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To daub or not to daub, that is the question

By Nathan Howes

One significant difference of the Bingo games offered at online Bingo sites compared with the 'traditional' high-street halls is the actual need to daub your tickets to win. A player's daubing dexterity is a skill that can make all the difference in winning a Bingo game played at a high street club, or other real-word venue; a player slow to spot and daub off a final number they need on a ticket as it's called could get beaten to a prize! With Internet Bingo games such skill simply isn't required as autodaubing is de rigeur.

Autodaubing is a feature of all the real-money and free Bingo games you'll find at Internet Bingo sites and does what it says on the tin. As numbers are called during a game any matches on a player's ticket are crossed off automatically, and any winning ticket is also automatically rewarded with the appropriate prize when the final number of a line / pattern is matched. Because of this, all online Bingo games are purely games of luck and a player has no control over the outcome beyond choosing which tickets they want to play during a session.

For traditional fans of Bingo, autodaubing may feel like a cheat but it is a necessary element of online Bingo. It is implemented to allow fair play and ensure a player with a winning ticket isn't deprived of their just reward should a hiccup in their Internet service cut them off prematurely from an online Bingo site after they've purchased tickets, but before a game has completed. For Bingo fans who like to sneak in a cheeky session at work it's also a Godsend, since you can exit a Bingo site quickly if the boss is coming, safe in the knowledge that any tickets you've got in play will continue to be daubed accordingly – next time you log in you may receive the pleasant surprise of a bundle of winnings credited to your account from a game you had to leave mid-session!

Manual daubing is a user option common to most online Bingo games, but it is a facility that's 'just for fun'. Whist a player can happily hone their daubing skills by clicking on their ticket numbers that match a called number it won't actually affect the ultimate outcome of a game. Behind the scenes at all online Bingo sites their computers are logging the tickets in play and which numbers have been matched so far. This way the Bingo site knows when a winner happens and can immediately announce it to the players, finishing the game when the top prize can be claimed.

On the face of it the automated play of online Bingo games may sound like it strips all the fun out of playing Bingo (it certainly removes any element of skill) however judging from the extraordinary popularity of Internet Bingo sites that doesn't seem to matter one jot to the massive community of players who flock to play their games daily! It would seem the lure of Chat facilities, free Bingo to win real money and other Instant Win games such as slots makes up for any disappointment arising from autodaubing.

Perhaps the best way to judge if the online Bingo game tickles your fancy as a fun way to spend some time on the Web is to have a go yourself. Nowadays many reputable online Bingo sites offer free Bingo games and / or free Bingo bonuses to new players, giving you a great way to test drive the games at no cost and check out the social side of the community already playing there. You may even win some real money! If that sounds tempting, a quick trip to an independent review site like InternetBingo.co.uk is a handy way to find and compare the free Bingo offers currently being offered and ensure you're visiting a Bingo site that's been vetted as both fun and fair.

Returning to the question posed in the title of this article, the truth is it makes no real difference whether you choose to manually daub your tickets or leave it to the autodauber in an online Bingo game. Interestingly, for millions of Bingo fans that limitation clearly doesn't affect the fun they're having playing online Bingo sites and, when all things are considered, that's what really matters.

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