Playing online bingo, for many, centres around the famous online bingo chat room. Once you have entered the bingo lobby on each online bingo website, you will see you have the option to purchase tickets for the game and start chatting in the operators linked chat room.
Of course, you don’t have to enter the bingo chat room, but why wouldn’t you? There are many people from all walks of life with all sorts of stories ready to have a bit of banter and a chat or even become a lifelong online bingo friend.
You can enter and chat in a bingo chat room as long as you have an account with the bingo operator. You can chat before, during and after your bingo game pretty much 24/7, so there are loads of opportunities to socialise and ultimately have fun.
The chat room option in online bingo is there to capture what players loved the most when visiting their local bingo hall; that sense of a social occasion. You really can feel like you are in a room with loads of bubbly, great people playing bingo when actually you are in the comfort and quiet (or not if you have screaming kids) of your own home.
Bingo Chat: A Happy Place
Online bingo chat rooms really are a great place to be. Your fellow players are not playing against each other, nor do people know how many tickets others have purchased (which is very different to rolling your eyes at Patricia down the bingo hall with a table full of tickets every Thursday night!). Everyone is playing against the house and everyone knows its purely a game of luck so sending best wishes and congratulating each other on their wins is pretty common place in online bingo chat rooms, just like it is in real life.
Online bingo chat is for the most party, light hearted and polite. Players wish each other good luck, or ‘GL’ if using bingo lingo (more about bingo lingo later), they say well done or ‘WD’. If you have a win, you will definitely be congratulated; now, what other online gambling game will you get that?
If you ask a question, you can be pretty sure someone is going to reply, because everyone loves a natter. Or, if you simply just want to shout out (well type actually) the numbers you need or let people know if you only have one number left or ‘1TG’ or two numbers left or ‘2TG’, you can do this too and you will certainly be amongst like minded players.
In all the online bingo we have played, never have we felt uncomfortable or felt unsafe in a chat room. Quite the opposite in fact. During the pandemic in 2020 and when the UK was in lockdown, many people turned to online bingo as a means to socialise and make friends, or to virtually meet up with friends to play a specific game that they would have previously visited the bingo hall to play.
The Chat Room Host, Keeping You Safe
Most online bingo chat rooms have a ‘Chat Room Host’ or ‘CH’ there in the background. These are real people who are either employed by the bingo operator or voluntarily host rooms purely for the love of the game (volunteers would have been vetted and trained in operator protocols).
Word of warning, don’t get the chat room host mixed up with ‘Bob’ like I did many moons ago. Bob is not the chat room host, Bob is the automatic number generator ball caller. Unsurprisingly the Chat Room Host usually has the letters ‘CH’ before their name as it appears in the chat function box.
The Chat Room Host is there to keep things running smoothly, just like you would see in a real world bingo hall. They are on hand to help if there are any issues that arise during the game, to keep chat flowing but most importantly to moderate the goings on in the room. Not that there are ever any nasties looming, the Chat Room Host is quick to put a stop to inappropriate comments or language so you can feel relaxed and safe.
Look out for information about promotions or special games often shared by the Chat Room Host, they will let you know when there is a big jackpot taking place or any special events.
Remembering Your Roomies
When you register for an online bingo account, you will need to assign yourself an account name which is more commonly know as your chat room name. This is not your full, real name. Instead this is a tag which appears next to your comments made in the chat room. Now, some people may regret their chat name they choose because, lets say, some I have come across are pretty silly and cheeky to say the least! Many bingo operators will only allow you to change your chat name once a month, for security purposes.
People really do choose all sorts of chat names such as ‘letmewinbobbyboy’ and ‘cheekymumof2’ and ‘happynanna1952’. Very often people put their date of birth and something which partially identifies them, i.e. if they have children, grandchildren etc. Some people use totally random names such as ‘bananabubble’ or ‘toadintheholer’. And why not?!
When players are communicating with each other in the chat room, very often they will type the first part of your chat name when speaking to you.
You are very likely to come across the same players in the same room at different times of the day. I have played in a room at 8.00pm at night and noticed everyone knew each other in there, asking how family members were, what they had been up to. They were all very welcoming of new players that wanted to join in the chat so whilst they clearly knew each other there was no feeling of not belonging in that chat room.
If you get chatting to someone, make a mental note of their chat name and you never know, you may see them again. Or with some operators you can send a buddy request so that you can find them easier next time you play.
Some bingo chat rooms do have a private chat room facility which allows players to communicate in a closed room. These are used, but not so frequently as the open room. If you feel the need to use the private room to speak to someone, go ahead. You may want to talk about something that you don’t want others to see, especially if you are a frequent player.
Playing Chat Games
The Chat Room Host will very often announce some chat room games. These are a bit of extra fun to play in the chat room whilst the bingo balls are rolling. Its a great way to feel involved in the chat room atmosphere if you are not really up for actually chatting.
There are always little prizes that you can win if you win the chat game, from bonus credit to free tickets.
One of the most typical chat room games is shouting out a specific number as requested by the chat room host followed by a specific phrase. For example, when a ball with the number 8 on it (28,38 etc) is called, you need to shout (type) then number followed by the phrase ‘garden gate’. So, “38 garden gate”. What’s more, just to shake things up a bit, the winner isn’t the first person to shout it out, it could be the third or fifth person.
Talk The Talk
Don’t feel the pressure to type perfect queens English when enjoying the chat room, but at the same time, do try to make sure fellow players can get the gist of what you are saying even if there are a few typos. No need to worry about capital letters or full stops, just type away.
There are some useful bingo chat room abbreviations that from experience are used most frequently. Lots of online bingo operators also offer emojis for players to use instead of typing which can be quite fun and a quick way to communicate.
- GLE1 or GL = Good luck everyone (or) good luck
- 1TG = one number left on my ticket
- 2TG = two numbers left on my ticket
- 3TG = three numbers left on my ticket
- WD = well done
- WDWs = well done winners
- BRB = be right back
- TY = thank you
- PLZ = please
Players will also type the actual numbers they need to win – this is the equivalent to them shouting them out if they were in a real life bingo hall.
There are loads of other bingo chat room abbreviations, but to be honest, they are not used very often, so don’t feel like you need to talk the bingo lingo to join in, just type. You find that many players are accessing bingo on their mobile phones and they type messages as if they were texts which most of us already understand.
Quit The Party Pooping Comments
Some people just can’t help themselves in chat rooms if they don’t win. There are some people that think the game is fixed, or the same people keep winning over and over again, or the operator charges them the wrong amount for the ticket. They can wax lyrical about their stresses and anger in the chat room, but quite frankly it ruins the fun.
The game isn’t fixed, its highly regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, along with the software that runs the random number generator that calls the balls out. Bingo operators would go out of business pronto if there was a sniff of foul play.
Its a game of luck. If luck isn’t going your way, go do something else, just don’t have a whinge to fellow players. Remember, people will recognise your chat name so you really don’t want to be branded the party pooper!
The Serious Bit
Never ever give out any personal details to anyone in a bingo chat room. Even if you think its the chat room host trying to help you out with something to do with your account, just don’t. If you need to share personal information because you have an issue with your bingo account or you are a bit miffed with something that has happened to your account, use the private chat or email function in the help section of the website.
You might talk to people about where you are from, just use the city or town, no need to go into detail. You also might talk about your job, again provide little detail. You would be surprised just how much you could learn about a person from some random facts they share, coupled with their choice of chat room name. As mentioned before, nasties rarely loom in bingo chat rooms because the chat room hosts do a good job of monitoring them, but these things do happen.