Hospital food is notorious for being bland, samey and often pretty disgusting so one man, who also happens to be a journalist has voiced his outrage at the bad food by creating a funny game.

Having spent over 20 weeks in hospital this year, the journalist posts photographs of the hospital food he is given on the web. He then invites people to guess what the food is, in a bizarre new form of bingo!

One of the best ones is Jackpot Joy Bingo. It scores very highly on game quality and is very popular. The site claims to have two million members. It is a fun website and the games are novel. There are several different chat rooms to choose from and most people playing seem to be quite nice. Promos are quite good; though not the best it must be said. There is a 100% deposit bonus with a maximum of £100. There are a number of other promotions including big prize draws.

PaddyPower Bingo is also a great site. With a name like that it is unsurprisingly based in Ireland. The website is attractive and intuitive to use. The general tone is one of humour. The chat rooms tend to be highly entertaining too. This site has one of the best promos. There is a welcome bonus of £50, though you do need to make a small deposit first. You also receive a bonus of twice your initial deposit. Chat games are a big feature of the site.  You can also play all day Sunday for free.

Mecca Bingo must get a mention here, after all Mecca is the biggest bingo operator of all. What Mecca doesn’t know about bingo isn’t worth knowing. The website is as polished as they get. Some people criticise their chat rooms as being a bit cold, but really they are fine though perhaps a little more formal than most. The games cannot be criticised and some are quite imaginative. The promotions are good too. There is a 200% sign up bonus and there is a large number of free games with big prizes.

Well, that is just three of our favourite bingo sites. We will bring you some more of our favourites in the future.

Mecca Bingo have been the real pioneers in bringing the bingo night back with a bang, and are now going as far as offering bingo players the chance to win the same prize money for half the cost tonight, Wednesday 19th August. It is hoped the move will bring back thousands of players to their clubs. Future promotions include a £1.50 afternoon bingo session which will be running on August 27th.

In order to cater for their online bingo fanbase and help them feel at home, Mecca Bingo have also installed hundreds of electronic bingo machines in many of their halls.

An online bingo community which is close-knit, friendly and welcoming is arguably the most important factor for any bingo website and it’s the one thing that all sites are striving to have. Accessibility to a quality, approachable community is vital for bingo players in order to engage with people across the country and even the world to have a natter, play bingo and share some of the best bingo jokes around.

Research shows that the average bingo player has a variety of accounts across different online bingo websites and that the determining factor, alongside huge jackpots for playing at a particular site is the chance to interact effectively with other players. Loyalty to a site can often build up as a result of a community which is well nurtured by the bingo provider, where questions from providers are answered by the site in a socially interactive forum. Sites which are setting up forums where users can interact and share their feedback can positively respond by recognising exactly what they audience wants. Linda Niskanen, the marketing manager of MariaBingo recognises that forums also play ‘an important role in spreading the news about where to play, at what time and why’. This information is vital for any bingo operator. Niskanen also put emphasis on the importance of belonging, recognising that bingo players want to be part of a community where people cheer you on no matter the size of your win.

While winning the big bingo jackpot might be at the forefront of many bingo player’s dreams, striking up new friendships and having an old fashioned gossip is becoming more and more prevalent when it comes to the needs of bingo players in the UK.

Some of the most superstitious people around are those who play sports professionally along with professional gamblers. Often these superstitions are associated with undertaking a specific ritual, wearing a specific item of clothing that is associated with previous success, or carrying a lucky charm. Do these do any good?

In fact scientists have shown that belief in superstitions can have a profound effect. The so-called placebo effect that is associated with a test subject reporting benefits from taking a medicine when in fact the medicine just sugar is one such example. It is thought that the power of certain magic, in particular Voodoo, is derived as a result of such phenomena.

Many of us feel that if we really believe that something is going to happen, then it is more likely that it will. This certainly applies to bingo. A recent survey of bingo fans showed that over half of them carried a lucky charm of one sort or another and about an equal number performed some sort of ritual prior to playing a game. Even some people who play online bingo will ensure that they are wearing an item of clothing that they consider to be lucky, and of course when it comes to choosing a bingo card lucky numbers are very important.

Is luck just a random event, or is it possible to make one’s luck? Does believing that one will win increase one’s winning chances? Many believe this to be so, and they have yet to be proven wrong.

The jackpot is thought to be one of the biggest ever in UK Bingo history. Previous big winners at Mecca Bingo include a user by the name of Belle08 who walked away with £110,000 after winning a Lucky Ladies 88 jackpot back in April.

Mrs. Minehouse said: “I don’t know what we are doing to do with the winnings, but we’re trying to keep a low profile.

“The news is going to travel fast and people will find out about the win but we are trying to keep it to ourselves for now.”

Of course online Bingo could also be a useful activity for the hot blooded male. About 88% of online Bingo players are of the female variety and over half of them are under 45. Most online Bingo sites have decent chat rooms where you can post a picture of yourself and see the pictures of others. It could be a nice casual way of meeting that special person and, after all, at least you will have a love of Bingo in common!

Apart from the gender blend of bingo players, there are so many of them that you could have a virtually unlimited choice of whom to make that potential date. Worldwide over one hundred million people play live Bingo every day. In the UK there are 50,000 Bingo players online every day.

There must be a great many couples who first met at online or live Bingo games. After all, falling in love and playing Bingo have many things in common. You can be lucky or unlucky. They used to say that if you were lucky at cards you would be unlucky at love, but perhaps with Bingo you can be lucky at both!

What pastime wouldn’t be complete without its own line of fashion? Yes, you guess it, bingo players can purchases article of clothing and accessories to express their love for the game. Bingo shirts are extremely popular. T-shirts can be found with simple slogans such as “I Love Bingo”, “Happiness is Yelling Bingo!” or countless other unique and creative expressions. Players can also create their own shirts to express just what they want about the game of bingo.

Accessories are also available for the bingo enthusiast. A wide range of bingo earrings can be purchased. These earrings can dangle anything from a bingo card replica to bingo balls. Some even wear bingo balls with their lucky number written on them. Wouldn’t that be fun to deck yourself out for your next trip to the bingo hall?

Seat cushions are another accessory owned by some bingo players. The seats found in bingo halls are usually quite uncomfortable especially if you’re sitting them in for any length of time. Often these chairs are simple folding chairs without any sort of padding on the seat. These seat cushions toted to the bingo halls aren’t your ordinary seat cushions. In keeping with their favourites sport, these players purchase seat cushions emblazoned with a variety of bingo patterns. These patterns might include pound signs, bingo cards, and bingo balls.

Unique daubers are yet another accessory that the bingo enthusiast might want to purchase. Some players prefer something more than the standard round ink stamp to mark their cards. Players can have different daubers, which are available in a rainbow of colours and sizes. These daubers can come in unusual shapes such as animals, seasonal shapes and lucky symbols. Eccentric bingo players can even purchase daubers with lights that flash when they are used to daub the bingo card. Some daubers are constructed with two markers in order to make marking bingo cards more efficient. This would be beneficial for bingo players that enjoy playing multiple cards.

The lives of many people in need have also been changed beyond recognition as a result of bingo. Charity bingo games which are played regularly all over the world are one of the most popular means of raising money for good causes. As a result of the many charity bingo games that have been played, millions upon millions of pounds have been raised for people who really need the cash.

A charity bingo game functions in a similar way to a normal bingo game, with participants paying for their bingo tickets. Occasionally there will be an entrance fee which also contributes to the total amount raised for charity. Instead of winning money, players stand the chance to win prizes, usually donated by local businesses or people within the community. Therefore, the anticipation you feel when you’re just one number away from a line or full house is not in vain as you’ll stand to win some form of prize. The money collected from admission and ticket sales benefits a charity of the organisers’ choice.

One couple who are pro’s at running charity bingo nights are Phyllis and Jim Martin, a retired couple who live in Staffordshire. The couple, who have been married for 46 years and are aged 67 and 70 respectively, have been running charity bingo nights since 1964! As a result of their hard efforts, they have raised over £130,000 for various charities in the region where they live.

In an interview with thesentinel.co.uk Phyllis and Jim explained that they started running bingo nights after attending one in Cambridge in 1964. Since then, they’ve held charity bingo nights at Baddeley Green Working Men’s Club four times a year. On March 25th this year, they’ll be holding another night to raise money for the Breast Cancer unit at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

Bridal Bingo has been a firm tradition in American hen nights or ‘bridal showers’ as they’re known, for over fifty years! The game is, for many people, the most important part of the event and also the most fun! Bridal Bingo allows everyone to get in on the anticipation of the upcoming nuptials and is also a great giggle for the girls!

The game is a simple variation on a traditional bingo game. Each person has a bridal bingo card that is the conventional 5×5 square. Instead of numbers, though, these cards have a variety of words associated to marriage on them. For example you could choose words like ‘commitment’ and ‘cherish’, or if you’re feeling a little saucier: ‘something blue’ and ‘garter’! If you’re playing 90 ball bingo, you’ll need to pick 90 different words or phrases and put them in a bag to be drawn during the game. From then on, the game functions just like a normal bingo game, with the words called out by the hostess and each person matching up these words to their bingo cards! The first to get a line wins! It’s as simple as that!

In America there are loads of Bridal Bingo sets available to purchase but many people like to make their own and customise them with photos of the bride, groom and guests. Maybe you could make your own version of Bridal Bingo where the face of each guest is printed on the bingo card and as their name is called, you can mark them off! This is a great way to familiarise yourself with the names and faces of the guests who will be attending the wedding and maintains bingo as the sociable game it always has been!