A review of Party Bingo
By David Newstead
If you're familiar with the online gaming industry, you've probably come across the name Party Gaming in the past. This company is one of the leaders in the field, and has established a good reputation since opening its first online games from back in 1997. Reliable, secure and fun online entertainment are all hallmarks of this company, in fact they have enjoyed so much success that they are now a PLC and have been listed on the prestigious London Stock exchange since mid-2005. This remarkable growth in eight years is testament to the fact that when it comes to its customer base, Party Gaming really knows how to deliver the goods. But how does the company do when it comes to translating its online gaming success to its new venture of online bingo? Is Party Bingo an online site you should be rushing to party hard at?
Right off, we found that the website for Party Bingo is welcoming, with bright colours (pink is on prominent display) and a festive atmosphere. In fact, the effort to establish a party feel makes the site a little bit too busy for our tastes, as it takes a few moments to take in what's on offer and how to navigate around the site. Worse, there are a number of annoying pop-ups that Party Bingo seems to think will work well for its purposes. Word to the wise; pop-ups went out even faster than it takes them to come up on somebody's screen.
What differentiates Party Bingo from many other rival sites is that it offers its games in both download and non-download formats. This indicates that the site is open to players beyond just those who use Windows platforms (although we'll get a little bit more into that later) on the non-download format. And if you have chosen to use Windows, you can expect more elaborate and luxurious incarnations of the various bingo games that party bingo has to offer. There is a great selection of real money games, over and above the main attraction of the five bingo halls; thrifty players will be delighted to find the minimum price for a card is only two cents. If even two cents is a little bit too rich for your blood, you do have the option of playing a good selection of PartyBingo games for free. This is another area in which Party Bingo stands apart from its rivals, and we like to see free game selections as a great way for new comers to trial online bingo halls wares before choosing to spend some quality time and real money.
When it comes to the actual games, they are the usual high standards set by the Party Gaming company. Both the deluxe download and the standard non-download versions are sure to delight any fan of online bingo. For those worried about length of download times with the downloadable software, this version is only 6 MB in size, and does not give even dial up users much trouble. As this site is one of the more popular ones on the Internet, the nicely integrated chat rooms are suitably alive with bingo banter, in our opinion one of the key points for good marks for any online bingo hall. The popularity certainly doesn't hurt the prospects of those hunting for progressive jackpots either, the progressives offered by party bingo are frequently in the multi-thousand dollar range.
When it comes to support, Party Bingo covers all the bases. There is a comprehensive FAQ section, free phone support for US, UK and Canadian customers, e-mail, and live chat. The live chat option is particularly handy if you're on a dial-up connection that ties up your landline.
Where we do take issue with Party Bingo is in some of its unintentional exclusivity. For example, we had cause to try out the different customer support options when it turned out that are out for Mac test of the party bingo games proved very troublesome. While Party Bingo agents attempted to help us overcome this issue, it was not resolved at the time of writing although we do hope that Mac users are now able to take advantage of the games that Party Bingo has to offer. In addition, American bingo is the name of the game at Party Bingo, so if you're looking for monetary conversions or 90 ball, you'll have to look elsewhere.
Despite those facts, Party Bingo does indeed offer a great atmosphere for those looking for all the fun an online bingo hall action that makes this pastime so popular. We think if you're up for some online American-style bingo, with a lively community of players, you should RSVP straightaway to this online bingo hall's invitation and go party hard at Party Bingo.