We wanted to congratulate our friends at Which Bingo for scooping the 'Gaming Review Site of the Year 2011' at the annual 'EGR Operator Awards' this month.
It’s an incredible testament to the great operation that Which Bingo runs.
Which Bingo offers players an important service to bingo players. Its provides a one stop shop for the UK bingo industry and allows players to review the most comprehensive list of online bingo sites as well as creating a forum for learning and gaming responsibly.
Visit their site if you have not already.
www.whichbingo.co.uk
This Bingo Book is magic, I tell you. I cannot thank Kyra enough for dropping it off for me last month. Over the past few weeks I have read it, and re-read it, and will return to it. In airplanes, on the tube, in the bath... it has provided more than it’s three quid’s worth of entertainment.
It is just such a curious anomaly. I’m not entirely sure why someone would go to such length to not only compile this much arcane bingo info into a single text, but to then publish it for his passionate, all be it limited bingo brethren. In fact, I don’t know if it even qualifies as being arcane. Or even informational.
What I will say is that while this is not necessarily War and Peace, I have to commend Dr. Norman D. Beauchamp for something we all can admire… PASSION. I have never met a man as passionate as he about the great sport of bingo. Every word, line, page and chapter is filled with love and glee for an activity that brought him no doubt hours of entertainment for him, his wife, and their rather large brood of seven children featured in a very special photo on the back.
In other news, thanks so much for all those who participated in Bingo for Haiti. We were really touched and delighted to see the outpouring of support for such a great cause. Also, congrats to the ten players who won last month’s Luxury Pampering gift sets. Their names are posted up on the promotions part of the site. Hope to see your name up their soon!
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.
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 3rd quarter earnings, and with tough economic times still gripping the nation, many of them reported surprising 3rd 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.