In September 2014 Game Village Bingo made the decision to move their offering to the Cozy Games platform. At this point in time we are in no rush to re-review the new site simply because it has become ‘more of the same’ and lost its unique appeal.
The information below is a review of the OLD Game Village Bingo that will be updated at some point in the future. The screenshots are of the new site and the banners and links will all take you there. The bonuses and contact details are all taken from the new site too.
Game Village Review
No Deposit | N/A |
1st Deposit Bonus | 400% on 1st deposit (min. £5, max. bonus £100) + 1 free Fortune Wheel spin |
Reload Bonus | 2nd Deposit – 200% 3rd Deposit – 300% |
Software | Cozy Games |
Network | Lucky Duck Network |
Deposit Options | Credit and Debit cards, Ukash, Paysafe Card, Neteller |
New players only. Wagering requirements apply. See website for full T&C
Game Village Bingo is something of a rarity these days, as not only are they a standalone site with no affiliation to any network, but they also run on their own proprietary software. Now this should give them the scope and freedom to offer something really special, a unique gaming experience that should allow them to stand out from the crowd, so lets take a look and see how they get on.
The Game Village Bingo homepage is bright and colourful with a large header portraying a small village, set in the rolling hills with the sun rising behind it. The page is made up of different blocks and they are used to promote their welcome offers, latest games and jackpots. There are also banners that link directly to their bingo games, and these bypass the need to keep on going to the ‘Play Now’ section. In addition to all of this, there is a long list of mini games, and you can read the rules and load them all from the one page.
When you come to register you won’t encounter any of those annoying ‘duplicate account’ problems so you will be up and running in a matter of minutes. To create your account, all you need to do is enter your name, birthday, username and email address. Game Village Bingo will welcome you with a no deposit bonus, so you can take a look at everything they have to offer before deciding whether to wager real cash or not. If you choose you want to, you will need add your payment details to your account, and you will receive a higher then average bonus.
Once you have chosen where you want to play you can open up one of their rooms. Unfortunately these are starting to look extremely dated. The biggest portion of the screen is where you will find your cards, the balls as they are called and the prize breakdown. Sadly there are no real options to speak of, so what you see is what you get. To the right of the screen is a small chat room with a few emoticons built in, but you don’t even have any of the useful bingo lingo acronyms we all know and love as they save us all of that repetitive typing.
Game Village Bingo change the majority of their promotions on a monthly basis and with the exception of a few big jackpot games, the majority of these are designed to reward as many players as possible with small amounts of bonus money. There is bargain bingo, a rewards program and a weekly text club draw for everyone that registers their mobile phone number, but the winner only gets £1. Each month they make one player the ‘Villager of the Month’ and they are rewarded with £50 worth of bonus money.
Game Village Bingo is really disappointing, they have every opportunity to create something special, and the idea of a bingo village could work really well, but unfortunately they have not taken it far enough. The software they are using is missing out on a lot of features we have to come to expect and their promotions are never going to get the pulses racing. Don’t get us wrong, they have some nice touches such as the in-built radio and their refer a friend bonus is obviously designed to help them spread the word. Unfortunately we are not sure your friends would thank you after checking out the village for themselves!
Game Village Review – Bingo Games
Game Options at Game Village
Game Village Bingo is home to 75 ball, 90 ball bingo, Speed Bingo, Power Bingo and Elimination Bingo, but they are not all available 24/7. Speed Bingo for example is only available between 4pm and Midnight, whereas Power Bingo is only available for fifty five minutes every Friday and Saturday night. During these sessions, cards range from 25p to £2, and the more you pay, the greater the jackpot you can win. There is also a good selection of mini games including table games, poker, slots and Keno.
The Game Village Bingo software is short on options, and apart from being able to change the text size and graphics quality, there is not a great deal you can do to customise your gameplay. There is a built in radio, so you can listen to some music whilst you play, and once you have funded your account you can send other players virtual gifts. You also need to make a deposit before you can join the chat rooms, which is a bit silly as getting to know the other people in the room is just as important as the games on offer when you are trying to decide whether to play for real or not.
Promotions
Game Village is a standalone bingo site that uses its own proprietary software, so they have every opportunity to offer something really special. Unfortunately when it comes to their promotions they miss the mark. Yes they do offer a limited amount of free bingo and a few progressive jackpots, but nowhere near enough to compete with even the poorest network out there. Their only real saving grace is a prize draw that takes place on the last day of the month, but you have to purchase entries with points that you earn as you play.
The majority of their monthly specials are based around daily games, but their prize pots are not exactly going to get the pulses racing, as they are shared amongst many players. They do occasionally offer some big money guaranteed jackpot games, but these tend to be at special times of the year such as Christmas and New Year.
Dingo Bingo
Dingo Bingo is exclusive to Game Village Bingo and is played on a five by five board. The object of the game is to accumulate as many points as you possibly can within three minutes. You score points by covering squares, and they are awarded each time you match symbols:
- 100 points for any match
- 1,000 points for a Kangaroo match
- 5,000 points for a Dingo match
- 10,000 points for any line created
- 25,000 points for a complete board
To add a bit of excitement to the game, there are four more symbols, some friendly and some not so friendly:
- Dingo – When it appears you can cover any square on the board
- Kangaroo – When it appears you can cover any square on that row
- Green Alligator – Lose 25% of your score
- Purple Alligator – Lose 50% of your score
Free Bingo
As a depositing player, you can take advantage of Game Village Bingo’s free bingo games. All of the action takes place in the ‘Chip Van’ bingo room which is open twice a day. If you play during the day, there is a session that runs between 10am and 10.55am. If however you tend to play when you get home from work, the evening session runs between 6.45pm and 7.40pm. Each one of these games gives you the opportunity to win a share of £5 worth of bonus money.
Screenshots
Game Village Support
Should you need to contact support at Game Village you can do so using the following methods:
- Ticketing System – only available when logged in
- Live Help
- Email: marketing@gamevillage.com
- Webform from ‘Contact Us’ page