Bingo

Mecca Bingo

Have you ever heard of a man named Eric Morley? Well if you are a Bingo fan living in the UK then you should be very thankful to him! You see it was Mr. Morley himself who first introduced commercial Bingo in the UK back in the 1960s. On a side note he was also the one who came up with the Miss World Beauty Pageant so this guy obviously knew a thing or two about having a good time. What does all this have to do with Mecca? Well, as you may have guessed by now, Eric Morley was also the founder of Mecca Bingo. Mecca has been a big fan favourite almost from day one. They have not been content to sit back and watch the world go by, but instead are continually working to grow their business and improve upon their product. Today the company can claim to be a part of the well look upon Rank Group as well as run 120 individual real world halls. This totals out to over 3 million members who have made Mecca Bingo their real world brand of choice!

Since they were first through the door with real world fun, many people looked to them to continue the tradition in the virtual world. Mecca had other ideas about this and kept us waiting until 2005 for a virtual version of their fun. The doors are now open and we are very excited to find out if they have managed to capture all that is Mecca in this new format.

Looking at all the rich history that comes with this company, do you really feel that security is going to be a problem here? If you answered no way, then you are right on the money. Mecca has a solid reputation in this industry of providing great games in a secure environment. They keep up the good work with great visuals, clear navigation, and cheerful presence. We picked our path with ease and in just a few moments were off to the main event!

When you go looking for the Bingo there are a few little traps that we need to warn you about. First, when you look at your page you will see a very large link labelled "Play Now." This is what you are after, and don't get diverted from your target. Second, the links running down the left hand side of your page are not your friends. They may look like more gaming fun but in reality they will take you to a site dedicated to Mecca's real world halls or a much longer route to the same games. Stick to the centre and you will be just fine. Mecca has done so well up to this point providing clear direct navigation that we think this area needs to be brought up to par.

When you reach your final destination you will find that the games are all offered in instant play format. We love this option, but what we love even more is the fact that Mecca is using custom software for their hall. This means that the games that you can find and play here are only available here. Most of the games do have free play, which is great for new players finding their way around, but it is not an option on their 90-ball Bingo. It is kind of confusing that this is not on the list as all of us are here for the Bingo. Free Play or not, just look at the number of people zipping around this hall and you know that there is something good going on here. We just love a busy hall because it means that the play will be lively, the chat engaging, and the jackpots soaring. You do need to keep in mind that a non-downloading software package can't offer all the perks of their more deluxe downloading cousins, but this by no means makes them second rate. The play loads quickly and runs smooth. Best of all, the games are delivered in great form any time you want them.

The biggest problem of the day was running the games at Mecca Bingo on a Mac computer system. If you read through the published literature on the site you will find claims of supporting this user system. Well in reality that seems not to be the case. In fact, no matter what we tried there was no way to get Mecca Bingo up and running on a Mac system. We took the issue to customer support and even though the agent was awesome on all counts, he couldn't fix our problem. It turns out that Mecca is very aware of the issue and is working diligently to get things fixed. It is our hope that they are successful and that you don't run into this problem at all.

Promotions as a whole could use some work, but the new player Welcome Bonus was very nice. All new players receive $10 in their accounts when they match that amount with their own cash. This is 10x the bonus we have seen continually offered at other halls. If this is the standard they are going to set then we can't wait to see what will follow!

We wanted to see if Mecca could capture all the little details that make them so great in an online format. It seems as though they can, and they have. Overall the issues that we found were very small and shouldn't prove a problem for most players. In fact, we hope that the Mac issue is no more by the time you make your very first visit to the hall. For those of you who find enjoyment in the real world Mecca brand, then you should make the time to get to know the virtual side of things. It would definitely be worth it!

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