Best UK Bingo Games

Best UK Bingo Game Sites

To jump right into the widest array of exciting bingo games already, take your pick from the high ranking sites listed below. These bingo sites are the cream of the crop, with each scoring very high marks in several areas, including security, licensing, games variety, community features, customer support, payment options and much more. Forget the rest and start at the best!

What Kinds of Game Can I Play at Bingo Sites?

The best bingo sites offer a wide range of games for you to dive into, meaning you’re not limited to just one or two popular titles in your quest for gaming entertainment.

Whether you’re playing at a straight up bingo site or an online casino that features bingo games, you can expect to choose from a rainbow of different games including many varieties of bingo, of course, but also those thrilling slots + bingo mashup games known as Slingo, and some of the biggest and best classic, video and jackpot slots in the world – plus a whole lot more!

Let’s take a look at some of the games you’re likely to come across at the top bingo sites.

Bingo

Bingo is of course the bread and butter of bingo sites, but the game can also be found in multiple varieties at online casinos.

The game involves bingo cards or tickets, each of which features a different combination of numbers on a grid. The range of numbers and grid shape/size used depends on the game that is being played: some games use the numbers 1-90 on a 3×9 grid, some use 1-80 and others use 1-75 on a 5×5 grid, with numerous other variants also proving popular.

Each player buys one or more bingo cards and the game begins with numbers being ‘called’, traditionally by a real person but online automatically. If the called number appears on your bingo card, you can mark it off with your virtual dauber or let the auto daub tool do it for you. The goal of the game is to mark off a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line, the featured pattern or all the numbers (full house) on the card to win a prize.

Traditionally, the player who first completes a line, pattern or full house shouts ‘bingo!’ to announce their win. Even though online bingo isn’t played in halls, players still announce their wins in the chat window, with others congratulating them in response.

Bingo History

Bingo’s history goes back further than you might think. The game is thought to originate in 1530s Italy and is purportedly based on the Italian lottery, Il Gioco del Lotto d’Italia. The game quickly spread to France, where it was known as Le Lotto and played by French aristocrats, before spreading across Europe and to the UK in the 18th century.

The first modern version of the game appeared at carnivals and fairs in the 1920s and was spotted and subsequently marketed as Bingo by Hugh J. Ward. The name itself is thought to derive from the common exclamation of customs officers upon completion of a successful search.

The game became hugely popular in the UK after the Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 came into force, which allowed large cash prizes. Mecca’s Eric Morley introduced the game to 60 of the chain’s dance halls, while J. Arthur Rank brought the game to his many cinemas and dance halls across the country.

Though traditional bingo halls have decreased in number over the years, particularly since the rise of online gaming sites and the prohibition of smoking at these offline venues, there are still a few hundred in operation within the UK.

Today, most people prefer to get their bingo gaming action at one of the many UK-facing online bingo sites, with an estimated 3.5 million playing this way.

Slingo

Another very popular type of game that mashes together the best of bingo and slots is the collection of titles known as Slingo.

Featuring a small, single row of reels underneath a 5×5 bingo type number grid, Slingo gameplay works a little differently to online bingo. To start, you choose your stake for the game and hit the Play button. The small row of reels at the bottom spins and reveals numbers, with matches marked off in the corresponding column above each reel. You’ll get a set number of spins to play during your game, with prizes paid for making lines, patterns or a full house, as in most bingo games.

In addition to the numbers, other symbols may appear on the reels, each of which have a different effect on your game. Some symbols award free spins, which can be played at the end, other symbols award instant win prizes, and yet others allow you to mark off any number in the corresponding column or even on the entire grid.

Another type of symbol, usually denoted as a devil, has a less beneficial effect, blocking the appearance of numbers to make the game a bit more challenging!

Slingo comes in around 56 different varieties, with many of them based on popular slots and TV game shows.

Slots, Table Games, Scratchcards

Bingo and Slingo games are not your only choices at the best bingo sites online. Spice things up with other popular games such as scratch cards, which are online versions of the instant win scratch cards you might have bought at your local shop, various lotto and keno games, classic, video and jackpot slots, table games like Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and Poker and plenty more.

Most popular bingo sites tend to have an array of non-bingo games for you to explore. Variety is the spice of life, so why not give something new a try?

Can I Play Bingo Games on Mobile?

Of course, thanks to modern mobile technology, you’re not limited to playing bingo games at home or in the office. Today’s top bingo sites allow you to play their wide variety of games on any device, including Android or iOS mobiles and tablets.

Most online bingo brands make it really easy to play their games on your mobile device, with many of them simply offering mobile accessibility directly from their website: you just have to log in with your existing account details and you’re good to go!

In many cases, all the games featured on the desktop version of the site will also be available to play on mobile devices. It’s also common to find a lot of the same functionality on smaller devices, such as access to the brand’s community features.

There tend to be very few differences between desktop and mobile versions of bingo sites, with the latter presenting content and bingo games in an easier to access format, eg. with a more user-friendly menu, often relocated to the bottom of your screen, larger images and buttons, and touch-specific features.

The big benefit of playing on mobile is being able to enjoy your favourite bingo games and the cheeky chat that goes along with them at any time of the day or night, no matter where you are!

Best Bingo Apps

It’s certainly very convenient to simply visit a bingo brand’s website and be able to play their games just by logging in from your mobile device. However, that’s not your only option.

Many bingo brands have worked hard to develop their own standalone, downloadable app, a small piece of software that you can install on your phone or tablet that gives you access to the brand’s bingo games and various other features.

These bingo apps can be found on Google Play and the App Store. In some cases, the app might be featured on the bingo brand’s website for download.

Bingo apps are a good option if you want a small, easily accessible form of bingo that doesn’t involve having to visit a website every time you want to play. Just be sure to choose a reputable bingo brand so you can avoid unwittingly installing dodgy software onto your beloved devices!

New UK Bingo Games in 2023

Sick of 75, 80 and 90-ball bingo games? Want something fresh and new? Here’s a look at some of the latest bingo games that have been released in recent years.

Speed Bingo

Also commonly known as 30-ball bingo, Speed Bingo deserves its name as the game plays much faster than other variants due to the much smaller pool of numbers. The closest variant to this game is 75-ball bingo in that the card takes the form of a square, though in this case, instead of being 5×5, it’s 3×3, featuring 9 numbers in total.

Numbers are called like in other standard bingo games and whoever is lucky enough to mark off all 9 numbers gets the full house payout. In some versions of the game, there are also payouts for the horizontal lines.

52-ball Bingo

Often called 52-5, this version of bingo uses playing cards from a standard deck of 52, with each ticket consisting of 5 randomly selected cards from the pack, hence the name 52-5. Cards are chosen at random, with players marking matches with a casino chip. The first player to mark all five cards wins the full house payout.

Bubble Up Bingo

Prefer to stick with a new twist on an old classic? Bubble Up Bingo takes the traditional 90-ball game and spices it up with double prizes and a progressive jackpot! The game is played as usual on a 3×9 grid, with the standard one line, two lines and full house payouts.

In this variant of the game, however, if you win on a double number – that is, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77 or 88 – you’ll win double the usual payout! Even better, complete a full house on the number 7 and you’ll win a progressive jackpot payout!

Nevada Bingo

This variant is another playing card based game that uses a standard deck of 52 cards. Instead of the 5 cards of 52-5 or Speed Bingo, you’ll get a 4×4 arrangement of 16 cards. Cards are called at random and any matches disappear from the grid to reveal part of the Vegas skyline in the background.

You’ll win prizes for one line, two lines, three lines and the full house in this game. Plus, if you complete the full house within 33 calls, you’ll pocket the Nevada jackpot!

The Masked Singer Bingo

If you’re a fan of the hit TV show The Masked Singer, in which disguised celebrities compete in a singing contest, you’ll love this new variant of 90-ball bingo.

Exclusive to PlayOJO, The Masked Singer Bingo offers two new features to the already popular 90-ball game: a guaranteed jackpot and the chance to win free bingo tickets.

Every day features a new must-drop jackpot, which can be won by completing the full house within the specified number of calls. If the jackpot hasn’t been won by a set time, the number of calls increases by one until someone wins.

In addition, every time you buy a ticket for the game, you’ll get to choose a mask. If your mask matches that of the full house winner, you’ll get a free ticket to play again!

How to Choose a Good UK Bingo Site

Jumping into the first bingo site you see is not a good idea. There are many sites to choose from and unfortunately a few of them are not as honest as they should be. In order to avoid these unscrupulous few, it’s important to do a little bit of research to find out exactly what’s on offer and what other people’s experiences have been like.

Of course, that can take time, which is why we’re here! Our experts have done all the grunt work for you to create a list of the best sites for bingo games:

These bingo sites have been thoroughly checked and rated based on several factors including security, licence status, games variety, ticket prices, promotional offers, community features, customer support and much more.

By signing up at one of these approved bingo sites, you can rest assured that your bingo experience will be both safe and fun.

Final Thoughts

No longer are bingo games relegated to stuffy, smoky, blue-rinse-rich bingo halls. Things have come a long way since then, with a rich variety of bingo game variants waiting to electrify your gaming experience and give you something to really look forward to at the end of a hard day’s work!

New bingo games are popping up all the time, so it’s worth signing up with one of the top bingo sites featured here to make sure you can explore them all as and when they appear.

FAQ about Bingo Games

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