Tonight GSN debuts their new show Bingo America in just a bit minutes, and this might be interesting. Their site seems to not be working right now, so either there’s major issues on their end or a lot more people are downloading cards than they expected. But hey, you get to play along with the questions at the very least so that’s a plus. It’s a pretty decent show for the first 27 minutes before it drags to a halt in the end game, so just be warned. I’d love to hear your thoughts, as would GSN. Be sure to leave a comment, and also give your star rating (0 to 5) in the POST INFO box when you click on the story’s headline. Hope you like it.

Network: GSN Airings: Weekdays at 7:00PM ET Host(s): Patrick Duffy and Crystal Wallasch Vote for how many stars you think the show deserves to the right, and then leave a comment! Bingo America is the retooled edition of ABC’s failed National Bingo Night. In this version, one of 76 balls (75 numbers plus one wild card) falls from the chute. Home viewers mark the number off and the host then asks a question. A right answer adds the letter to that player’s board and adds the number of the ball into the game’s bank which starts at $500 each episode. The goal is to spell B-I-N-G-O to win the round. Two rounds wins the bank, the game, and the chance to play the Bonus Board, picking numbers randomly, to win up to $100,000. Home viewers who get a bingo win $50.

Bingo America’s a pretty decent little show. The main game runs along pretty quickly and never feels that boring to me. They fixed a major issue the ABC version had: if you don’t like to play bingo, you’re out of luck. With the questions thrown in, you can play two different games at once. The main issue is the end game. It’s so slow it’s annoying and really destroys the entire basis of the bingo show. Going from a bingo and quiz show to a random number matching end game is jarring and could use a fix. Host Patrick Duffy is fine but the game moves along so quickly he doesn’t get a chance to interact with the contestants that much. Co-host Crystal Wallasch is truthfully pointless in her current position. She never says a word except for the number on the ball. If they want a co-host, she should be allowed to act more like one. The set’s a bit barren but nice in the main play areas. The theme music is standard game show fare.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Links
GSN’s Official Website