Pass the Remote
Pass the Remote - Bingo is on the Other Channel
By Stefan C Burns
You can play bingo in halls, on the internet, soon to be on your mobiles and now on your TV. I’m taking a look at TV bingo and the two main sites, Gala TV and Big Box Bingo. Because it is such a popular game in the UK and in lots of other countries the TV bingo offerings continue to be good fun and successful.
Gala TV was the first live interactive bingo TV channel which launched towards the end 2006. Joining forces with Endemol UK, which is a company that produces a wide range of entertainment TV channels they produced Gala TV which you can receive on Sky TV Channel 841. Between 5pm and 1am every day there are live bingo games fronted by a live presenter, though the TV channel is available all day every day.
Of course being Gala the standard of presenter and caller are quite good, with callers from their clubs around the country being chosen to be involved with each show. It is completely integrated with their online accounts so you can log in and play with their online username and password. If you don’t have an account then you can make one with the remote control. Games are then played with and coordinated by the remote control - available of course via the trusty red button! Being a fairly popular TV bingo game their bingo jackpots are of a good size.
Big Box Bingo, or Play Monday (I’m not sure I or even they know what their brand name is!) is another TV bingo game. Just like Gala they bring live bingo games into your living room through your television. Every Tuesday evening at 6.30PM on Sky channel 847 they play six games of standard bingo. You need to buy and print your bingo cards from the website or you need to buy game cards and have them delivered through the mail at one pound fifty each. Then of course you cross off the numbers in the usual way.
Prizes are awarded to players who get a line and full house. Am I the only one missing the joke on Play Monday when they play Tuesday nights? Big Box Bingo also offer some free bingo cards that you can download and play with along to the show but you can’t win prizes with them, you need to deposit into your account first.
Either of these TV bingo games are great fun and you can enjoy both of them. Obviously if you want to play on nights that aren’t just Tuesdays then the former may be much better! But there’s no reason you couldn’t do both! I wonder if there’s going to be a domain-name-style crunch for good TV channels as people like 888 or bet 365 scramble to secure brand related numbers! Whatever happens, with online bingo websites growing from strength to strength and getting bigger and better promotions and marketing campaigns we might see some of the bigger but lesser known online bingo websites launching their own small TV operations.
