Bingo Rush 2 Review

The Earth is home to many people who are capable of wonderful, mysterious things. There are people who can fall into a meditation so deep, that they don’t require food or water for days at a time. There are people who can walk amongst wolves and lions without fear.

And then there are people who are capable of playing eight Bingo cards without suffering a mental and physical breakdown. It is for these half-fey that Bingo Rush 2 exists. Everyone else – that is, anyone who plays Bingo for ten minutes at a time and is content with managing one or two cards simultaneously – will find a basic free-to-play Bingo experience.

Bingo Rush 2

There isn’t a lot about Bingo Rush 2 that’s different from Buffalo’s original Bingo Rush. The core premise is Bingo, a game that everyone in the Western world has played at least once (until they discovered it’s more fun to use the dauber on the walls, ceiling, or cat).

To oblige anyone who’s been living in a cave on Mars: A letter and a number are simultaneously called out by an announcer (e.g., “B 10”). If the number and letter exist on your card, you mark it. If you get five letter-number match-ups going horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, you get to shriek “BINGO!” and wave your fanny at the chain-smoking grandmother playing next to you.

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A couple daubs short of a “Bingo!”

The Earth is home to many people who are capable of wonderful, mysterious things. There are people who can fall into a meditation so deep, that they don’t require food or water for days at a time. There are people who can walk amongst wolves and lions without fear.

And then there are people who are capable of playing eight Bingo cards without suffering a mental and physical breakdown. It is for these half-fey that Bingo Rush 2 exists. Everyone else – that is, anyone who plays Bingo for ten minutes at a time and is content with managing one or two cards simultaneously – will find a basic free-to-play Bingo experience.

Bingo Rush 2

There isn’t a lot about Bingo Rush 2 that’s different from Buffalo’s original Bingo Rush. The core premise is Bingo, a game that everyone in the Western world has played at least once (until they discovered it’s more fun to use the dauber on the walls, ceiling, or cat).

To oblige anyone who’s been living in a cave on Mars: A letter and a number are simultaneously called out by an announcer (e.g., “B 10”). If the number and letter exist on your card, you mark it. If you get five letter-number match-ups going horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, you get to shriek “BINGO!” and wave your fanny at the chain-smoking grandmother playing next to you.

Since Bingo Rush 2 is a single-player online experience, there is no gloating or fanny-waving. The fact that there’s no option to play online with friends is a bit of a downer. Bingo is at its best when you’re playing it surrounded by crowds of anxious, potentially angry people. That said, Bingo Rush 2 does give you the option of playing up to eight cards at once, which is pretty intense. It’s also near-impossible unless you’re a Bingo seer: Each match lasts less than two minutes, and scrolling up and down through all those cards is no simple task.

Bingo Rush 2

It’s not a bad idea to take Bingo Rush 2 slow and easy, anyway. Since it’s a free-to-play game, you’re allotted a supply of cards when you begin playing, and that supply runs out pretty quickly. You get five free cards every three hours (rather, you receive five green coins that can be used to buy cards or elaborate power-ups that give you the edge in a game), but as you might expect, you’ll need to break out your wallet if you want to keep playing after your initial binge.

Of course, whether or not you’ll want to keep playing depends on your feelings about Bingo and the original Bingo Rush. Again, there’s little new about Bingo Rush 2 compared to its predecessor, other than some new cities to play in and a whole new mess of collectables to grab as prizes. These digital tchotchkes are doled out as random prizes at the end of rounds, and are admittedly fun to collect and sift through.

If you love online Bingo, or if you’re simply enraptured by the idea of legally playing Bingo in your underwear, you don’t have much to lose from going a few rounds with Bingo Rush 2. If you’re a serious player, it should tide you over until the warmer weather draws the enthusiasts out of their lairs and into stuffy fairground tents.

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      60 out of 100
      In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.