Once upon a time I thought bingo was only a pastime old people could enjoy, but after one long road trip to a casino and a few hours of playing, however, my mind was changed and I had a blast. Since then, sadly, there hasn't been a bingo experience that could even compare to that one. Trying to capture the gameplay of bingo in a game is like trying to find a great game of bingo – it's only as fun as the experience and people surrounding it. Along comes Slingo Quest Hawaii, a bingo-esque game, which manages to capture the spirit of bingo and transform it into something that can be enjoyed by yourself.

Slingo Quest Hawaii is setup much like a regular bingo game board, filled with random numbers placed within different columns and rows. Each Slingo levels starts by giving you a game card and filling it with random numbers. Besides the numbers you'll also see a handful of lighted squares, which you need to eliminate from your board in order to complete the level and move on. The lighted squares will both form patterns, pictures, and be random depending on the level. You'll be given twenty spins to try and remove these lighted squares; fail to do so within your twenty spins and you have to retry the level.

When you right-click your mouse to spin the Slingo, it will – for lack of a better turn – sling a random group of numbers onto the bottom of your board, hopefully including a few that are on your board; if there are you can click them and remove them. Some numbers on your board are just that…numbers. When you remove some numbers, however, you'll find surprises hiding underneath, including hidden keys, different types of coins to add to your point total, and special abilities you can use to apply to your next spin. You can apply special ability spins to give you three free coins on one spin, automatic free matches, giving you a joker, etc. You'll use coins to add to your point total, jokers you can use to eliminate any number in the column it shows up in, super jokers to remove any number on the board, and other such things you can spin. A few of the non-number spins are always welcomed, but some like the coins are just a wasted opportunity and hurt you more than they help when it comes to completing the level.

The main problem with Slingo Quest Hawaii is that there just isn't much of a challenge and the one that is there is one based completely around random luck and no skill at all. When you right click your mouse to cause a spin, you have no effect on what will come up (besides occasionally being able to add a special ability to a spin). The lack of personal skill becomes an annoyance factor when you've almost completed a level, have seven spins left, and then keep spinning to only have nothing come up to help you and then you must start again. The game tries to add personal skill into the game during certain levels – like the speed Slingo levels (numbers quickly change and you have a time limit to beat it under) or battles against island inhabitants where you try to score more points than the other. For the most part, however, playing Slingo Quest Hawaii is a lot like playing bingo and a slot machine at one time.

Beyond merely trying to complete levels, you're also working towards trying to get as many points as you can. You get points added to your score by getting coins, making line clears (horizontally, vertically, and diagonally), and fully completing boards. Like the gameplay itself, getting points isn't so much about skill but rather luck.

Graphically the game is mostly just looking at numbers on a board, but the whole game is very bright and features clean and well-designed background images. Besides the background images, the game also features some nice lighting effects from the Slingo matches you make. The game doesn't feature much in the way of audio, but the background music and effects are pretty good.

Though personal skill isn't a factor in the game, I was still compelled and had a very fun time making matches and clicking on numbers. Sure, I wasn't really doing anything other than clicking on numbers as they came up, but there was a small joy there that still had me constantly playing over and over. If you're looking for a bingo experience, grab a friend and find a casino or local bingo hall. If you're looking for something more casual and that you can fire up whenever you want, however, Slingo Quest Hawaii is a nice game.

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