La Catrina Bingo
You wouldn’t guess from the name, but La Catrina is a bingo game. Although Mexican-themed bingo games aren’t something you see every day, the Mexicans are just as entitled to savour a bit of bingo as anyone else. The game seems to be popular the world over, so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t have a following there. Regardless of the level of demand for online bingo games in Mexico, there’s certainly interest in Mexican-themed casino games elsewhere in the world.
It’s usually slots that are styled to resemble Dia de los Muertos, which has been reborn and reanimated in recent years, with thousands of girls dressing in sugar skull meme costumes every Halloween. The whole Dia de los Muertos thing may have been done to death recently, but that’s not going to stop casino developers from slipping it into their games. La Catrina by Zitro Interactive is a game which mostly resembles a conventional bingo game, save for the centre of the screen, where La Catrina herself lies.
Day of Victory
All of the bingo games that this developer have released work in exactly the same manner. You’ve got four bingo cards on the screen and then in the very centre between them you’ve got a thing. That thing is generally a spinning wheel of some sort, styled to suit the theme of the game. Sometimes it’s a manhole, or a dollar sign or a colour wheel. In this case, it’s a spinning Day of the Dead skull. In the background you can just make out words that seem to say Panteon de Fiesta and the spinning skull is designed to form the mouth of a larger skull wearing a wide-brimmed woman’s hat. A few rocks and a couple of bones complete the look.
We’ll get to the bonus element of the game shortly, but first let’s deal with the normal bingo part. The normal aspect of this game is a standard 90-ball bingo game, one with four cards. With some of these games, you get to choose how many cards you want to play with at one time, but here you’ve got to play with all four. The cost of playing is 1 coin, but since that’s for one card, you’ll actually be paying 4 coins per game. There’s no ability to adjust the bet level so if you want to wager more in the hopes of winning more, tough.
Quadruple Whammy
There are four chances of winning when you’re playing La Catrina and that’s just for starters. Once the numbers have been drawn, you’ve got additional chances to win however. You can pay additional coins to see additional balls, helping you complete those lines that are almost there. Because La Catrina is a based on a 90-ball bingo game, each card shows a 5x3 grid. When you hit the start button, the balls will be released from the spinning skull rapid style and will line up at the bottom of the screen.
The animation for this action happens very quickly. This game isn’t remotely smooth, and it’s odd that the developer have done things so hastily not only with La Catrina but also with their other casino games. Normally with bingo, the pleasure and excitement comes in watching as each ball is drawn and then waiting to see whether it matches one on your card. There’s none of that here: it’s boom and then it’s done.
Bingo-ing Loco
The sort of sums you can win from this mobile-compatible game start at 3 coins for a single line, but fancier lines are worth more. Basically, the more numbers that are required to make that line from one side of the grid to another, the more you’ll earn. Then, once you level up and complete two lines, you’ll earn at least 50 coins. At best, you stand to collect 1,500 coins from this game, but for that to happen you’ll need to complete your entire card.
La catrina Conclusion
La Catrina is as derivative as all the other bingo games Zitro Interactive have put their name to, but it has been delivered in a more pleasing manner. Okay so the bingo board looks much the same and isn’t particularly special, but the Dia de los Muertos theme has been nicely implemented with the spinning skull in the centre. It’s mystifying why this developer can release nice looking bingo games in one breath and atrocious looking ones in another. Regardless, La Catrina is pretty enjoyable, especially if you elect to play for real money.
