“Suggestion Box” is a nice feature that PaddyPower has in their bingo section. It is just like a small banner in the bottom right corner, and when a player clicks on it a new window opens up where players can give feedback to PaddyPower regarding the bingo.
This is a very simple and cheap way to communicate with your players, and by calling it a “Suggestion Box” the players don’t expect it to be any kind of fast support when you run into problems.
It is a nice feature that should be …

NYX Interactive has acquired Cashball Ltd, a bingo operator, from Bonnier Group.
It is a good move since every game developer needs to be in close to the actual players. NYX Interactive will by running their own operation be able to try out new features and approaches much easier than if they had to do it with one of your customers (the ones running the operation).
/Staffan

Have you ever forgotten what your username is for a gaming portal? I have!
I’ve registered for on a lot of gaming portals and it is always a hassle to find a username that isn’t already taken. And when I finally figure one out then I have a hard time remembering it if I come back a couple of months later.
This is not unique for me. Many players go to one portal and play for a while then move on to another and then come back to the first portal weeks …

Today most gaming portals offer bingo, casino, games, poker and a sportsbook. Is this the best way? Look at Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and PartyGaming who promote brands for one kind of game.
For instance players go to PokerStars to play poker, but when you go to for instance bwin, Unibet, Ladbrokes and many more gaming portals it is difficult to know what the player want to play.
Almost all gaming portals offering many different games have a start page where they show their different offerings where the player have to make a choice …

Playing together with friends is always fun. But it isn’t easy to do at gaming portals today.
So I am looking forward to when we’ll see online tournaments in bingo, casino and poker where you play as a team with your friends against other teams.
The nice part with this is that you can make tournaments where the team members can play when they want and don’t have to be online playing at the same time.
An example of a tournament would be “Play €0,5/€1 texas hold’em tables between March 1st and March …

I wrote about bingo back in the beginning of december, Why do all bingo clients look the same? Where are the innovations?, but there are a few companies doing some innovations.
We have seen Live Casinos (where you play online against a real dealer) for a while and now it is showing up in bingo clients as well. One company doing this is Atac Media.
I think having a real person calling out the numbers will be more fun. The problem is that I couldn’t try it out. The bingo opens at …

This year’s International Gaming Expo (IGE), incorporating ICEi, is over and I’m back home. My reflections from the expo are mixed.
Most positive: I was impressed by Net Entertainment and  Betsoft’s games. The quality in their games is really good. It is especially interesting to see that Betsoft incorporate their controls as a part of the game.
Most negative: The Innovative Showcase (it was a new addition addition to IGE 2010 that gave exhibitors the opportunity to present to IGE visitors) was a major dissapointment! Many of the presenters didn’t even show up for their presentations, …

Do you develop gaming software?
Do you prototype?
If you do prototyping then great! If you don’t, then it is time to start doing it!
A prototype is a representative model of the final product.
Why should you build prototypes?
Prototyping is an interative and generative process. You’ll never get the best solution at your first try. Prototyping will give you many new ideas when you work through the prototyping process. It helps you get your ideas into something everyone can play around with. This will generate lots of feedback and ideas for new and …

When will we see new innovations when it comes to online bingo?
Today almost every bingo client have the same functionality:

Buy tickets/Play bingo
Play minigames
Chat

There are great opportunities to create an online bingo that is much more integrated with social media. Why not let players do stuff (besides chatting)?
And when will we see bingo sites where you don’t just open up a bingo client in a new window, insted have the bingo incorportated with other stuff?
There is so much that could be done!
So why don’t you get started? (need help? send me …

Cashcade and their Foxybingo.com won the Bingo Operator of The Year 2009 award at the EGR Awards yesterday.
This made me curious about their bingo portal and I went their to register an account to try it out.
But why do I have to give away my credit card details right away? I want to look at the site and bingo client before I do!
Operators need to work on their registration processes to optimize both the benefits for the players but also to get as many as possible to register. I for …

This week I’ve looked at the Parlay5 bingo client by Parlay. I’ve played on the Rehab Bingo skin.
All bingo clients on the market today looks very similar and they all offer the same things, a bingo client where you can:

Play bingo
Play other games (minigames inside the client or games in new windows)
Chat with other bingo players

I don’t think the online bingo today is as good as it could be and I believe that the bingo software suppliers are afraid to be different from the others on the market. When will …

This weeks 20 minute redesign will be the Parlay Entertainment’s bingo client (Parlay5).
So make sure you check back on sunday for the redesign.
/Staffan

Maria Bingo is one of the few bingo portal having community features. On their portal players have their own personal page including blog, photos, friends and more.
I think this is a step i the right direction. Especially since bingo really is a social game with alot of chat in it.
On Maria Bingo they also have a cool feature called Maria’s world. It is an interactive map showing all players who are online at the moment and where they are from. You can also zoom in and click on a player …

I always get annoyed when something interupts what I am doing. Recently when I was at Svenska Spel and their bingo I got a pop up while trying to buy bingo tickets for the next round.
I was selecting tickets when a pop up alert saying “It is 30 seconds until the game starts. Don’t forget to buy tickets. Good luck!”. But WHY did I get the pop up when I was already on my way to buy tickets? On top of that I had to click on the little “OK” …

Virgin Games has announced that they will create a one-account solution for their bingo, casino and poker games.
This means that the players only need one login to play the different games and have one money wallet.
A one-account solution is great and I for one will look forward to try it out. Will the player transfer money into the games or will it be a direct-purchase solution?
I’m also pleased to see that a gaming company put focus on the user experience (or customer experience as they call it). CEO of Virgin …