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The Bingo Book

Feb 9 2010 2:42PM by Bingo Ben

Greetings everyone. I’ve been a little slow on the updates as of late because of a few family matters going on in my neck of the woods. I am very excited to announce that, wait for it…. I’m going to be a uncle! Great news for the New Year!

So, I’ve been a little distracted lately, and whenever that’s the case, it’s can be hard to find inspiration for a new bingo blog posting. I love the online bingo industry, but if you’re a constant reader of the bingo news updates like I am, well, you know that the online bingo world doesn’t always make for scintillating, riveting journalism. Not even biting satire. (Besides, if you’re looking for the best in “bingo info”, you’re better off checking out our articles section where we compile the latest and greatest about the industry.)

Anyway, I was saying to Kyra how I needed some inspiration, and she got me a wonderful little gift to lift my bingo spirits: a very rare copy of Norman D. Beauchamp’s “The Bingo Book”. Self-published 1975, “The Bingo Book” is 15 pages of interesting, relevant bingo information, packed into a 179-page text.

I was going to make this week’s blog something of a book review (likely the only one ever published on this rare text), but I wasn’t sure where to begin. There’s the extensive chapter “Bingo in Canada”, which includes a fascinating province-by-province analysis of the current (as of 1975) criminal regulatory codes governing the game. Or perhaps more of interest to our larcenous hearts, you’d prefer to read the expose on “Bingo Cheaters”, detailing such scams as “The Crooked Usher”. Right now I am enjoying the section on bingo quotes. “Show me a bingo-playing pants salesman, and I’ll show you a lot of coveralls.”

But, I’m afraid my review will have to wait. There is just too much good material for one single blog listing, so I will instead have to make this a multi-post series. Until next time.

Onto more urgent matters…. Bingo for Haiti has been announced for this Friday, beginning at midnight and running for a full 24hrs. We’re hoping that this is going to be the biggest online bingo charity game ever played, so be sure to tell all your friends to come and join in. All proceeds will be going straight to the Red Cross’s relief efforts, and as always, new players will still be getting 20 free cards, and all referrals will earn full loyalty points.

Lastly, on an unrelated note, I’m glad to see that my influence as a film journalist here at Genie Bingo’s blog is felt far and wide and that my recommendation for the film Avatar back in December has sent it sky-rocketing to the number one. My thanks as always, dear readers.

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Charity Bingo Drive: Urgent Haitian Relief

Jan 22 2010 1:16AM by Bingo Ben

Greetings Bingo buddies! I'm sorry for the brief absence from my post as bingo reporter, but in an interesting and almost unbelievable twist of fate, I was enormously lucky enough to win an incredible trip to the south of France! In a contest completely unrelated to online bingo! To my complete surprise, the missus was the number one seller for all of 2009 at her firm, and they awarded her a full paid trip to a Cannes resort. Comparing schedules, we decided there is no time like present, and before I knew it, I was under an umbrella with a chilled Dubonnet in my hand. Dear readers, while I had every intention of blogging about the latest moving and shaking in the internet bingo biz, let me tell you that's a hard thing to do when you're staring a crystal blue waters.

Long story short, the trip was lovely, and it was nice to spend time away from home without breaking any bones. (I'm pretty much all healed now, though I nearly suffered a decapitation in a strange parasailing miss hap, thought that's subject perhaps for another blog.)

Sadly though, while I was away in Cannes, and while hundreds of thousands of online bingo players were coming back from the holidays to try their luck in the cash bingo rooms, on the other side of the world hundreds of thousands of people were anything but lucky. I'm speaking of course of the victims of the massive earthquake in Haiti. I won't speak of the details... we've all seen the images, and we've all been horrified by a catastrophe so tragic and enormous it seems beyond any reach of personal hope or appeal.

In my last blog post, I spoke about Genie Bingo's 2010 plan to get back to the community roots of the game, before the days of internet bingo, and that is, at it's core, charity: players coming together as a community to contribute to a common bingo prize, with a winner taking the jackpot, but a large portion of the proceeds going to a worthy local cause. It seems that post was a sad timely coincidence.

The internet has brought the world to our doorsteps, and with that, it's broadened our scope of social responsibility beyond our simply our local communities, parishes and bingo halls, to a vast, global level. So, as a response to the tragedy in Haiti, Kyra and I have been working to establish our own relief campaign.

This is the first mention of this program, and we have not yet announced it publicly as we are in the process of determining objectively the ideal candidate relief organization that can ensure the greatest total percentage of money actually reaching those in need. But, in the coming weeks, we will be hosting a campaign of promoted charity relief days at Genie Bingo during which time, for designated 24 hour periods, 100% of all Genie Bingo proceeds from those games will be donated directly to Haitian Relief.

So, I am now turning to you, our most loyal players, to be our partners in hope, and to help spread the word that the internet bingo community is getting back to its bingo roots, and that through this 100% charitable endeavor will all be giving back to those in need in the global community with this most urgent and worthy cause.

Stay tuned bingo friends. As dark as the situation maybe, we can make a difference.

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2010

Jan 5 2010 1:47AM by Bingo Ben

Happy New Year bingo players! I hope you’ve all had lovely holiday… restful, relaxing, and full for fun family. Despite the freezing cold, ski conditions were great in France, and the cocoa was warm at night, as was the fire. (I spent a little more time than I would have wanted by that fire – I dislocated my finger in a clumsy little fall down Double “M”, so the trip was more cognac and cuddling than shooshing and slaloming, but lovely nonetheless.) It’s great to be back with my friends at Genie, even if it means I have to chicken peck my bingo blog with my fingers wrapped in tape.

Things are a-buzz here at Genie Bingo. For those of you who don’t follow the online bingo business news, before the holidays, most of the publicly traded UK bingo sites announced their 3^rd quarter earnings, and with tough economic times still gripping the nation, many of them reported surprising 3^rd quarter losses. Well, I’m very proud to report that here at Genie things are better than ever, and we have you to thank, our loyal players who’ve stuck with us as we’ve grown from a small upstart in the online bingo biz to one of the most prominent and exciting sites on the UK bingo scene. Thank you, to all of you.

This New Year, it’s our dedication to follow up last year with an even bigger year full of new prizes, bingo bonuses and promotions, not only new players, but for our most loyal friends. It’s no secret that there are lots of places to play out there these days, and as we grow in numbers, we’ve made it our top priority to never lose sight of the personal touch that makes our community-driven bingo site so wonderful.

So we’ve decided that for Genie Bingo, 2010 is the year of giving back to the community. Bingo is a game with longstanding ties to the community – from your local parish game to the halls to the friends you chat with online, bingo is about people and about giving back to the community. The very nature of the bingo game, of different players all contributing to the same pot, with a winner every time… this is so different than other “gaming” games, both online and off. So, to start out, we’re launching a new charity initiative where throughout the year we’ll be selecting worthy organizations to partner with on special promotional charity days with all proceeds going directly to those causes. Stay tuned to this blog to learn more about when, where and with whom we are partnering.

At the same time, we’re looking to get involved in your community as well, through sponsorships of local events, programs and sports teams. If you have a local football club or community event that needs promotion and sponsorship, please send your requests to genie@geniebingo.com and we will try our best to partner with you in the most effective way possible. This is our small way of saying thank you to all of our players, and to continue to be a part of your life.

With that, it’s back to work! We’ve got some really exciting work underway, and some great new partners, so get ready to start seeing our Genie pop up in some new and unusual places.

Happy New Year everybody! Here’s to a great 2010.

Bingo Ben

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Feliz Navidad

Dec 21 2009 5:18PM by Bingo Ben

Hey folks, posted that last blog a little later than expected. I'm on terra firma in Madrid enjoying all the Jamon and Manchego I can handle!

I just had a crazy experience. I came to at a small internet cafe to upload that post, and low and behold, half the place is playing online Bingo... in spanish! I didn't even know they had bingo in Spain, but the gentleman here tells me it's a very popular passtimes: spanish-language internet cash bingo.

I think when I get back I may have to talk to Kyra about expanding out little UK bingo operation down south. The winters certainly are easier. "La Juego de Bingo, Genie"? Por favor!

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Happy Holidays!

Dec 21 2009 5:14PM by Bingo Ben

Well folks, this is probably my last post for the season as I'm off to Madrid for a few days before Christmas, then skiing in Val des Aire with the missus through New Year's eve, so I just want to wish every member of our online bingo family a very merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, joyous Ramadan, pleasant Festivus, and a lovely whatever else you and yours may be celebrating. It's been a really fun year for me here as Genie's bingo blogger, and it's a been a pleasure making so many new friends in the bingo chat rooms. The UK bingo industry is a fun place, and while throughout the year the various cash bingo rooms may be pitted against each other in competition, this is a time to celebrate you, the members of our humble community, and everyone else who plays online.

This last year as a been a big one for Genie. This time last year, Genie was just a small upstart on the UK bingo map, new on the scene and not well known beyond our small family of players. Over the last twelve months, our community has double, then redoubled, then redoubled again. It's been quite an amazing thing, to see the incredible growth and activity here on the site, and we owe it all to you.

So to all of you, thank you! Without you, there would be no Genie Bingo.

I look forward to being back in January to tell you all about the great new cash bingo games and our upcoming "internet bingo sweepstakes", but there will be plenty of time for that. Until then, I hope you and your family's have a safe and peaceful Christmas season, and the healthiest and happiest of New Years!

Until next year,

Bingo Ben

P.S. If you have the opportunity this season, you must... I repeat, must... see Avatar. Through a great feat of journalistic gumption, I was able to use my credentials as a "well-known" internet blogger to secure two tickets to premiere last week. Beyond just online bingo, I have a passion for the movies, so when I heard that self-proclaimed "King of the World" James Cameron was "redefining cinema", I had to be among the first to see what the buzz as about. Let me tell you, he delivers!

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Freezing

Dec 11 2009 1:10AM by Bingo Ben

Happy holidays everyone! December is definitely upon us and there is definitely a chill in the air in London today. The mercury dipped to two degrees while I was out trying to a get a bit of Christmas shopping done on the high street. Readers, I have to tell you, I am not built for cold climates. I need to talk to Kyra figure out a deal with one of our bingo prize cruise partners to whisk me away from the sleet and snow. A nice three months on the Mediterranean should do it.

That said, for five lucky bingo players this week, they'll be lucky enough to get their shopping done in the cosy warmth of their homes. They each walked away with a £30 Amazon Gift Voucher for bingoing on the letter "A". Congratulations to all of you. My thoughts will be with you as I'm freezing running around looking for Zhu-Zhu Pets and Bakugan balls.

For everyone else, the Free Cash bingo promotion is running this weekend. It's a £200 bingo bonus to the player who plays the most games from now through sunday, so get the coffee pot brewing.

In other news, if you're not gunning for the Guinness record for back-to-back online bingo games, we just hooked up two incredible new slot games: X-Factor and Bejeweled. I'm jazzed for both because I'm a huge fan of the show and something of a recovering Bejeweled addict too.

Now, if anyone knows where I can get my hands on some of those damn Zhu Zhu Pets, I'd be very grateful.

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A Salute to the Bingo Caller

Dec 7 2009 10:53PM by Bingo Ben

I have to admit, for a so-called bingo expert, my experience at the brick and mortar bingo halls are limited, to say the least. In fact, I'd say that I can count the number of live, in the flesh bingo experiences on one hand (and perhaps a foot). My love of bingo developed almost entirely from online bingo, chat rooms and boards, and of course, from the extensive research that goes into this humble bingo blog.

True, these days the bingo halls may cater to a different bingo player than our fine friends here online, and I would not trade my friends in the bingo chat rooms for anything, but I've always been fascinated by the social aspects of the live bingo game: the smokey rooms, the relentless pound of hundreds of dabbers, the electricity in the room as the numbers rise and the cash prizes draw nearer... but there's one thing that gives me the biggest kick, and that is the old-school showman caller. Community celebrities, parish priests, would-be vaudevillians, each with their own style of calling the bingo numbers and declaring that rounds winner of the bingo prize.

Now I've written of the games history, and I've pulled out some obscure bingo facts, but recently, I was very lucky to come across a discarded copy of Schott's Sporting Gaming & Miscellany, and as I perused this tome of estorica, lo and behold, I came across on page (Clickety Click) 66 a complete list of traditional bingo calls.

To many of you, this may be common knowledge, but for an online bingo player like me, this was fascinating. I'm familiar, as we all are, with the classics: "Two Fat Ladies"; "More than Eleven, 37"; "Knock at the Door, number 4". But what I didn't know is that there's a whole slew of bingo calls for every bingo number on the board. I hope this isn't boring to you veteran's of the bingo hall, but for my online bingo friends, here are some of the finer rhyming picks from the list:

"Young and Keen, 15"
"Key of the Door, 24"
"Winnie the Pooh, 42"

But what I really enjoyed are the more obscure one that definitely harken back to an earlier day:

"Legs" (11)
"Dirty Girtie" (30)
"Naughty" (40)
"Half a Century" (50)
"Either Way Up" (69)
"Seven Dozen" (84)
"Top of the Shop" (90)

That is all for this week my friends. Don't forget to check out December's great bingo bonuses and promotions. Great stuff coming up, including quite a few cash bingo prizes too.

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...and Bingo was his Name-o!

Nov 26 2009 11:35PM by Bingo Ben

It doesn't take long after mentioning that I write for a bingo blog before someone invariably says "...and Bingo was his Name-o?". Yes, I'm referring to our friend Farmer Brown and his faithful companion B-I-N-G-O.

I had never given much thought to the song - it clearly has little relation to internet bingo, or cash or prizes, or any of the other things that matter to the average UK Bingo player - yet, here it is, another little cultural artifact that we all know but have no idea where it came from. So, once again, in my continuing effort to maintain the best bingo site blog, I did a little research into our friend "Bingo".

The origins of the song are sketchy at best, but with a little effort I was lucky enough to stumble upon a copy of the earliest known form of the song.

Now on a personal note, I happened to have learned the song when I lived in the US for a few years as a child, and given that it was taught to me by a very Southern school-teacher in Jackson, Mississippi (where I might add I stuck out like a pale, sore thumb) I had always assumed it's origins lie in American rural life, perhaps descended from old slave tunes like so many American folks songs. I also assumed it was an offshoot of the game of bingo.

Now, as I wrote in an earlier post, the name "bingo" as applied to the game didn't pop up until New York in the 1920s, and then, only as a corruption of the word "Beano" (the game's original name). The earliest known form of the folk song "Bingo", however, dates back to 1888, in England. So, the song and the game's common name is but a coincidence. (Note the "888" in the date... surely also a coincidence.)

And here is that earliest recorded version:

A Franklyn's dogge leped over a style,

And hys name was littel Byngo.

B with a Y—Y with an N,

N with a G—G with an O,

They call'd hym littel Byngo!

Thys Franklyn, syrs, he brewed goode ayle,

And he called it Rare good Styngo!

S, T, Y, N, G, O!

He call'd it Rare goode Styngo!

Nowe is notte thys a prettie song

I thinke it is, bye Jyngo,

J wythe a Y—N, G, O—

I sweare yt is, bye Jyngo!

By 1894, the famous and fascinating English folklorist and child's games expert Alice Bertha Gomme recorded no less than eight highly varied versions of the song in Staffordshire, Monton, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Cambridgeshire, Liphook and Wakefield, Derbyshire and Enborne.

As a music lover, I have to say, I'm glad I'm not living in 1894 England.

That's all dear players. Until next time, from under the B, I'm Bingo Ben.

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Great Wireless Headphones Up for Grabs

Nov 19 2009 5:31PM by Bingo Ben

I was perusing our promotions page this week and wanted to give a shout out to all my readers that there’s a great prize coming up this weekend at Genie Bingo.

Many you may not know this, but beyond being a bingo commentator, and recreational online bingo player of course as well, I’m a music nut, and something of an audiophile. In fact, in another life, far away in a different recess of the internet, I pen a column for an audiophile blog, reviewing top quality sound gear and new and re-mastered recordings. (We all have our hobbies.)

Anyway, I’m really jazzed to see that as a bonus bingo prize this week, we have three pairs of top-quality wireless headphones available to three lucky players who make Bingo on the “H” this week. I haven’t reviewed this set yet personally, but a friend of mine was very impressed with them and assures me they’re great. The big perk her is that beyond great sound while you’re playing bingo, it’s incredibly convenient because you can walk around the house, do your chores, play with your cat, go out for a smoke, all with no leads to limit you or get tangled up in.

Anyway, just a reminder that even if you haven’t received any mailers or heads up, it’s always a good idea to pop by the bingo promotions page because things are updating all the time, with some really cool bingo giveaways, and constant new bingo bonuses for players.

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Online Bingo vs. Brick and Mortar Bingo

Nov 13 2009 2:06AM by Bingo Ben with reporting from Kyra Gee

A lots bee said about online bingo. In 2007, when the no smoking legislation was brought in – there was a lot of commentary about the pinch that would be felt by the "land-based" bingo halls. Despite the trend in online play, land-based bingo is serious business in the UK. In 2007, approx 3.5 million people a week played bingo, and the industry as a whole employed close to 20,000. Estimates at the time were that over half the players were smokers -- a staggering number -- and so both Mecca and Gala Bingo, the two dominant players in the UK bingo industry, had to maneuver around the smoking ban.

Gala recruited Sharon Osborne to be the face of their new online bingo site and put an big emphasis on promoting its online venture. That was 2007 -- the world of online cash bingo had been given a boost by the smoking ban, and everyone was waiting to see how the future would unfold for the UK bingo industry as a whole.

To quote Jim Harris, a social behaviour commentator based in London, “smoking is a hard habit -- when habits are broken things must change -- it will be very interesting to see how things change for the industry”.

Fast forward to 2009, with the smoking ban in effect many more online bingo companies have started to appear, with players attracted by great sign up bonus offerings as well as options for multi-player and multi-currency play. The land-based business has declined, many halls have closed – the exact numbers are difficult to calculate – and many pundits believe that the overall land based business has seen a decline in player attendance of as much as 40% in some cases.

So two years later, given the trend we felt it would be an interesting idea to interview 3 of our players and ask them how their experience online has progressed and how it compares to their land based playing habits.

The below article is an interview we did with Suzy S. from Manchester via phone. The additional 2 interviews will appear in separate articles.

Genie Bingo: Suzy do you prefer playing bingo at home or in the hall?

Suzy: “You know it’s a tough one to answer, playing at home is very easy – I can even play in my pajamas which is a nice thing. Bingo games are also available 24/7. The best thing about online bingo is that it’s very accessible. I don’t play at my hall as often as I used too. But I do miss it and the people. With the rooms being full online I get a feeling – especially with in game chat that I am not alone – which adds to the feeling that I am at a Bingo hall. I also don’t have to daub. I get to set the auto dabber and can then chat and also play other games such as scratch cards and instant win slots. There are pros and cons but at this point I am really enjoying the online bingo option.

Genie Bingo: That very interesting to hear. Are you playing bingo more often now that you can play online?

Suzy: “Yes I am. The interesting thing about playing online, is that the promotions are much better for players then we used to have at the club. With all bingo sites online, the bingo bonus and promotions are really getting exciting and for me as a player that is really good.

Genie Bingo: Are you a smoker?

Suzy: Yes I am – so that is another perk.

Genie Bingo: Do most of your friends play at Genie Bingo?

Suzy: Good question – generally yes – we all like to log on and play at the same time to replicate the experience of being at the club together. It also feels good knowing that you are playing with friends.

Genie Bingo: If you had to identify one thing that you miss most about playing at the club – what would it be.

Suzy: I loved the thrill of hearing someone scream Bingo!! That was a real emotion that was real... y'know... what's the word.... prevalent at the club. You could actually see the winners face and how excited it was. I also enjoyed the food and snacks. It’s probably better I don’t have the same amount of snacks at home. But least I can smoke, y'know?

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