards, you just select the number of cards you want and select buy. The cards cost 5 to 10 cents each and you can buy up to 100 per game. If you buy 4 cards then you get 1 free and sometimes buy 3 and get 4, it depends on the game. There is a 75 ball bingo game and a 90 ball bingo game. I just played the 75 ball game. To get bingo you must match the pattern shown in the top right hand corner. This changes each game. To win the jackpot you have to get bingo before the jackpot counter reaches zero which occurs after 24 balls are called. I'd say you'd be pretty lucky to win the jackpot. The games are played every 5 minutes.

Although I found signing up with Bingo Broadway to be a bit of a pain, once I got going I enjoyed it. The games are easy to play, the cards are not expensive to buy, and the games are played regularly. I also like that is tells you that you have 3 to go then 2 to go and 1 to go before winning bingo. I tried buying in advance but I made a mistake and I couldn't figure out how to change it. With my $5 signup bonus I won exactly zero dollars. Other games are available such as slots but I am only interested in bingo so I didn't try anything else.

It is difficult for me to review this bingo site as it is the first one I have used but I did enjoy it. If you want to sign up and get your $5 bonus then you can register here.

I'm going on holiday for the next ten days so there won't be any bingo or other online games for me for a while. I won't be taking my computer with me; I don't know how I'll manage! No email, no internet, no Spades, and no Bingo. I'll be interested to see how long my withdrawal symptoms last and if I can get past it. I'm sure I'll survive, especially if I temporarily lift my self imposed Sudoku ban. I just noticed you can get Samurai Sudoku. I don't know if I'll be able to resist that.

I need this break to relax and recharge by batteries. When I get back it will be full on bingo reviews!

I had no choice but to ban myself from playing Sudoku. I started playing last year when I wasn't working and it quickly got out of hand. I quickly completed a book of one hundred puzzles and then was on to the next one. The grills were getting harder and I was getting quicker. Before I knew it I was spending every free moment with Sudoku. I used to watch quite a lot of tv but that ended once I had that little book in my hand.

I then started my own business and knew I had to give it up. I could have just reduced how much I was playing but I knew that would never work. I often found myself Sudokuing (is that a word?) until the early hours of the morning and if I was going to be serious about my business then I would have to give up completely. I finished the current book I was on and then gave up cold turkey. I've very proud to say I haven't touch one since.

Well, I admit I did give an online version a go but it didn't interest me. With online Sudoku you can 'pencil in' the numbers but it's not the same as scribbling in the possible answers and then rubbing them out as you go along. That is part of the fun for me. I like to have the book in my hand and sit down on the couch, working away for hours. The last thing I want is to spend more hours in front of the computer doing that.

If you don't have a book of grills then you can get them from the net. There are websites where you can print the Sudoku of the day and you can get them in various difficulties. I didn't get into this either as I still missed having that thick book in my hands. Anyway, it's over for me. I don't know if I can trust myself to ever play again.

For some reason Text Twist is quite a popular game. I must admit to having played quite a few games myself. It's not so much that I enjoy it but that I can't accept that I'm so useless at it. I like to think I'm fairly intelligent and that I have a reasonable grasp on the English language but this game proves that my vocabulary is somewhat lacking.

The idea of Text Twist is make as many words from the 6 letters you are given. It's a test of vocabulary as well as speed. The problem I have is that my vocabulary is limited and I'm slow. Sometimes I struggle with the 3 letter words which is pretty embarrassing. I keep playing because I know I can do better and it is easy to improve with practice. The same words come up again and again although I don't think they repeat the puzzles.

My lack of success is especially annoying when I know people who play Text Twist a lot and do really well at it. I know I should be able to do better than them. The worst thing is that this is probably a game for children. Children are playing it and yet I struggle with it. Maybe I just can't see the patterns, I don't know. Just to prove how useless I am, my highest score is 39,420. I'm sure that was a one off anyway.

I guess this game is popular because it is frustrating. You have to find the 6 letter word to keep going and sometimes you come so close but don't get it. I don't mind playing this occasionally but it is not a game I'd get addicted to.