Play now!

Playing Bingo Home > Brett's Corner >

<< Return to Brett's Corner Index

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Slice of bingo life down the theatre.

A few months ago we heard about a play in the north of England that depicted life in the bingo halls. You were even given a bingo ticket as an audience member and could win a 'fantastic prize' during the show!

Well this weekend there was a performance of another bingo related play at London's Hackney Empire called 'Strictly bingo' a clip of which you can see here:



As you can see it details the bingo world in a pretty animated way (I can even forgive the actor calling the bingo numbers announcing 91 and 92!!!!!) . But I deny any player or bingo worker to say that they haven't seen a similar situation in there local club!!!

The play centres around a player winning £20,000 and refusing to share her winnings with her playing partner (a familiar tale if ever I heard one!) whilst all this is going on other relationships are formed and broken both from the players and the bingo staff.

It sounds like a really good show,and something I would have loved to see. Let's hope it returns again by popular demand.

Posted by Brett at 15:15 | Add your comments [0] | Links |

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Did she deal or no deal on £5,000 or £1,000?

We have another tale here of disgruntled customer vs the bingo hall's. This time it involves a situation where the prize board had the incorrect amount displayed on it and the customer receives a lesser amount.

This raises a potential minefield of questions to prove who is right and who is wrong in this instance:

If the prize board displayed £5,000 and not £1,000 then why did nobody notice the discrepancy during the course of the game?

Should the caller or even more so the booksales department question the increased prize money on offer?

Did the caller announce the real prize money or the prize money displayed on the board? If so did they question the increase there and then?

Where was the manager in all this? Didn't they hear or see the prize money on offer and react accordingly?

Would the regular players have seen the huge jump in prize money and made a member of staff aware of it?

The thing is....from reading the article the club do not seem to have a leg to stand on. They have admitted that the prize board was showing the larger amount on the game in question and when the customer signed for her prize, she signed a receipt with the prize stating £5,000 on it. The manager of the club also seems to be keeping quiet and not responding to the media's request for a statement or an explanation. The only grey area is the woman in question states that she 'thinks' that the money was announced on stage by the caller as £5,000, although the Regional manager of the company disputes this.

As a caller I am surprised that the discrepancy was not spotted the moment the prizes were displayed on the board. If it was me on that stage that night I would have questioned the prizes straight away. A caller can see the audience in front of him......they know the price of the session and if they have worked in the club for some time then they will know the average prize board depending on how many people are in. To get a jump from a house prize of £1,000 one week to £5,000 the next means that the hall needs to have 5 times as many people in it to justify that leap in cash! Unless of course the tickets cost 5 times as much!!!

I remember a session in Bognor Regis a few years back when I noticed that the prize money on the board seemed to be less than half of what it normally was for a similar session the week before. I stopped the game and actually phoned the booksales team to check it. When they confirmed to me that it was correct I carried on calling for the lesser prizes. The customers were incensed and some stayed afterwards to vent there anger. It was only when the figures were checked again by the manager the next day that an error was spotted and we had actually taken too much money off the prize board! After sending letters to every player that session apologising for the mistake and awarding the actual amount to the winning players it was too late....the masses had voted with there feet and decided to play somewhere else. Even though it was bad for the club, I had felt good because as a caller my experience had proved that something was up with the prizes. And that should have been the same here with this story.

I have a funny feeling that you had either a new, inexperienced or demoralised caller up on the stage on the session in question. They couldn't be bothered with even saying what the prizes were and were probably just thinking 'this is the last game before I finish and get off down the pub to try to pull that new staff member working in the diner!'

I hate to say this but bingo calling is becoming a dying art. As more clubs cut back on staff and more new technology comes in, the caller is fast becoming someone who 'just calls the numbers'. In my day (I can't believe I just said that!) the caller was one of the most important aspects of the bingo. They ensured a smooth, fun and enjoyable night for all, whilst maintaining a professional and above board gaming session. I wonder how many callers in the clubs today actually know the rules and regulations of the bingo that they are residing over? Also in defence of the callers; how many of them have to now also multi-task and take on responsibility's elsewhere because there company is maximising there workforce potential whilst sacrificing the expertise of specialist personnel?

In any case my feelings are that the bingo club in question are obligated to award the full amount to the player, no matter what the normal prize money is for that session, and no matter whether the player was aware of the true value of the game that they were playing. The evidence suggests that there are too many variables to confirm that the prize money was the lesser amount.

Case dismissed!!!!!!

Posted by Brett at 23:01 | Add your comments [2] | Links |

Tuesday, 8 September 2009

What's your favourite four letter word beginning with 'f'?

Did you say 'Free'? I hope you did! If you thought of any other four letter word then you are just naughty!! 'Free' is always a word that fills us with joy: from the promoters in the street who give you free samples of products, to the little known websites that offer free mobile ring tones and games....when you get something for nothing it really brightens up your day.

The bingo industry knows how much there players love the 'F' word and have been offering there customers, new and old alike, free bingo for many years in the club's and more recently on the web as well. But, you may wonder, how can they do it? Free bingo? Money for nothing? Surely there is a catch? Well, there's not............really! For those of you that want to know, here are my views on the positives and negatives of the FREE game of from a web and a real bingo club perspective:

My first experience of the Free bingo phenomenon was within the first few days of me working for my first club. We had two Free sessions of bingo every week: on a Tuesday night and a Sunday Afternoon. I later found out that the reason for this is that in this particular company; which consisted of 5 clubs on the south coast, every club had an allocation of 1 afternoon and 1 evening of free bingo and they could not clash on there free promotions. Therefore the more 'bargain hunting' bingo player could visit a club in Portsmouth for free bingo on a Wednesday afternoon and then go to nearby Gosport for there free bingo session on the Thursday Afternoon.

No matter what club I have worked for though, Free bingo has always guaranteed a bumper hall full of bingo players; from young and old, bingo virgins and the hardcore alike-everyone loves a free game of bingo! Even the manager is happy because more players are in the hall which means greater returns at the diner, bar and party games area's. But is Free bingo really free?

Well, yes it is.....as long as all you play are the Free tickets that are on offer. This generally refers to the main session books only. If you want to take part in any link games, or the National game and in some cases even the early and the late sessions; you still have to pay. So if you have never played bingo you could opt into the free games knowing that if you messed up or missed a claim, it didn't cost you anything.

Free bingo sessions in club are also a big plus because all of the winnings are truly free and real and should you win a free game you get the cash there and then!!!!! And, as we are about to explore, in club Free bingo trumps the online version as in most cases your free session lasts for at least 10 games over the course of a 2hour session whereas online you might only get one free game an hour.

Online bingo is a different beast and is played for different reasons. Whereas in the real clubs a free session ensures a full hall of players who have to stay and play for the entire session to get there free fix; the online version has to try a lot harder to keep there players playing on there site.

Online bingo is truly a players paradise and any bingo companies potential nightmare. People playing in clubs generally only have one or two options in there towns (and in the last couple of years the choice of clubs have reduced dramatically for them!) Playing in the comfort of your own home online though and your options are practically limitless!!! A shrewd online player can browse numerous sites and dip in and out of games when it is most beneficial for them. I suppose the only bugbear being that you have to register and give your credit/debit details for every site you wish to play on. Therefore free bingo on the web can be nothing really more than a tool to bring more people to the site, hoping that they stay to play the following 10p game or pop a pound into a mini game during the course of the Free one.

And the big companies are really cursed because once one big one does it than the others really have to follow suit for fear that the more loyal players will 'defect' to the other 'freetastic' site.

Winability in the online games is an issue as well and one that could deter some players if they become saturated with 'free this' and 'free that' offers. My experience of playing free games online have always been losing ones. Check the players involved box and generally the numbers are in the 4 figures.....then check the prize money and see that you are playing for £20 in total? That's OK if you win, but wouldn't you be better off spending a £1 in an adjoining room at the same time when there are only 40 players and your playing for £50? Silly question really, because as I mentioned earlier, the shrewd online player would sign in for the free game (sometimes even using other family members accounts as well.......you know who you are!) minimise that game and play in the other room as well. It would be interesting to see how many players actually sit and play the free games or just confirm there tickets and get up and make a cup of tea or go outside for a fag?

So, Online or bricks and mortar......I suppose it's preference at the end of the day...online is easier to accommodate and quicker than actually investing a whole afternoon or evening in club....whereas for the more socially minded and value driven visiting and supporting your local bingo club could be more rewarding. My personal choice....in club bingo all the way....the online version is just too busy and after playing along without winning for the umpteenth time I just get the urge to get the tickets, ignore the game and go back to bejewelled blitz on facebook!!!! A free game of bingo down your local hall though is a much more interactive and rewarding experience. It gets you out of the house, most bingo clubs are generally less busy than a popular online free bingo site, and if you are lucky enough to win then you get the cash in your hand straight away!!!!

Feel free to post your own views on which you prefer.....it is FREE to do so don't you know!!!



Posted by Brett at 23:00 | Add your comments [0] | Links |

Previous Posts

Brett's Corner - Archive