This is continuing the possible innovations, developments and technological marvels that we want to see in the field of online bingo, as proposed by a bunch of my Bingo-Buddies; callers, management, players, and even a Bingo-Widower (he doesn't mind the game, but thinks his wife is obsessed by it.
One of my friends, an ex-caller, is obsessed with statistics. His dream innovation would be to have, at the click of a mouse, any number of stats, some weird, some wonderful, some pointless and some intrusive! Here is his wish list:
For each person who comes online;
-their total winnings from the site and the number of games played,
-the region of the country/world they come from,
-gender and age,
-a gallery of their mug-shots
-what chat rooms they go in regularly,
For each site;
-the total amount paid in winnings per week as compared to the total stake money,
-the total number of people on the site and the average amount spent and won per person,
-the amount of time people are logged on to the site on average,
-the amount of people joining and leaving each week,
-the frequency of each number called,
-the number and total of winning numbers,
-the percentage pay out of slots on average,
As I said, he's a bit obsessed with stats and I wouldn't be comfortable with a lot of his wish list!
Another wanted speed Bingo, where there was no auto dauber, and if you didn't mark off the number within three seconds, you couldn't make it on any more of your cards. Wow! You'd really have to concentrate if you had a lot of cards! She said it was to make the game more intense and a little bit more like live land-based Bingo!
One of the strangest was that instead of the actual numbers being called, you'd have only the common names for each of the numbers, and no auto dauber. So the automated caller would say "Trombones at the big parade (instead of 76), of Kelly's Eye (instead of 1), or Key to the Door (instead of 21). The person said that the idea was to reward "serious" players who knew their Bingo! Not sure that's fair at all!
Quite a few of my friends wanted the full visual experience, live. In other words video of a live Bingo caller as he/she called the numbers. I think this is now available on some sites, provided you have the connections, applications (and a fast internet).
But probably the most mucked-up of all was from a husband-wife team who were obsessed with the Wii game SuperMariokart. They wanted all sorts of bonuses available on your cards whereby you could "steal" other people's numbers off their cards and on to your own, where you got a private individual number called for you alone, that no-one else could see or know about until after the game, and "bombs" whereby you could wipe out crossed numbers from other players' cards. That just seems to me to point to World War Three, and a whole host of complaints. Bingo is supposed to be fun, and foster a community spirit!
Not particularly impressed or convinced by any of these suggestions, which may go to show I like the online Bingo just as it is - but just don't call me a Luddite!
Good Luck!