Bingo 3X Review

The vast majority of bingo websites come with silly names, or puns, or a play on words in their title. Not so with this particular effort, which, despite being set up way back in 2009, still manages to look pretty up to date (presumably it’s had one or two face lifts in that time, and if not hats off to the designers for being future first).

Bingo 3X is, by all accounts, a pretty strange title for a bingo site, although the site itself is pretty good. In fact, it’s so good that it was awarded Best New Bingo Site 2012, although according to our sources it was actually established three years prior. More inquisitive minds would probably wonder what this means in the grand scheme, but to be honest we’re just not that bothered at all.

Big Bonus Sign

So then, onto the review. When the homepage for Bingo 3X first loads up, apart from the large band name and logo, and the expanding and retracting sign advertising the aforementioned trophy, the first thing you’ll notice is the massive 200% casino bonus sign in the middle of the screen. Or at least that’s the first thing we noticed, simply because it is so prominent.

Below this is an admittedly small but nonetheless informative bingo game table. Why is it so informative? Well, quite simply because, at a glance, you can see the sort of bingo games that this website offers, not to mention when games are scheduled to begin and what the prize pot is like for those games. There are so many websites that fail to show you what you actually need to know before committing to signing up for membership, so although this isn’t the more forthcoming table we have seen (when testing the site there were three games displayed, not that many really), it’s better than nothing.

Below all that you’ll find another very small, but still useful slider showing the Top Played Games on the website. Again, this is really useful as it tells you, in no uncertain terms, that bingo is not the only thing available on Bingo 3X, all without having to click through to other parts of the website. As any web designer will know, the mantra for good design is to have people clicking as little as possible in order to find what they need. Granted, this may not help with bounce rates, but it does help in so far as not making people frustrated, and ultimately it’s all about the end user experience.

To the Games

So by now we kind of know what to expect from Bingo 3X. Or do we? Well, yes, kind of. Click on the Games tab on the top menu row on the homepage, though, and you can glean a little more information. Or rather a lot more information. The only problem being it might not be the information you had been hoping for.

Once this area of the site loads up you’ll immediately realise that, much to most people’s likely disappointment, there isn’t actually that much bingo to choose from. We keep seeing the same formulaic options on bingo sites and quite frankly it’s just not good enough. So, you have 90-Ball Bingo, 75-Ball Bingo, and High 5 Bingo. Any of these sound special or unfamiliar to anyone reading this? Thought not. Of course, there are Progressive Jackpot bingo games and Coverall Jackpot bingo games also here to choose from, but ultimately that’s not really anything out of the ordinary either. Overall, then, considering this was the Best New Bingo Site of 2012 we can only think it was a pretty weak year in terms of new bingo websites opening up for business.

How About the Slots?

If you have been reading this review properly then chances are you picked up on the Top Played Games bit on the homepage, and our comments about how this “tells you, in no uncertain terms, that bingo is not the only thing available on Bingo 3X, all without having to click through to other parts of the website”.

Well, yes, that’s exactly what it does, but there is a major flaw to this too. We can’t find, anywhere, a section dedicated to the other games aside from bingo, meaning you’re basically limited to what the slider for the Top Played Games is showing. You can click on Right or Left arrows to slide things along, but there is still a small, finite number available. We’re sure there must be more hidden in here somewhere, but where they are hiding out is really anyone’s guess. Message to the designers- please just build a page where we can see all the slots and other games available, as this is really irritating as things currently stand. And yes, we do say this to everyone responsible for committing this cardinal sin.

Going Places?

One area that Bingo 3X does do well at is promoting its mobile offering. You can either access the site from your phone’s browser, or better yet download the dedicated app for either iOS or Android platforms. There’s also a handy QR code that means you don’t have to faff about accessing the Market or App Store direct, and can just get what you need to take the joy of bingo around everywhere with you, in an instant (or thereabouts).

xCite and Promotions

Bingo 3X is a member of the xCite loyalty programme, which, for those unfamiliar, is one of the more popular loyalty schemes and is definitely one we like. What this means is that there are various levels players can attain – Rookie, Pro, Master, and Champ. Ascending in that order, the rewards and offers you can redeem improve the higher up the pecking order you get, meaning the more you play the more cash money you stand to bring back.

This shouldn’t be confused with the ongoing promotions offered by the website itself. The ongoing promotions are basically deals open to everyone, including those who are not taking advantage of the xCite potential. Overall, the offers on 3X Bingo are pretty good, and definitely an improvement on many of the other websites we have reviewed in our time. Examples include bonuses for referring friends, free bingo and cheap tickets on a Sunday from 9am (Lazy Sunday), and free bingo, free spins, and free vouchers on Saturday nights. Whether that’s enough to keep you from going out and actually seeing real life people is another question, but it’s better than a kick in the teeth, with a steel boot.

3X Conclusion

Bingo 3X may be an award winning website, but in our opinion we have seen so much better out there. The options are limited, and many of the games that don’t involve balls and numbers are hidden away in parts of the site we don’t seem to be able to access.

Having said that, the redeeming factors are the bingo itself- what games are here are of a very high standard indeed – the winnings, which are notably higher than many, and the offers and deals. We’re also advocates of the xCite loyalty system, as you may have picked up on above, and so taking all this into consideration, we’d have to say this isn’t a poor online bingo offering, it’s just a very average one that doesn’t really do anything that others don’t, and does far less than the best we have come across in our long, dedicated careers as bingo and casino website reviewers. Take from that what you will, just don’t come crying to us when you realise there’s no 30 Ball Bingo, and the Top Played Games slider is still showing the same titles it was three months ago.