Farm Bingo
Ah, life on the farm! Hard work, delicious crops, loveable barnyard animals: there’s nothing quite like living out in the fields, growing corn and raising cattle. It’s a theme that is instantly recognizable in most parts of the world, as everyone needs food – and farms are exactly where the world gets its meals.
Given how important these institutions are to, well, everyone, it comes as little surprise that the recognizable imagery of farms have been widely used throughout media, including in the online gambling world. That includes online bingo, where animals and plants can be a fun way to bring such games to life. One example is Farm Bingo, an offering created by Patagonia Entertainment. This game is very similar to some of the other bingo games created by Patagonia, with a few twists that make it a unique version that could attract its own set of fans.
Sowing Your Fields
Farm Bingo is a game that gives players quite a few choices during the initial setup of each round. When you first start playing, you’ll be presented with four standard, 75-number bingo cards, similar to the version of the game popularly played at churches and charity halls throughout North America. Players have the option of setting a bet size at the bottom of the screen, with a variety of options available (the specifics may depend on the site, but a typical bet is 0.25 of whatever currency you are playing in).
Players also have the option of choosing how many tickets they wish to play. While the full four will be displayed to start, you can toggle each card on or off by clicking on them. Since you’ll be paying for each card independently, this is another way to manage the size of your wager. There’s also one final bit of visual customization you can do on each card.
At the center of each ticket, you get a “free square,” this time designated by a type of crop. You can click to change to your favorite vegetable, if you like: tomatoes, corn, pumpkins, and radishes are among the potential choices, though this has no actual impact on gameplay. Slightly more impactful is the “new tickets” button, which will generate new numbers for you on each card. The max bet button is also available if you quickly want to wager as much as possible on the next round.
Once you’re all set with your bets (and your veggies), you can hit the play button to start the game. The action begins with numbers tumbling from the top of the screen down to a holding pen in the center of the screen. In total, you’ll watch as 44 randomly selected balls enter; as each number is selected, the corresponding spots on your cards will also be marked off.
Your hope is that you will fill in certain patterns on your cards in order to win prizes. There are a wide variety of potential winning patterns you can make; the harder they are to complete, the bigger the potential reward. On each ticket, you’ll earn a prize immediately when you make that pattern; making further patterns later on will increase your reward to the higher amount. Here’s a rundown of the patterns you can aim for:
- Single Horizontal Line: 1x Ticket Price
- Two Horizontal Lines: 8x
- Tree Pattern: 15x
- Letter “T”: 25x
- Middle Three Vertical Lines: 100x
- Outside Frame: 500x
- Large Letter “A”: 1,000x
- Blackout (Complete Card Covered): 2,000x
Some of these names aren’t perfectly descriptive, but don’t worry: all of the necessary patterns are displayed in full right on the screen, so you’ll know exactly what you need before you start playing.
Your initial 44 numbers may well earn you some prizes, but it will also likely put you frustratingly close to winning some even larger rewards. Thankfully, you’ll have an option to try and complete some of these patterns. You will be given the opportunity to purchase an extra ball for a price that is determined both by the stakes you are playing for and the current status of your tickets. That means that while you won’t have to pay much at all if you’re not in danger of completing a big combination, you should expect to pay big bucks for the opportunity to finish off a full card.
If you do decide to take an extra ball, it will be released and added to the ones already marked off on your cards. You’ll then have the ability to make the same choice again, taking an extra number if you like. Again, the price will be determined based on the current situation. You may take up to 10 extra balls this way, though they are all optional: at any point, you can select the “no” button in order to stop taking new numbers.
A Full Basket
While you’re playing the main game, you’ll also be working towards the possibility of entering a bonus round. As you spend and win credits, you’ll notice that the fruit basket near the center of the area where the balls are displayed begins to fill up with a variety of produce. Once this basket is completely filled, you’ll watch as a farmer drives across the screen in order to take you into a special bonus round.
In this second-screen feature, you’ll be presented with a grid of 12 different stores and restaurants – the kinds of places where you might find fresh farm-to-table food. Click on a store, and you’ll instantly receive a reward of credits. You’ll be allowed to continue clicking until you fail to reveal a prize, at which point you’ll collect your winnings and return to the main game. You can sometimes earn hundreds or even thousands of credits in this game, making it a very lucrative feature to trigger.
We should also note that there is a jackpot that’s up for grabs when you play this game. If you play for at least three credits per card, and on the maximum of four cards, you’ll see that a jackpot amount is displayed above the ball area. This prize is yours if you can fill a whole card without paying for any extra balls.
No Skill, But Some Decisions to Make
If you like games of strategy, Farm Bingo isn’t for you. At almost all times, you’ll be at the mercy of fate, as there just isn’t anything you can do to influence your odds of getting a specific number of having a lucky card. And while return to player figures aren’t available, we feel pretty comfortable in saying that, like other specialty and bingo-based games, there’s probably a very healthy house edge here.
That said, there are a couple spots where this game does give you something to think about. The most obvious one is when it comes to deciding whether or not to take extra balls after the main portion of the game is over. In general, we’re pretty sure the answer is no: as in other Patagonia games, there appears to be a house edge baked into each of these offers, though we have noticed that it seems to be lower than in some of the other games we’ve covered from this company. Still, giving away any extra edge is never a good idea, so unless you really feel the need to take a shot at a massive prize and are willing to pay for it, we’d advise against taking those extras.
One other tip: make sure you continue playing when you get near triggering the bonus. This might seem obvious, but it’s worth remembering that if you quit just before you’ve taken advantage of the free credits that come in this special feature, you’re giving away a lot of money that you’ve earned to the casino. That also makes immediately after playing the special round the perfect time to end a session.
A Fun Trip to the Country
While many of the Patagonia Entertaiment games share similar elements, Farm Bingo still stands out from the crowd a bit. The number of different patterns that can score you wins is quite high, the extra ball feature feels a bit more fair than in some other titles, and the non-random aspect of the bonus feature makes the game just a bit more predictable, helping players keep a bit more control over their play.
Are there downsides? Sure: the graphics aren’t anything to write home about, and in other ways, the lack of a random special feature can be a downside, as it can lead to the gameplay becoming repetitive (and potentially boring) much more rapidly than in some other games. Overall, however, this is a solid entry for those who enjoy bingo-based action, and awards large prizes often enough to keep most users interested for plenty of rounds.
