The X Factor was a television sensation in the United Kingdom, with almost 450 episodes broadcast during its 15-series run. Simon Cowell came up with the idea for a talent contest-style reality television program after seeing the success of Big Brother a couple of years earlier. X Factor winners became a regular feature in the Christmas music charts for the next 15 years. Success inevitably leads to licensing and marketing opportunities, such as Playtech’s 90-Ball X Factor Bingo, for example!
The question is, how do you take a talent show and adapt it to a format such as online bingo? That is a tricky question, and I suspect that Playtech probably struggled with it for a while! In the end, they came up with a Judges Desk Feature, a bonus round of sorts that gives the full house winner an opportunity to boost their winnings with an additional £5, £50, £100, or £500. If you opt to play the game at Mecca Bingo, guaranteed prizes are available at certain times of the week.
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*10 Free Spins No Deposit: First 10 spins: Players who have successfully verified their mobile phone number and completed age verification will be credited 10 free spins on Squealin’ Riches 20p per spin, no maximum win. Subsequent 30 spins: First deposit only. Min deposit & spend £10. Max 30 spins on Fishin Frenzy Megaways at 10p per spin. Spins credited upon spend of £10. Full T&Cs apply. 18+ Please Play Responsibly. BeGambleAware.org.
£5 Deposit
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*Up to £120 Bonus: New customers only. Deposit and stake £10 on bingo to qualify within 7 days of initial deposit. Some prizes have wagering requirements and expiry dates. Country restrictions apply. See full t&cs for more detail. 18+ Please Play Responsibly. BeGambleAware.org. #AD
£10 Deposit
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First-time depositors only (18+ country restrictions apply). Min deposit: £10. Max offer: 2,500 Free Bingo Tickets (on 250 on Street Party valid for 21 days & 2,250 For Kaching valid for 24 days) & 25 Pending Free Spins (on a game of our choice). Promo code: BINGO25. Free Spins are valid for 7 days & will be available once £5 of deposit funds have been wagered. FS winnings are capped at £2.50. All winnings are credited to your real money balance. We reserve the right to deny promotional offers based on abusive bonus activity across sites operated by the Company. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time (UK only). General withdrawal restrictions & full T&Cs apply. Valid until further notice. View Full T&Cs.
200% Bonus
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First-time depositors only (18+ country restrictions apply). Min deposit: £10. Max offer: 200% Bingo Bonus up to £20 & 50 Free Spins (on Starburst). 10 Free Spins will be credited per day, across 5 days. Promo code: BONUS200. Any Bingo Bonus winnings, if applicable, must be wagered 4x before withdrawal. Any Free Spins winnings, if applicable, will be credited as bonus funds. FS winnings must be wagered 99x before withdrawal. Free Spins are valid for 7 days. Games Bonus win cap: £100 + original bonus amount. Wagering contribution varies by game. We reserve the right to deny bonuses based on abusive bonus activity across sites operated by the Company. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time (UK only). General withdrawal restrictions apply. Valid until 31.12.2023 View Full T&Cs.
£10 Deposit
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First-time depositors only (18+ country restrictions apply). Min deposit: £10. Max offer: 100% Bingo Bonus up to £10 & 50 Free Spins (on Starburst). 10 Free Spins will be credited per day, across 5 days. Promo code: FREE50. Any Bingo Bonus winnings, if applicable, must be wagered 4x before withdrawal. Any Free Spins winnings, if applicable, will be credited as bonus funds. FS winnings must be wagered 99x before withdrawal. Free Spins are valid for 7 days. Games Bonus win cap: £100 + original bonus amount. Wagering contribution varies by game. We reserve the right to deny bonuses based on abusive bonus activity across sites operated by the Company. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time (UK only). General withdrawal restrictions apply. Valid until further notice. View Full T&Cs.
£10 Deposit
Our Score
First-time depositors only (18+ country restrictions apply). Min deposit: £10. Max offer: 2,500 Free Bingo Tickets (on 250 on Street Party valid for 21 days & 2,250 For Kaching valid for 24 days) & 25 Pending Free Spins (on a game of our choice). Promo code: BINGO25. Free Spins are valid for 7 days & will be available once £5 of deposit funds have been wagered. FS winnings are capped at £2.50. All winnings are credited to your real money balance. We reserve the right to deny promotional offers based on abusive bonus activity across sites operated by the Company. Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time (UK only). General withdrawal restrictions & full T&Cs apply. Valid until further notice. View Full T&Cs.
Most online bingo rooms don’t really go to great lengths with their themes, but I expected a little bit more from The X Factor, considering that it was such a big-name license. In reality, it doesn’t appear that a huge amount of effort went into creating this game – the backgrounds look great, and the announcer is suitably dramatic, but the end result is still close to being interchangeable with any number of other 90-Ball bingo games. My benchmark here would be: “If I were a fan of the show, would I be attracted to this game?” and the answer would probably be no – that’s not to say it’s a bad game of bingo, it’s just that it has almost nothing to do with the TV show!
The tickets used in X Factor bingo are of the standard 90-Ball variety, meaning that you get three rows of five numbers each. Each round offers three prizes – one line, two lines, and a full house. The game features guaranteed prize minimums at certain times of the week, so I recommend keeping an eye on the schedule at your favourite bingo site and participating during the promoted hours. Mecca Bingo offers either £50 or £100 guaranteed every night between 9PM and 11PM, and if you can catch this on a quiet day, it can significantly improve the game's Return To Player (RTP) percentage.
If you are an early morning bingo player, this certainly won’t be the best game for you, as the X Factor Bingo is only available between 10AM and 12AM daily. Ticket prices vary according to the time of day and the number of players participating in each round – the specified range is between £0.05 and £0.50 per ticket, although it always seemed to be either £0.15 or £0.20 whenever I was watching the game. Each player can purchase between one and 36 tickets for each round.
After buying your tickets, wait for the countdown to hit zero, and the action begins! The announcer will start calling out random numbers between 1 and 90, and the computer will then cross off any matching digits that correspond with your purchased tickets automatically. Three prizes are offered during each round: one line, two lines, and the full house. Prizes are divided equally whenever multiple players hit a win on the same number.
The X Factor does include a single bonus round dubbed ‘The Judges Desk’, but it’s only offered to the full house winner, so you won’t be seeing it very often. I’d been hoping for a little bit more in this regard – the Deal or No Deal bingo games did a fantastic job of incorporating aspects of the television show into the action, but unfortunately, I’m unable to say the same about this game.
The judges have bought a single ticket to play bingo (I know! Those rich folk only bought ONE ticket! What absolute scrooges!), which is displayed on the left of the screen in between the call area and the ticket area.
The numbers on the judge's card will be marked off as they are called, just as those on your tickets. At the moment a full house is called, the state of the judges’ card will be checked to determine if the winner should receive an additional prize:
The regular prizes offered by a typical online bingo game are often small, certainly when compared to those available via slots and casino games. Progressive jackpots help to move the goalposts here, however, and I have no doubt that many bingo players would refuse to play a game that didn’t have any jackpot whatsoever!
The jackpot offered in Pick & Mix isn’t the biggest you will find at an online bingo site, as it’s exclusive to this game only. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as a game-specific jackpot is typically much easier to win than a network jackpot. If you are lucky enough to win, half of the money is paid directly to you, with the remaining 50% being divided equally amongst all other players who purchased tickets for that round.
As an X Factor game, this title probably falls a good distance short of the mark. Cast the name aside, however, and when considered as nothing more than an online game of 90-Ball bingo, it’s actually rather good! Still, it’s a shame that the odds for the judges’ desk feature aren’t published – I’d love to know what the chances of hitting the various top-up prizes might be!
Article by Chris Howlett
Chris has over 11 years of experience playing and writing about bingo and online slots.