Neon Bingo Review

When people think of the word ‘neon’, they naturally think of bright colours, city lights, and the general mayhem that comes with spots like Times Square, New York City; and Piccadilly Circus in London. Not to mention the Far East’s mega-metropoles, such as Tokyo, Shanghai, and Seoul.

Sadly for those people, Neon Bingo, established in 2013, doesn’t quite live up to the reputation. When the homepage loads up the biggest thing you notice is just how much black has been used on the screen. And yes, we understand this is to accentuate the pink, baby blue, and electric yellow of the actual neon light-style typography, but this isn’t that much of an excuse. The developers would have done far better than this when it comes to creating something that uses neon lighting effects, but isn’t quite as dark and black about it.

Think Bladerunner

However, this isn’t to say we don’t like the overall concept. If indeed you can call it a concept. The way the words are presented to you on the homepage invokes something a little seedy, whilst also quite futuristic. Bladerunner immediately springs to mind – those rain lashed streets of Los Angeles circa miles into the future, awash with both neon coloured lights, and also a monochrome of blacks and greys for the towering, almost monolithic skyscrapers that stretch far above the heads of those down on the dirty and crime-ridden streets.

If you’ve ever been to Kuala Lumpur then you’ll have experienced this kind of thing first hand. Only the skyscrapers are generally brighter, or at least glassier, compared with the totem in Ridley Scott’s version of Philip K. Dick’s novel. In the latter instance, they are concrete edifices plucked straight from Orwell’s many Ministries. In Malaysia’s capital, they are usually shining, glistening steel structures. Nevertheless, they look down on roads that are riddled with poverty- futurism meets the downtrodden and left behind.

Sorry, We Thought This Was a Bingo Review?

No, we’re the ones who should be sorry, it’s rather easy to get carried away. Staying focussed, then, and Neon Bingo is a very simply designed website that manages to inspire thoughts like those we have already mentioned. When the homepage first loads up, you’ll see that the website logo is in the top left hand corner of the screen, and then below this a huge advertisement (in neon, of course), prompting you to enter a invite code. Clearly this means that, out there somewhere in that vast neverending entity we call online, there are voucher codes for Neon Bingo, which presumably give you more for your money. Sadly, we don’t have one to hand, so you’ll have to forgive us for not going into too much detail.

Another problem with regards to this is that the initial impression is that Neon Bingo is a closed off community, an invite-only game where you need to know someone to get on the inside. This isn’t actually true – anyone can sign up for an account quickly and easily by clicking the ‘Join Now’ tab at the top of the screen. However, even we, as regular casino and bingo website reviewers, had to double check the fine print at first to make sure this was open to all.

Talk About the Games…

No problems. OK, so click on the Games tab at the top of the screen and you’ll immediately be shown a page explaining exactly what games are on offer and what those games entail. As you would expect, the first selection are all bingo games, and these come in three forms. Three threatens to cause outcry amongst the dedicated bingo players out there, as it’s not actually that many when you come to stop and think about it. Nevertheless, the games are all of a very high quality.

You have 90-Ball, which is our personal favourite, 75-Ball, which is almost as good, and finally High 5 Bingo, which isn’t really a thing made up by the developers here. Instead, it’s just bog standard bingo you have probably played as a kid in school. Just get a row of five, across, down or diagonally. The more you land, the bigger the prize. Simple stuff, really, we do have to say that this wound up being our favourite, but please don’t accuse us of being amateurs. Because we’re actually pro bingo website reviewers.

Anything Else Doing?

In addition to the bingo on offer, Neon Bingo also gives you a chance to win money in several other ways. At the top of the Games screen itself you’ll see Coverall Jackpots, Progressive Jackpots, and Featured Games. To try and properly go into each of these is a little long-winded, but basically what this means is that there are other things to entertain yourself with aside from bingo itself. This area is quite limited, but still, at least it’s something.

Promos

As with many bingo websites, there are lots and lots of promos on offer on Neon Bingo, and these are really quite varied, and at times a lot of fun. Saucy Sundays, for example, is basically an offer whereby you play from 9PM on Sundays and enjoy extra bonus rewards because, apparently, it’s the sexiest night of the week.

Saturday Night Fever, on the other hand, gives you free bingo, spins, and vouchers to win big on ever Saturday from 8PM. Pot of Gold Room was on the proverbial table when we tested the website because it was coming up to St. Patrick’s Day, so we imagine there are some offers and promotions that will be seasonal.

xCiting times

Neon Bingo is part of the popular xCite loyalty system, and basically this means you will be too the moment you sign up for an account. xCite rewards you the more you play- moving you up different levels and unlocking ever-better bonuses. The different levels are Rookie, Pro, Master, Champ, and from thereon in you’ll be redeeming the very best of the best. Of the best. Some even mean you get a birthday bonus when it’s your special day of the year, which is really rather thoughtful (although we understand they do this for everyone, not just us!)

xCite is definitely one of the most comprehensive loyalty schemes we come across and its popularity as a third party supplier of loyalty systems to casino and bingo websites speaks volumes about that. It’s reliable, fairly organised (i.e. you don’t feel like you’ve been putting in loads and not really getting anywhere), and most of all it makes sense. We’ve come across plenty that are so unfathomably complex it almost puts you off signing up to take part in the scheme – and raises the question of whether the scheme is really designed to ensure nobody signs up for the scheme!

Neon Conclusion

Neon Bingo may not be the brightest light shining right now, nor is it the most comprehensive bingo website we have ever come across. However, what it does it does very well, and there’s loads of fun to be had. The little additions such as the xCite scheme are great, and the standard promotions are plentiful and varied enough to ensure you could probably spend most of the week playing and always be getting more for your money than you may expect. The design is nice too, so whilst overall we’re not convinced it’s competitive enough in today’s bingo landscape, we actually would recommend to a friend.