Bingo Kind of Sucks. Or so I thought

I didn’t really get the appeal of bingo. The whole game is predicated on mere chance as far as I can see. Now given that I’m no great gambler, I’d only really like to play in a game where there is some element of skill or judgement required. That way, at least I feel that I’m influencing things.

Anyway, it turns out that I’ve really been missing the point of bingo. It’s  a long story as to why, but I found myself taking advantage of a ‘free bingo‘ offer from a bingo game site. You basically get £20 of free credit to play in the room, but normally games cost between 5p and a couple of quid to take part.

The game is just like its offline counterpart (albeit without the sticky floor). Numbers get ‘drawn’ by means of software, and then crossed off your gaming card as they come out. The winner is the first person to get all of the numbers struck off on a single card.

Sounds pretty dull, what with there being no skill involved, but I actually enjoyed the experienced. The reason was actually more to do with the chatroom that accompanied the game rather than the game itself. I’ve always been a sucker for online chat, and this was a great example of the genre with a very funny crowd of regulars who made the new boy feel quite at home.

I found it pretty interesting just because it didn’t have lots of money at stake, and the social aspect was so compelling and I’m prepared to admit to a (reluctant) liking for the whole experience.

Newmarket The Card Game

OK. Having protested about how I’m not much of a gambler, here’s one game I do like to have (a tiny amount of!) money on.

Newmarket was my gran’s favourite card game and it’s simple to play for players of all ages. Essentially, the 4 kings are the ‘horses’ and each player has to ‘back’ one of these horses by placing 2p on it at the start. They also have to contribute 2p to a pot. The cards are dealt out between the players, with one being held back as a ‘float’.

The first player puts down the lowest card they have in any particular suit. If someone else has the next card, they put it down and so on and so on. If the next card in a run isn’t held by any of the players (i.e., it’s in the float) then that player has to start again with the lowest card from an opposing colour. So if the previous run was Hearts, then the player has to go with either Spades or Clubs.

If the run reaches a Queen, then the player holding that Queen gets to take all the money from the appropriate King. The game continues until one person has got rid of all their cards. The person then gets to take all the money from the pot.

It’s a really simple game which is lots of fun to play as a family during events like Christmas etc.