Nova Bingo Review

Talk about bigging yourself up. Log on to Nova Bingo and you’ll see claims that the site will “dazzle the senses”, offering the “future of bingo”. Clearly those at Nova Bingo believe they can make a massive impression on their audience, despite the fact this is already a hugely saturated market that probably doesn’t need any new contenders for the throne. Nevertheless, it has one, and so we decided it was probably best to do some closer inspecting.

Sadly, first impressions are not particularly good. If this really is ‘The Future of Bingo’ then evidently the future was dreamt up – aesthetically at least – some time inthe late-90s or early-00s. The website doesn’t look particularly enticing, there’s a cheap feel to the layout and look- for example the box out with the quote we used at the beginning of this review even has blocked out text, which hasn’t really been a design decision anyone has actively chosen to take for many years (and even when it was, it was an admission of uninspired designers that have never really learnt the basics of making things look decent).

Poor Design Choices

This poor choice is continued in other areas ofthe homepage. Perhaps they don’t have blocked out text, but the unflattering font – which looks like default typography from a programme like Word or Pages – isn’t really very thoughtful, and screams ‘Copied and Pasted’. Still, there is plenty ofinformation offered on the landing page for the website overall, which is much better than many competitors have thought fit to provide, and so at least we can be thankful of that.

The top ofthe page is dominated by the branding and logo, which is bigger than many other websites. Below this, there’s an advert for the £25 sign up bonus, which equates to 250% if you deposit £10, and is valid up to a maximum bonus of £100. Staggered down the page there are several other box outs, one of which is the Bingo Schedule, which only had two games up for playing on the day we tested the site – not really the biggest selection we’ve seen.

You’re Here for Games…

If you click on the ‘Games’ option on the top menu row on the home screen you’ll be whisked off to an area ofthe site dedicated to what games are on offer. The first ofthese are the Bingo options. 90-Ball, 75-Ball, and High 5 are all available to play, which represent the most popular forms of bingo, but perhaps there could be more. In fact, scratch that, there could definitely be more, and as such Nova Bingo is definitely missing out, or rather losing out, up against its competitors.

Next up are the Coverall Jackpots, displayed in a table that employs symbols to denote the specifics of what you can win on different games, at different times of different days ofthe week. A key is provided for you to cross reference, but ultimately this is a little confusing in our opinion, and could be better organised.

More Options

The third option is for Progressive Jackpots, and again things are a little more complicated than they really ought to be. Progressive Jackpots are always popular because they work like an accumulator- increasing the total jackpot value the more the game is played. Thanks to the way these are organised- running on different days at different times of day- it’s easy to get lost inthe muddled details.

Featured games is another option, andthese really only seem to include slot games. It’s a shame they are not labelled more obviously, as some people may find themselves under the false impression that there are no slot games on offer, when there are. The selection isn’t the finest or the most comprehensive, but it’s decent enough to distract you from the bingo. Perhaps some casino games could have been included too, which we have seen on other websites, but having no casino games is probably better than having only a couple, which looks lazy and sparse.

Assistance Required and (Partly) Delivered

Nova Bingo’s developers have taken some steps to try and ensure you don’t come at the games themselves completely blind.

If you click on How To Play, an option withinthe Games menu, you’ll be offered a series of text and graphic walkthroughs on mastering the different types of games and various ways to play the content of this website. These could, however, be a bit more user-friendly had they included some moving animation, which isn’t as complicated or expensive as some might assume, and would have ensured that theinformation doesn’t feel quite as hard to penetrate as it appears inthe current form.

Sadly, this desire to help is not continued inthe ability to contact anyone associated with the site itself. There’s no obvious menu option to click on which says ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Get In Touch’, which is both annoying and slightly unnerving – what if something goes wrong, surely we have the right to make direct contact by phone or even just email? This is likely to be an option, somewhere, but after searching for a few moments many people will probably consider walking away without so much as considering opening an account, instead preferring to simply choose another bingo site where this is clearly provided for.

Some XCiting Promotions

Nova Bingo does have a decent selection of promotions on offer – in fact, 12 in total, not including the sign up bonus we mentioned inthe opening of this review. So far so good, a few stand-outs in this section include Saucy Sundays, where Sundays become fun day after 6pm inthe evening by way of extra bonuses and great prizes.

Saturday Night Fever comes inthe form of free bingo spins and vouchers every Saturday from 8pm. Meanwhile, the exclusive VIP Club includes special benefits in return for your customer loyalty, which is always a good thing. It’s worth noting that Nova Bingo is also a member ofthe XCite loyalty scheme.

What does this mean, you may ask? Well, ultimately it means getting extra the more you play. Depending on how regularly you’re inthe game, you can be ranked as a Rookie, Pro, Master or Champ if you sign up to XCite, and each comes with its own set of benefits, increasing incrementally as you move up the rankings. Details can be found inthe XCite section ofthe website, but suffice to say this scheme is one ofthe most popular ones on theinternet for good reason – the benefits can be huge.

Nova Bingo Conclusion

Nova Bingo is certainly not the future of bingo, simply because it doesn’t really offer that much the rest don’t already do. Add to this the fact that the website looks rather outdated, and you have a case for false advertising. The developers shouldn’t worry, though- we’re far to busy to file a law suit and mount a legal battle. However, people will find this a bit off putting to say the least. Having said all that, there are some great promotions and an excellent loyalty system in place, meanwhile the games themselves are of a high enough standard to keep you interested.