How long is a piece of string? There are dozens and dozens of online bingo sites in the UK, and which is the 'best' depends upon what you expect from your online bingo site. Do you want lots of games? Do you want the best bonuses? Do you want a huge variety of slots and even casino games too?

The best way to find out which is the best online bingo site in the UK is to read our reviews and then click through, have a look around to see what is on offer, and give it a go if you like what you see! That way you will find the online bingo site that's best for you.

It is really simple, honest! The first step to playing online bingo is to sign up at an online bingo site. Once you have completed your registration you need to find a game to play. The best sites have an easy to navigate lobby that will show you all the types of games they have. There should at least be 90-ball and 75-ball bingo games to choose from, but most sites will have many more. You will need to deposit some cash as well, of course, but this should get you some nice extra bonus to play with!

Choose a room to play in and you will usually see a section where you can to buy tickets for the game, or a schedule where you can buy for a number of games in advance, then wait for the action to start! You don't have to worry about missing out if you get distracted as the numbers will be marked off for you and any winnings will be credited to your balance automatically.

In truth, not many sites offer bingo apps anymore, except the really big name bingo sites. That's mainly down to the hassle of getting such apps onto the Apple App Store or Google Play. Sites have so many rules and regulations that they have to follow if they want their apps to be hosted that it really is not worth the time and effort, given the advances in mobile software.

Don't worry though, you can still play mobile bingo and slots at almost all online bingo sites via your mobile. Just open a browser and navigate your way to the site as you would on desktop, then save it to your Homescreen for faster access next time. Read our reviews to find out which sites do have bingo apps and what we think are the best bingo apps around.

Typically, when you sign up for an online bingo site you will be given a bonus on top of the deposit you make, ranging from 50% to a possible high of around 400%. You can usually spend these bonuses in any bingo room you choose, but always check. These will usually come with wagering requirements (also known as playthrough requirements). Wagering requirements can range from just 1x your bingo bonus to 6x your deposit + bonus. So, if you make a deposit of £10 at a site with a 100% bingo bonus offer and 4x wagering requirement, that means you will have to have a win and spend £40 before being able to make a withdrawal (£10 bonus @ 100% x 4x wagering). You can usually opt-out of bonuses if you don't want to be tied in to wagering requirements.

Some sites offer bingo tickets and slot spins instead of a standard bonus. You can use these to play bingo and slots, but they are often for specified games. However, these kind of bonuses usually don't have any wagering requirements and you are free to do what you want with any money you win.

The main difference is that you have to leave your house to visit a bingo hall, but with online bingo you can play in the comfort of your own home, in your PJs and without having to do your hair! The growth in mobile bingo means you can actually play online bingo anywhere, anytime, without being restricted to strict bingo club opening and session times that often have to comply with licensing laws.

When you play land-based bingo you historically buy paper bingo cards and use a pen (called a 'dabber') to mark off the numbers that are drawn by a human bingo caller and watch carefully so you don't miss your win by not shouting in time or loud enough. The paper books would usually have only 6 tickets per game, as it was not possible to mark off any more due to the speed the numbers are called.

With online bingo you can buy dozens of tickets on your PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet screen and never miss a number as the computer marks the called numbers for you. You will also be told how close you are to winning a prize and the system will automatically stop the game if you win.

The bingo halls are catching up, however, and many now have electronic terminals that work in a similar way to online bingo sites, marking the numbers for you if you want them to.

Land-based bingo halls usually only offer 90 ball bingo, but with online bingo you get to choose from many more varied bingo variants.

All that really matters is that both are great fun!

The most common form of online bingo is 90-ball bingo, which players in the UK will be familiar with. Tickets contain fifteen numbers from the range 1 to 90 arranged in three lines of five. There are usually prizes for calling one line, two lines and the full house. There might even be a nice progressive jackpot for calling a full house in under a specific amount of numbers!

75-ball bingo is the US version of the game. Each card has 25 squares arranged in a 5x5 pattern with a free square in the middle. There are different versions of the game. In some, the cards are sold in complete sets of three so that every single possible number is covered on at least one card, but more usually in the UK the cards are sold singly. Some versions of the game see prizes offered for one, two, three, four and five lines, so offering lots of chances to win a prize. Others are known as Pattern Bingo and the numbers you require to win form a pattern on the card like a boot or a lollipop or a picnic bench.

Other popular online bingo games you will be able to play are 80-ball bingo, 52-card bingo (where playing cards are drawn instead of balls) and the frenetic and fast-paced 30-ball bingo!

Most online bingo sites offer a wide variety of bingo games with a decent array of ticket prices. Some sites offer ticket prices as low as 1p, and some even offer free bingo games!

The more you pay for your ticket the greater the prize pool is likely to be at the end of the game. Remember that prizes are usually made up of a percentage of the stakes made by players. If you want to play a game where you might win a sizeable chunk of cash if you are lucky then you will be paying at least £1 per ticket, and even as much as a tenner!

If you want to play bingo just for fun though stick to the free games or 1p, 2p or 5p a ticket - there are loads of sites offering cheap bingo tickets like this for players to enjoy.

Before you start to play, always ensure you know your budget and be sure to stick to it!

In many cases the busiest bingo rooms at any online bingo site will have the biggest prizes, because more people are buying tickets and contributing to the prize fund. It will also depend on the price of the tickets.

Some bingo games have what are known as 'progressive jackpots'. This is where a small proportion of the ticket price is held over each time and added to the jackpot amount. If the jackpot is not won during the game then it rolls over to the next game, and so on until, finally, some lucky bingo player wins it!

To win a jackpot you typically have to land a full house within a certain number of balls being drawn. For example, for a 90-ball bingo game with a progressive jackpot, you may need to fill your card completely within 30 calls. Some sites have decent progressive jackpots for calling in 40 numbers or less! Every site is different though, so check the jackpot details for each game you play!

The first-ever online bingo site was called 'Bingo Zone' and was made available to bingo players in the USA way back in 1996. The site was very basic and you could only play one version of bingo – 75-ball bingo with three bingo cards per game.

How times have moved on! These days there are hundreds of online bingo sites available to players all over the globe, allowing them to pay and play multiple forms of online bingo!

WhichBingo has been following the online bingo industry since the start and is the best place for all the best offers and up to date information on every UK online bingo site.