Bingo is one of the oldest lottery-based games in the world, and whether played in 30-ball, 75-ball, 80-ball or 90-ball variations, it offers players the chance to scoop welcome windfalls for relatively minor stakes. Game play is pretty standard throughout all options: players buy pre-printed cards (or pre-set cards, in the digital versions of the game online) with a set of random numbers in a 3 X 3, 4 X 4 or 5 X 5 grid (the latter being most common). Then numbers are drawn from a pool of 30, 75, 80 or 90 balls – in the online version, random number generators stand in for the traditional spinning drum full of balls.

When players match a drawn number on one of their cards, they mark it off. The first player to complete a predetermined pattern of matching numbers has “Bingo”, and wins a prize; some games will end with the first prize won, while others will continue, offering successive prizes in return for more complex pattern matches, or even a “full house”, with every number on the card matched.

While online Bingo removed the need for players to be in a Bingo hall to play, mobile sites have taken the liberation of players a step further: they no longer need a fixed-line Internet connection at all. iPhone Bingo apps, which can be downloaded free, combine the best features of the iPhone with instant real money bingo play wherever and whenever a player feels like it.

How Does the iPhone Improve Bingo?

Portability is the single biggest benefit the iPhone has to offer Bingo players. As long as they have a 3G or 4G connection, players can access iPhone Bingo literally anywhere, at whatever time suits them. But the iPhone’s powerful hardware and software also provides other benefits; although it’s a mobile phone, its touchscreen is large enough to display iPhone Bingo clearly, and sensitive enough to allow rapid game play.

Best of all, like all online Bingo games, iPhone Bingo will auto-daub a player’s matching numbers as they come up, and automatically register any winning patterns that result, so a player can never miss a Bingo by making a mistake marking their cards. As anyone who has tried to keep track of multiple cards will know, this is a serious risk if a moment of inattention occurs, so the fact that it cannot happen on iPhone Bingo is a bonus.

Other iPhone Bingo Benefits

Of course, auto-daub makes it possible for iPhone Bingo players to play more cards per Bingo game, but an unfortunate downside of this could mean high rollers buying huge stacks of cards for every game, thus monopolising all the big wins. To obviate this risk, a lot of sites offering iPhone Bingo will limit the number of cards that can be purchased for each game, so that modest players are not overwhelmed by those with lots of money to bet, and stand a better chance at winning.

The iPhone’s secure encryption also makes iPhone Bingo safer in terms of guarding a player’s personal financial information, especially if the players themselves also observe some elementary safety precautions in settings, passwords and virus protection.