I like Bingo. I live Bingo. I eat Bingo and I breathe Bingo! Yes, I am a Bingo addict. And my addiction is not restricted to the game alone. It is not about winning money either. I have to try my luck on every new pattern introduced, I have to visit each and every online Bingo site –though I am a loyal player only at 123Bingoonline.com! And over the years, I have also developed a huge appetite for Bingo facts, trivia, events and equipment. I love Bingo so much that I have become a brand ambassador-of-sorts for the game. I never, never lose an opportunity to share Bingo tidbits. So here goes:

• The biggest Bingo event in history took place at the Teaneck Armory in New York with approximately 60,000 players in the 1930s. 10,000 aspiring players had to be turned away at the gate. Ten cars were given away as prizes. ( The picture above, courtesy, www.teaneck.org fills me with nostalgia!)

• Do you know how many Bingo card combinations are possible?  A recent estimate says there are  52,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 possible bingo card combinations.

• The first game of Bingo aimed at raising money was played at a church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The funds helped the Parish resolve its financial problems.

• It is a commonly held belief among Bingo players that women players with the name “Margaret” and men who are named “Joe” are more likely to win!

• Toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe introduced the game of Bingo as “Lowe’s Bingo” to the masses. His newly formed toy company, E.S. Lowe Company would have folded up had Bingo not become such a success.

• On an average, a Bingo game lasts just 3 to 6 minutes.

• The average speed of a British bingo caller is 23 numbers per minute. Caller competitions are held annually in the UK.

• Over three million people play online Bingo regularly.

• A recent study reveals that roughly 80% of male online Bingo players are lazy and dodge household activities.

• The number one reason why people play Bingo is entertainment. Winning money is way down the list, at fifth place.

I have been playing Bingo in land-based Bingo halls for years. I love playing Bingo but I have grown old now and find it difficult to walk even to the nearest Bingo hall in my neighborhood. This made me depressed and irritable. One day my grandson suggested that I should try out online Bingo halls. He even helped me open an account at a good online Bingo site and I proudly took on my new ID- JACKIESMOM.

The moment I entered the Bingo room, I was bewildered by the atmosphere. I saw the Bingo cards and they looked familiar enough, alright. But the chat window, the automatic and manual daub options, graphics — they were all so very different compared to land Bingo halls. I am so used to seeing people, and have always concentrated on the numbers called. Daubing the numbers is a project by itself.

To confuse me further, as soon as I typed in “Hello” in the online Bingo chat window, the chat host replied “YW JACKIESMOM HUN!” The term YW left me a little perplexed. When I asked the chat host about it, he told me that YW stands for “You are welcome” in the new-age Bingo terminology.

Understanding that I was new to the world of online Bingo, the chat host guided me on how to buy Bingo tickets and wait for the game to begin. When I thanked him, he replied, “YVW!” It was not too difficult to figure that out — “You are Very Welcome?” and I began to feel at home.

But my comfort was short-lived. The chat-host asked me, “Would you like to play our new CG JACKIESMOM?” I was confused. The friendly chat host told me all about chat games. Wow! A sub-game that players can play while the main Bingo game is on, with the auto dauber in operation! Now, that is what I call a Bingo edge. Soon, I was playing chat games as well as betting on the Bingo patterns like a veteran online Bingo player. I even won a chat game and was richer by $2, thanks to 2BBs (bonus bucks) awarded by the CG. See, I am catching on

But there was one other problem. I excitedly typed in Kelly’s Eye when the number 1 was called. One of the player’s asked me what I talking about. I found that the new players and even the Bingo Caller on this site was sticking to straight calling. Many of the online Bingo players were totally oblivious to all those funny calling terms that good ‘ol Bingo is known for!

I took it upon myself to introduce my new Bingo friends to the classical Bingo lingo. The response was, “WTG (Way To Go) JACKIESMOM!”

One of them politely directed me to sites where callers use older terms as well. I visited them, but soon tired of typing in Choo Choo Thomas (for 58) and Jump and Jive (for 35). I was missing out on the CGs and felt like the OL. (That’s chat lingo for Old Lady, dearies…oops, QT). So I decided to play Bingo the way it is played online.

Soon, I was chatting, playing CGs… and guess what?  Whoever said,”When In Rome Do As the Romans Do” sure knew what he was speaking about. TTFN.

Many people are so used to playing Bingo at halls, parties, churches and community centers that they do not have the foggiest idea about how to play Bingo online. If you are reading this blog, you are obviously interested in playing Bingo at 123bingoonline.com.

Your first step is to register yourself and sign in with a minimum deposit . At present it is $20. On completion of the registration, your player ID will be emailed to you. Using that, you can enter the Bingo rooms on our site. Clicking on the Join Now logo on www.123bingoonline.com will help you start your registration.

You will be transported to a pleasantly pink games lobby page. You will find a lot of interesting bingo games like slots, keno, video poker, craps, blackjack, roulette and so on. What we are especially proud of are the value-adds we have provided. Players can check out horoscopes and try out puzzles in the games and trivia section. We also host an Agony Aunt column in our lifestyle section. There is more, but we will let you explore the goodies yourself.
Going on to Bingo, click on the Bingo link and you will have an option of playing either in the green room, red room, blue room. If you are not aware, we offer 75 ball Bingo in our rooms. The Green Thumb Bingo is a quarter room (where you purchase Bingo tickets priced 25 cents each), the Blue room or Blue Sapphire Bingo is a free room (where you can pick up free Bingo cards) and the Red room or Bingo Country is a nickel room (where players can purchase a ticket for as little as 5 cents).

The game is yet to begin. If you look around you will find a chat window. Click to join the chat room and engage in friendly banter with other online Bingo players. The chat hosts will also help you with any doubts or problems you may encounter.  They also host chat games which you can indulge in, if interested.

When the game begins, you can see the number board on the right side of the screen. If you have chosen the auto daub function, the numbers will be daubed automatically. The prize money is displayed on the screen and it depends on the pattern being played, the number of tickets bought (the number of participants). Some patterns like coverall do carry a fixed prize amount.

Well, that should help you get started. Make sure you check back for more on our Bingo Billboard.

Jeffrey Gitomer, a renowned American author once said, “You don’t earn loyalty in a day. You earn loyalty day-by-day.”

If you are an old customer at 123bingoonline.com, you not only earn loyalty points, but also bag extra bonus and special prizes. The loyalty program is an additional benefit over and above a slew of promotional offers, jackpots and chat bonuses given to repeat customers.

So is it just our way of saying, “Thank You?” No, not really. It is our way of saying, “Thanks, there is more—just for you!” In other words we take pains to keep you loyal, not only through prizes and promotions, but also through loyalty bonuses. These come in the form of bonus points. Watch the bonus points accumulate, it will add to the excitement and entertainment that is integral to the site.

The whole program of loyalty works on the basis of how much you have wagered and how many points you have earned. The points earned are based on the amount wagered while playing different games offered on the site. Each game has different points. On Bingo you earn one point for wagering $5. In the game Pull Tabs, you earn one point after you wager $7. In Slots and Video Poker, you can earn one point each by wagering $60 and $30 respectively.

There are 10 levels in the players club. The total number of points that a player has accumulated determines the level that they are at. Deposit bonuses and other incentives are associated with each level. The point value starts from zero at level one, to 6500 and more at level 10. The bonus percentages also differ from one level to another. All new players get a bonus of 300% –despite having nill “loyalty” points to their credit. The highest bonus after this, is 250% at Level 10.

So wanna play the loyalty game? Then just stick around. It sure has its advantages.

Online Bingo, like most games, is played just for fun by many. No one wants to throw away hard earned money in difficult times like these. But let me tell you, in a game like Bingo, it is possible to at least break even, and sometimes even make money without risking anything at all. Here is how: If you are not familiar with the concept of online casino Bingo bonuses, it may surprise you to know that casinos as well as bingo halls offer sign-up bonuses to new players making their first deposit. While there are varieties of bonuses, the most popular is the No-Deposit bonus. And most sites offer this in the form of Bingo Bucks or BBs.

BBs is literally free money that a player can play with. You can use it to play several rounds of Bingo games on the site. And if you indulge in chat games while playing the main game, kind chat monitors also award more BBs to winners of the most simple games ever found online! Of course chat BBs are nominal — between $1 and $2. On this site, to avail BBs in the chat games, a player must have made a deposit in the past 10 days and must have picked up at least two tickets for the ongoing main Bingo game.

There is a fallacy that Bingo bucks can be used only for playing. You will be surprised to know that, you can even withdraw the BBs. According to the withdrawal policy at 123bingoonline.com you can withdraw a maximum of $50 of the winnings from a free sign-up bonus, provided you make a deposit and satisfy wagering requirements, if any.

How does this work actually? Here is an example: Let us say you log onto 123bingoonline.com. You avail the free sign-up bonus and win $100 in the form of BBs. Our rules say, you can withdraw upto $50, provided you make a deposit. So you make a deposit of $20, and ask for $50 withdrawal. Your account is reset with $20+$50 =$70 cash; It is this money that you can withdraw or go on to play with and win and draw!

What if you win $100 from the free sign-up bonus and decide to deposit $20 clubbed with a 300% deposit bonus with a 3X wagering requirement on Bingo and/or a 15 X wagering requirement on casino games? Well, well, your account will be credited with $50 alright, and of course the $20. But it will also boast of a $60 bonus. Your account now has $80. As per the wagering requirement, you have to place bets worth three times your account (80 x3) $240 on Bingo games or worth $1200 on casino games, before you withdraw.

Let us say, you decide to play chat games while you are meeting your wagering requirements on Bingo. If you win the chat BBs as well, then you jolly well have to fulfill the wagering requirements –if any– on them as well, before you can proceed with withdrawal. Let us say you win 10 BBs worth $1 each. Then your wagering requirement would go up by 10×3 =$30, so you should wager upto $270.

There is more. Life gets a little complicated as you go along! Let’s say you get put off by this, as you have not understood the rules properly before playing. You decide to abandon Bingo and you play slots on our site. Just a $1 bet. But hey! That means you have to also fulfill the casino game wagering requirement of 15 x deposit+Bonus Bucks+Chat game BBs + Any other Goodwill Bonus.

So as you can see, there is a certain method to the bonus buck bonanza! It comes, but it certainly does not come cheap or easy! You have to stay in the game long enough to reap the benefits.

The world is full of knowledge. It may take up to a lifetime to know and understand the mysteries of this world. Have you ever thought of an elixir that would come in small entertaining visual capsules and feed huge and complicated information into your brain with ease?  It is said that a picture is equal to one thousand words. Bingo! The game of Bingo really fits the bill…as it is fast becoming a tool for  infotainment.

That Bingo can be used for teaching is a well-known fact. But the extent to which it is being employed always surprises! Take a look at the range of Bingo games used to teach children: there is botanical bingo, dinosaur bingo,ocean bingo, element bingo,  bug bingo, reptile bingo, amphibian bingo, bird bingo, nature bingo, science bingo. Indeed the entire family of flora and fauna has been reproduced as an attractive, colorful and captivating game not only for young minds.

Even the old and elderly are learning a lot from the game. Not just about winning and losing. It is used to alert the old about financial frauds and diseases as well as to raise money to help causes. Only recently, Melanie Woods, investor education coordinator for the securities division of the Indiana Secretary of State, tried to educate the elderly at a retirement community with the help of the game. The call number A34 was 30 percent, which Woods told the players was “the percent of victims we see who are seniors, which is why we hold presentations like this.”

Madoff pleaded guilty on March 12 to swindling investors for $65 billion dollars in a Ponzi scheme  (a fraudulent investment scheme which pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned) which was R22 on the Bingo board.
In Edmonton, Canada, Stephani Carter of EcoAmmo who is a green activist, observed Earth Day on April 22 by playing Eco Bingo games with her staff. It was a game with eco-friendly initiatives instead of numbers. Those who won were offered organically prepared dinners for two instead of money!

Thus Bingo is an innovative technique adopted for knowledge gathering, sharing and learning and has helped us discover an ideal way to explore, entertain and enjoy the world around us.

Do you know what number the term “ two fat ladies” refers to? Or, who is considered the father of Bingo? Give up? Well, the term “two fat ladies” refers to number 88, and Edwin S. Lowe is considered as the father of Bingo.

There is much more to Bingo than simply daubing the numbers on your cards. Bingo is surrounded by many interesting facts and terms. Wanna find out? Here we go:

What was Bingo called in the beginning?

Bingo was called Beano initially. In Beano, a special “marker” was used to mark numbers. Can you name that? You may be surprised, but beans were used by players to mark the numbers called in Beano! The players just placed the bean on a disc carrying the letter and number called out.

Ever wondered how Beano was renamed as Bingo? It all happened during a carnival when a player got too excited and yelled “Bingo!” instead of Beano. This eventually led to the renaming of the game as Bingo.

Since then Bingo has spread far and wide and is now quite popular around the world.

In Australia and the UK, Bingo is known by a different name. What do you think that name is?

If you say, Housie, you get full points. As a matter of fact, it is played with 90 balls and a different Bingo card called ticket is used to mark numbers.

Looking for more questions? Let’s talk about online Bingo. Do you know what Bingo Bucks (BBS) are? It is a special way Bingo websites thank you for playing Bingo with them. You can use Bingo Bucks to play Bingo games but you cannot withdraw them directly.

What do you think people refer to when they say Bingo chat games?

When you play Bingo online, you can join the chat room opened for a particular game. The person who controls the chat in a chat room, called a chat host, often comes up with short games based on numbers, events and themes to keep players engaged and excited.

The popularity of Bingo has led to the development of many similar bingo games. Can you name one game that closely resembles Bingo?

The game is called Keno. It is played in casinos, both offline and online.

Bingo has been around for many years . Can you guess how old this game really is ? More than 450 years! It is one of the oldest games out there. No wonder the old and elderly seem to have a natural affinity towards it!

Do you know who invented Bingo cards that are still used? That man was known as Carl Leffler. He invented about 6,000 different Bingo cards and promptly turned insane! Beware, too much of anything is dangerous. We don’t want players to meet with a similar fate. So play with restraint, don’t go overboard.

Which is why we will stop here and come back later with some more Bingo tidbits.

There is an economic meltdown the world over. Everyone is feeling the pinch in one way or the other. Save money, cut costs, avoid expenditure, and ….Hey! Play Bingo games. Yes, it is true, we are not joking. Recent trends have revealed that while people may not be able to splurge and ‘go out’, they stay in and play Bingo online to derive the same pleasure.

Are you one of those who are struggling to maintain some balance? Perhaps those recreational and entertainment activities like going to the movies, discos, para-gliding, bowling now seem to be a criminal waste of money. So you have probably put a stop to all the fun and are sitting around at home, doing nothing.

That really is a pity. Think of it like this: All of us are busy hunting for effective means to earn more and more money and shield ourselves from the heat of recession. We work day in and day out to fight day-to-day challenges and fresh ones like the slowdown.. What does it do to us? It only aggravates stress and reduces our efficiency and productivity.

Unlike robots, we human beings need little breaks every now and then so that we can retain our energy levels and deliver to the best of our ability, be it at the workplace, home or social circles.

Online Bingo comes in at the right time as a cheaper alternative to most forms of entertainment. For a very nominal amount, online Bingo sites provide you the luxury of playing, connecting with others and winning some money too. All from the comfort of your living rooms, saving on fuel costs too!

Here is a list of what online Bingo has to offer. Choose what suits you best:

1. New friends

2. Freedom from loneliness

3. Strength to fight or face an illness

4. Ability to overcome depression

5. Fresh relationships

6. Anonymity if you wish

7. Extra money

8. A lively hobby

9. Helps discover a new ‘You’

10. Solitude to Do Your Own Thing

Bingo –the word conjures up a picture of crowded Bingo halls where elders are busy striking off those lucky numbers on Bingo tickets, engaging in banter with their Bingo friends.

I still remember how I envied my parents their ‘right’ to play Bingo while I was allowed was a peep into the Bingo halls. The loud calling of Bingo numbers and the exultant screams made me curious and I constantly dreamed about playing Bingo. But the kids these days are lucky. Thanks to British government’s behavior expert, Sir Alan Steer. Steer seems to believe that the only way to keep children out of trouble’s way is to have them play Bingo!

Taking a cue from Steer’s findings, teachers are now warming up to the game. Well, it is said that it is far simpler to teach children through example rather than preaching. So do not be surprised to find teachers playing Bingo first. The way things are progressing, Bingo will soon make it to the textbooks and the school curriculum as well!

We in the Bingo industry had long since recognized the powers of Bingo. What Sir Alan Steer has said today, we practiced years ago! Take a look at all those math bingo, English Bingo, science Bingo and alphabetical bingo to know what we mean.

Mathematical Bingo cards is the most thrilling way of introducing students to various basic arithmetic calculations like, subtraction, addition, multiplication and division.

To encourage strong vocabulary, teachers can also prepare Bingo cards with words printed on it and distribute it among the students. They then call out the meanings or synonyms and students can mark the words corresponding to these definitions. For instance, if the teacher says “dark, dull and dismal” then students must mark the word dingy that holds the same meaning and may appear on the card! .

The same concept can be applied to different subjects to help students increase their knowledge on grammar, science, history, current affairs and general knowledge .

Three Cheers to Bingo Games!

What happened last week in England turns out to be another attempt to lower the taxes enforced on land-based Bingo halls. Will it yield any better results South Shields MP David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and a Bingo enthusiast himself, played the role of a Bingo caller. The  Bingo show was a huge success and many think that it will shape public opinion against the high incidence of taxes on Bingo halls.

According to media reports, MP Miliband said, “…A number of important issues have been raised, and I will be taking these back to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.” He was responding to a presentation on the hefty taxes that Bingo halls have to pay. “However, I think I’ll be sticking to my day job,” he chuckled, “and leaving the calling to the experts.”

As of now, land-based Bingo halls pay 15% VAT and a gross 15% taxes on their total revenues. It’s a good thing that MP Miliband is not the only government official who is aware of this problem regarding double tax. Would-be Tory MP Karen Allen, Conservative parliamentary candidate for South Shield, also visited an Bingo club recently. She also agreed that the 30% tax on Bingo is not helping clubs to bloom.

We do understand the problems faced by the offline Bingo industry. With the government rejecting their pleas repeatedly, perhaps the solution lies online.