Slingo

Type of business	Publicly listed company
Type of site	Gambling, Social Gaming
Available in	English
Traded as	Slingo.com
Founded	1994
No. of locations	UK, US
Founder(s)	Sal Falciglia
Industry	Gambling, Social Gaming
Services	Slots, Bingo, Casino
Parent	Gaming Realms PLC
URL	slingo.com
Registration	Yes
Users	400,000+
Launched	1994
Current status	Active

Slingo is an online single and multi-player game that combines elements of slots and bingo (the name is a portmanteau of the two games). The game was created by New Jersey real estate developer, Sal Falciglia Sr. in 1994, who also founded the company Slingo, Inc. to create and market games based on the Slingo theme.^[1][2] In July 2013, RealNetworks acquired Slingo for $15.6 million,^[3] and in July 2015 RealNetworks announced that it would sell Slingo to London-based gaming company Gaming Realms.^[4] Slingo has since become popular in the UK online gambling industry, with many sites now hosting the game, including its various iterations of which there are currently 12. These are known collectively and individually as ‘Slingo Originals’ and were developed by Gaming Realms’ development and publishing branch of the same name. Both the games and brand have enjoyed commercial success, and have been praised for their playability and originality.

General Gameplay

The player received a 5x5 bingo card (sometimes called "The Matrix"), he/she then have up to 20 spins to spun the 5 reels slot and match the number on the reels that correspond to their card.

Reel 1 have a numbers between 1~15, Reel 2 have a numbers between 16~30, Reel 3 have a numbers between 31~45, Reel 4 have a numbers between 46~60, and Reel 5 have a numbers between 61~75.

During the game, other special icons may show up on the reels below the card. Jokers are wild, and can be used to mark off any number in the column in which it appears. There also a green Super Joker, which can be placed anywhere on the board.^[5] (When it appears, the Super Joker must be played first, before any other numbers.)

Devils also occasionally appear during the course of the game. If a Devil appears in place of a number, the player's score is cut in half. Frequently though, a Cherub will appears and chase the Devil away before he can take your points by shooting it with an arrow.

Gold Coins will add extra points to your score, and Free Spins, which add into your Free Spins counter (you can have up to 4 Free Spins at a time). The last four spins of the game (17, 18, 19, and 20) must be bought using points. A player may use accumulated free spins in place of the fee for any of the spins.

In some version there also a time limits as well. If a player does not take their spin within a time limit, they lose that spin. If a player does not mark off all possible numbers or Jokers within the time limit, those are considered lost.

The game is over when the player used up all 20 spins, achieves a Full Card, have insufficient points to play the Final Spins, or decided to cash out from spin 17~20 (if that option available). At the end of the game, the winner is the player who has the most points.

Spinoffs and ports

Outside of internet gaming, there have been other Slingo products, including versions of the game for PC and cell phones, and as a handheld electronic game (which features no Super Jokers, multiple Joker bonuses or cherubs due to technical limitations).

Slingo has also been spun off into Slingo-themed slot machines, and scratch-off lottery tickets.^[6][7]

A game show version of Slingo was filmed in The Philippines and Hosted by Joey de Leon on ABC5 in 2007.^[8][9] In 2008, an unsold pilot was produced in the United States, hosted by Michael Burger.^[10][11]

Scoring

Points are earned from Slingo CD-Rom to Slingo Deluxe:

NOTE: The triple, quad, and quint Jokers bonus didn't exist in the CD-Rom version.

Full card bonus, which earns a bonus proportional to the number of spins used:

NOTE: it is impossible to fill a Slingo card in less than 5 spins unless you have increasing spins freezing.

Points are deducted for:

• One of the reel landed on devil (take away one-half of your points)^[12]
• Paying for the last four spins
  • spin 17 - 500 points
  • spin 18 - 1,000 points
  • spin 19 - 1,500 points
  • spin 20 - 2,000 points ^[13]

Power-Ups

Some version of Slingo may offered you a varieties of power-ups (such as Daily Challenge), which help you score bigger, help you achieved a Full Card faster, or try to hinder you. Here are some of the example:

• All Spins Free: You do not need to pay any points for the Final Spins.
• Arrow Slingos: Adding extra 8 Slingos in an arrow pattern.
• Bonus Square: Special square that moved every spins, bonus started at 1,000 points, and decreased by 100 for each unmatched spin.
• Bounce/Bouncing Slingos: Get a chance of 12 extra Slingos by using all 5 match combinations to bounce Slingos off the side of the board.
• Devil Imp: You got a Devil Imp on your Slingo board, remove them with Joker or Super Joker before he steal half your points.
• Devil Protection: While this power-up is active, Cherub will always saved your behind.
• Extra Coins: Increase the odds of Gold Coins appeared on the reels.
• Extra Jokers: Increase the odds of Joker appeared on the reels.
• Extra Spins: Adding Extra Spins to the reels, when collected, it increased the maximum number of spins for the game (Max. 4 Extra Spins).
• Extra Super Jokers: Increase the odds of Super Joker appeared on the reels.
• Instant Slingo/Cool Joker: Instantly matching all the numbers in that column that this power-up appeared on the reels.
• Multipliers: Adding a x2, x3, and x5 to the reels. There's 2 version of this: one will only lasted for that spin, and the other will be active for a certain amount of spins.
• Nudge/Reel Nudge: If the spin have no match while you have this, the reels will be nudged to give you another chance at a match.
• Patterns: Complete the pattern will give you bonus points. There's 3 version available: Easy, Medium, and Hard.
• Platinum Coins: Adding a Platinum Coins to the reels, worth 5,000 points.
• Power Shot: Matched with any number on the column, and also marked off the squares adjacent to them (not diagonally).
• Slingo Vision: While this power-up is active, any match-able numbers on the board will light up.
• Time Attack: If you can finish the game before time ran out (not turns time), you gains 100 points per second left on the clock.

Millennium and Classic versions

For a while, the multiplayer version of Slingo was only available through AOL. A single-player version aimed at children on slingo.com was the closest members could get to the real thing. However, for the new millennium, Slingo launched a new version with newer graphics than the old game, and it had a resemblance to the graphics of the kid's version of the game. Also, the bonuses for three or more jokers were added into the game, and the Devil and Cherub cartoons were revamped. Another revision was done along with a name change in September 2009 to Slingo Classic. This included another graphics update.

Game modes

Some of the CD-ROM versions of the game had different versions of Slingo with slightly different rules:

• Classic Slingo - The original version of the Slingo game.
• Mixed Matrix Slingo - This version has all the numbers in random locations, not just limited to the traditional column. Spin Numbers can be used no matter which column it is on the board, however Jokers still can only choose numbers of the column it is under. This is a more time-based game, since it will take longer to try and search which numbers where hit and where they are.
• Duel Slingo - Play against the computer in a 2-player game board. Both the player & computer take turns alternating to clear the same board and compete to see which will get the highest score.
• Giant Slingo - Same as the original, but a new 'Giant' item is added to the game. If a giant is earned during a 'Spin' and once you choose the numbers or Jokers you can, the Giant will Spin again (except the column he was under) for 4 new numbers on the same turn. This makes it easier to clear the board with basically 2 spins on the same turn.
• Super Squares Slingo - Same as the original, however during each Spin, up to 5 of the numbers on the board will randomly turn Red each turn, indicating a 'Super Square'. Each super square is worth 1800 point bonus if that number is marked & another point bonus is added to your score if you earn a slingo from that square. Also, as well a normal Jokers for normal squares (if used on a super square, it will only count as a normal number), Red highlighted 'Super Jokers' can be used to mark super squares for the full bonus (it can also be used on normal numbers if no super square is in that column).

Computer versions

There have been some stand alone computer versions of the Slingo game.

• Slingo CD-ROM (Hasbro Interactive) 1998 ^[15]
• Slingo Deluxe (Funkitron) 2002 ^[16]
• Slingo Quest (Funkitron) 2006 - Winner of the 2006 People's Choice Zeeby Award for Best Card, Board, or Mah Jong Game ^[17]
• Slingo Quest - Hawaii (Funkitron) 2008 ^[18]
• Slingo Supreme (Funkitron) 2008
• Slingo Mystery: Who's Gold (Funkitron) 2009 ^[19][20]
• Slingo Mystery 2: The Golden Escape 2010^[21]
• Slingo Quest - Egypt (Funkitron) 2010
• Slingo Quest - Amazon (Funkitron) 2011
• Slingo Supreme 2 (Funkitron) 2012

Console versions

In December 2008, Slingo appeared on the Nintendo DS with a version of Slingo Quest. This version used the DS's touch screen to duplicate the clicking of a mouse to match numbers. The game was published by Mumbo Jumbo.^[22]

Mobile versions

There have been two iterations of Slingo for play on mobile phones.

• Slingo-To-Go from SuperHappyFunFun/Kayak Interactive (now part of Oberon Media) 2005 - The game featured direct play between the users of the mobile game and players on Slingo.com.^[23]
• Slingo Quest Mobile (Slingo Bingo in EU) from SuperHappyFunFun/Iplay 2007 - This is the mobile version of the Zeeby Award Winning Slingo Quest ^[24]

Casino versions

Slingo has partnered with high-profile casino organizations such as AC Coin & Slot,^[25] IGT - International Game Technology, Spielo / Gtech, Planet Bingo, Sunkist Graphics, Gamelogic, and United States Playing Card Company to bring the Slingo game play to the casino floor.

Locations^[26]

• Bally's Atlantic City
• Caesars Atlantic City
• Paris Las Vegas
• Harrah's Reno

Games currently on casino floors include:

• Slingo Bonus Reel Slots
• Slingo Video Slots^[27]
• Brasil Slingo Video Slots
• Triple Slingo Jackpot
• Bonus Bet 21
• Slingo Bonus Deluxe^[28]
• Slingo Bonus Deluxe Community
• Slingo Classic Bonus^[29]

Handheld version

The Slingo LCD handheld^[30] game was created in partnership with Tiger Electronics in 1998. It plays similarly to the Classic & Millenium versions of Slingo, but it lacks Super Jokers, and multiple Joker bonuses due to technical limitations (there also a version that included Cherub).

References

External links

• Official Website