Mecca Bingo
From day one Mecca has set out to make a splash. They were the ones to start the fun as it was Mecca founder Eric Morley who first brought commercial Bingo to the UK. That was back in 1960, and Mecca hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. As you probably guessed Bingo was an instant hit. After that the game and the company grew together to become what we know and love today. Today Mecca is a part of the very prestigious Rank Group and they claim close to 120 clubs to their name. When you do the numbers on that impressive little total it works out to three million members that prefer their Bingo the Mecca way.
Now Mecca wants to take their success one step further by launching their very own online Bingo hall. This is what many people consider to be a late move for them as they didn’t find their way to the internet until 2005. Late start or not, if Mecca is involved then you know its going to be fun. We can’t wait to see if they have managed to capture some of their real world magic in a whole new realm.
One thing that is never in question with this company is their commitment to player security. Just look at the history they hold and you know that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. This peace of mind is great because now all that you need to concern yourself with is having a great time. We have to say that the new place looks great. The look is fun and fresh with a positive feeling all the way around. As it is the details that make a site great, it’s nice to see that Mecca takes care of those in spades with their very clear navigation.
The details on the home page may be right on track, but when it comes to the main game page there are a few small issues. The page looks great and has all the necessary information, the problem is that there are several links that seem to go to the games that in fact take you to alternate sites. Look at the left hand side of your screen and you will see a list of ads that seem very promising. Labelled with titles like “Bingo World,” and “Mecca Bingo,” you would naturally think that this is where you needed to be. Don’t be fooled as the “Mecca Bingo,” link takes you to a page dedicated to their brick and mortar halls while the “Bingo World,” option does eventually land you in the games, but after a much longer trip. Keep your eyes front and centre and stick with the “Play Now!” button right in the middle of your screen.
Once you make it over that small hurdle everything else is smooth sailing. Take a few minutes to join the hall and then you are ready to play. It was a nice surprise to find out that Mecca offers free play on most of their games, but we don’t understand why the 90-ball Bingo is exempt from this offer. As that is what most people come here after it would make sense to include that in the pot. If you do pluck down the cash to have some fun, then you will love the fact that at Mecca they use a totally custom software package. This means two things. First it means that the games at Mecca can only be accessed from their hall unlike some of the other big name sites that are more portals than halls. The second is that since the software is non-downloading more customers can get into the action. If the high traffic volume is any indication then Mecca is doing something very right. This many people in the game means that all those cards they buy tweak the totals on the progressive jackpots. Non-downloading will never be as rich as their downloading cousins, but this software delivers a solid showing.
Now having instant play games should open the site up to Mac users as well as PC. This did not turn out to be the case during our review. We tried several different set-ups and no matter what the games would not play. The upside here is that now we had something to go bug customer service about. The agents were all just wonderful in all of our interactions. They took us through several “fixes” and tried their hardest, but this was not destined to be. After we did some more digging we found that this is an ongoing problem that Mecca is already looking at. We hope that this means Mecca bingo will be open to Mac in the very near future.
The one fun promotion that we found at Mecca was their new player bonus. When you deposit and play $10 of your own money, then Mecca will match that amount in your account. We know this isn’t a huge thing, but it is 10x the welcome bonus offered by most of their competition.
When you think of playing Bingo in the UK then you just have to think of Mecca. They are now hard at work to expand that brand awareness to the online kingdom as well. Mecca has a few bumps to pave over in their road, but overall delivers a very nice hall. They have lived up to their name by offering a first class game of Bingo every time we played. Their busy hall backs up the claim that this is one popular place to play. Mecca Bingo would be a fine choice for players of any level, and you should really check them out for yourself.
