We’ve all been there at some point – it’s Friday Night, the bank account is empty, and there doesn’t seem to be much to do. What now? How about a free game of bingo? Cheaper than Chips is a 90-Ball game offered by Mecca and several of their sister sites, such as Kitty Bingo and Lucky Pants Bingo, and gives you the opportunity to win £10 every five minutes – completely free of charge!
There aren’t many bells and whistles to tell you about with Cheaper than Chips, which is perhaps unsurprising given that the bingo rooms are guaranteed to make a loss by offering this game. The idea of games such as this is that they are the equivalent of a loss-leader in regular retail – offering a free game of bingo will hopefully ensure some loyalty from their player base and keep their site on player’s minds even when they don’t have anything left in their entertainment budget that week.
No Deposit Needed
Our Score
*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
Our Score
*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
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.
200% Bonus
Our Score
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
Our Score
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.
So, what can you expect from a completely free bingo game? Cheaper than Chips is a traditional 90-Ball game, the most popular bingo format in the United Kingdom and much of Europe. The game plays similarly to the 75-Ball format, which is more common in the United States, but the ticket designs are slightly different. In addition, the theme is quite basic – there are no special graphics, and the colour scheme isn’t especially inviting or attractive either. Still, you can’t complain too much when each round costs you nothing to participate in, can you?
Anybody that has played a 90-Ball game before will be instantly familiar with the tickets used in Cheaper than Chips. Each ticket or card has three rows, each showing five numbers with four empty spaces. Each game round offers three prizes – one for the first player to complete a single line of numbers, another for filling two out of the three, and a final prize for three lines – also known as a full house. I’m not sure what determines how many tickets each player is allowed to ‘purchase’ – some rounds I played had a limit of 12 tickets per player, while others allowed me to purchase 120! However, the prizes were always the same - £2, £3, and £5 for the one-line, two-line, and full-house payouts, respectively.
This is a very straightforward bingo game to play – you don’t need any money in your account, simply join the room, ‘purchase’ the maximum number of tickets you can, and then sit back and wait for the next round to begin. Each round lasts around five minutes, but if a game completes faster than this, there may also be a short delay of up to two minutes between rounds. If you have never played 90-Ball bingo before, check out our dedicated guide to get yourself in the know.
As mentioned earlier, some rounds permit players to have up to 120 tickets each, whilst some reduce this to just 12. This can make a massive difference to the chances that more than one player will hit a prize on the same call. If every player has 120 tickets, there is a very high chance that more than one player will be splitting each prize, which will result in each of those players only collecting a few pennies for their trouble. During the rounds that I observed, it seemed that two or three players would typically hit their number on the same call, reducing the value of the three prizes to just £0.66, £1.00, and £1.66 for the one-line, two-line, and full house prizes respectively.
Nothing to report here, I’m afraid! You can’t really have a progressive jackpot without players contributing to the jackpot pool, after all. Still, it would have been nice if Mecca had decided to add a bonus round or two to the game – even if it was only for certain promotional hours when the site is particularly busy.
As it stands, Cheaper than Chips is a decent enough 90-Ball game and one of very few that you will find online offering real money prizes for zero outlay. It may not be the best-looking game around, and the prizes may not be the largest, but the fact that it costs you nothing to play will undoubtedly ensure that Cheaper than Chips continues to be one of the most popular games at every site that offers it.
Article by Chris Howlett
Chris has over 11 years of experience playing and writing about bingo and online slots.