bingo games
An old hand in the online gaming business, PartyGaming has been one of the leading companies in the field since opening the virtual doors of its first online gamesroom back in 1997. Since then it has built a fine reputation for secure, reliable and, above all, fun online entertainment, creating a suite of sites that cover classic casino games, poker and, now, this online bingo hall. Indeed such has been the success of this Gibraltar based company that they are now a PLC and have been listed on the prestigious London Stock Exchange since mid 2005. Why should this matter? Well, a company that has done so well in such a relatively short timespan must clearly know what its customers want and how to deliver it. However online bingo is a reasonably new venture for this gaming giant, so is its PartyBingo site an online hall you should be rushing to party hard at?
The Welcome Page at PartyBingo is a bright, colourful affair - especially if you like pink! - and there's a definite feel that they're working hard to get this party started from the word go. The layout seemed a little busy for our tastes, and it can take a few moments to take in what's on offer and how to navigate around the site, but it's a minor issue. A major issue for us is the annoying pop-ups that have been used here - please Party people, these are horrible and soooooo last century. Pop-up whinge over, it's time to move out of the virtual entrance hall and onto where the action is . . .
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In our view PartyBingo's most immediate attraction is that it offers its bingo games as both a download and non-download experience. This is a really nice option since it means you shouldn't need to be using a Windows PC to play online bingo here (although more on this later), and, if you do use Windows, you have the option to play more elaborate, luxurious incarnations of their games. This flexibility is combined with an excellent selection of real money games, over and above the main attraction of the five bingo halls, and pricing that goes as low as two cents a card! That really is incredibly thrifty online bingo. And if you think two cents is too dear (and frankly if you do, we're surprised you'll spare the electricity to log on) you can always play a goodly selection of PartyBingo's games for free. As ever, we like to see this latter option as the way for newcomers to trial an online bingo hall's wares before choosing to spend some quality time and real money there.
The games themselves, whether the 'deluxe' download or standard non-download versions, are up to the usual high-standard set by PartyGaming, and rival the very best offered at its competitors' online bingo halls. It's also pleasing to see that the downloadable software is a pretty trim 6 Megabytes in size so even dial-up users shouldn't be discouraged from trying the 'deluxe' game option. The popularity of this site also means that its neatly integrated chatrooms are suitably alive with bingo banter, making for a party atmosphere that the PartyBingo name hints at. We should also point out that this popularity also makes for some very tasty multi-thousand dollar progressive jackpots too. (As an aside, you may have already guessed from the references to dollars and cents used so far in this review that the name of the game here is very much American bingo, so players seeking a Euro-style ninety ball game will have to look elsewhere.)
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On the issue of support, PartyBingo cover all the bases with a comprehensive FAQ, free phone support (albeit only free for US, UK and Canadian customers), e-mail and, more unusually, live chat. This last option is very handy real-time option particularly if you're on a dial-up connection that ties up your landline. We had cause to try the support for real as our Apple Mac test of PartyBingo proved troublesome to say the least. Despite our test computer having the latest version of Flash correctly installed, the site ignored this and kept asking us to download and install Flash whenever we tried to access the non-download games. To be clear, these problems did not arise at other rival online bingo sites tested with this exact same set-up. PartyBingo's helpline were very courteous and did do their best to resolve the problem but could not offer a fix within our review period. PartyBingo are looking into this, so hopefully Mac users will also be joining in the fun by the time you read this. To balance this criticism, another query about missing sections in the onsite FAQ was fixed incredibly quickly after a live chat with PartyBingo's support, so we must give due praise for this.
PartyBingo really does feel as if it's pushing the boat out (almost literally with its tempting Bingo Cruise promotion which we saw during our review) to give its customers the most inclusive experience it can. The range of options means most online bingo fans should be able to find something that suits them (and their bingo budget), plus our experience of their support gives us confidence that any current shortcomings will be addressed sooner rather than later.
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To answer our earlier question, we think if you're up for some online American-style bingo with a lively community of players chasing some amply proportioned progressive jackpots then don’t delay - RSVP straight away to this online bingo hall's invitation and go party hard at PartyBingo.
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