Blackout Bingo: Does It Really Make You Money?

Anyone with a healthy view of their finances wants to maximize their earning power while spending as little money as possible. I’m seriously hoping this is the kind of common sense thinking I don’t have to explain to you brilliant readers (and I know you’re brilliant because you’re reading my writing).

I live well within my means, spend money responsibly and save judiciously, but this year has been hard on our family for reasons I will not get into in this article. We’ve accumulated more debt, earned less money and are just generally not feeling as “flush” as we used to. As such, I have been more open to new opportunities than I had been in the past. 

I read a few listicles that caught my eye about how to make money “easily” with resources that you already have. As a former financial advisor and educator, I was naturally suspect. There is no easy, no risk route to earning money other than, unfortunately, work. 

I kept seeing the “same ol, same ol” advice online. 

“Sell things you’re not using!” -I already have. 

“Rent out your pool!” -That is a homeowners’ liability claim waiting to happen so thank you, no. 

“Play Blackout Bingo!” -Ok, Maybe?

Blackout Bingo! Pay Your Rent Just By Playing This Game! (Please, don’t believe that)

I suspected immediately that this “app that pays you real money just for playing a game” was, at best, a gambling situation and at worst, a scam. But I am interested in uncovering truths for my readers, so I went ahead and downloaded it. This is what transpired. 

I created a “free account” and it let me play a few games, gratis. But to play any of the games where I’d win real money, there was an entry fee-an entry fee that required I put up actual money that belonged to me. 

I would have “noped” right out of that immediately, but I wanted to get to the bottom of it… for you. So I paid my $18 and put it in my Blackout Bingo account. And I started playing. If we’re being transparent, I’d had a couple of glasses of wine at this point, so I wasn’t super clear on the rules or the methods of gameplay, but I persisted. And I won. A lot. 

I don’t mean that I won a lot of money, I mean I won a lot of games; and I paid an “entry fee” for every one. The entry fee was $1.80 and, if I won the game, I got $3. I essentially earned $1.20 for every game that I won. But I didn’t win every game. I won about ⅔ of them, which still shook out to a profit, albeit a small one. 

I sit on my porch every morning before my workday starts and I drink my coffee and play some mindless mobile games in silence before the rest of my family demands my attention. I love that time-it is sacred. Normally I play Gardenscapes or Phase 10…neither of which have the potential to earn me any money. So I figured, why not substitute those games with one I could actually win money? Because, like I said, I was winning ⅔ of my games. If I’m going to sit around for an hour in the morning drinking coffee and playing a game on my ipad, I might as well get paid for it, right?

I spent the next solid 72 hours committed to Blackout Bingo. I mean, the game IS fun. After 3 days, I’m down like $4. I started off strong and won all my games, all the while getting better at the game-play. But a curious thing happened. The better I got at the game, the fewer games I won. That’s not the way skill development happens in real life. 

We have to remember that we’re talking about a mobile app game that is designed to make money. Of course it’s going to trick you into thinking (in the beginning) that you’re so great at the game. The algorithm is most likely designed to allow new players to win more often than established ones…so that when they start to lose, they’ll reload their accounts. 

I won almost all of my games in the first 24 hours I played…and I didn't actually know what I was doing. When I figured out how to play, what the strategy was and how to optimize it, I started winning LESS OFTEN. Blackout Bingo wants me to believe that my losing is just a fluke; if I reload money into my account I’ll surely win again. But I won't. 

In life, there are no magic pills. If you want to be thin, it boils down to diet and exercise. If you want to be successful, it boils down to hard work. Blackout Bingo is fun, I’ll admit it, but it’s just a gambling game designed for no winners but the house.