Zynga Slingo Combines Past and Present in New Social Game [PICS]

Take a spin on Facebook with Zynga’s new Slingo game — that’s slots and bingo combined.
On Wednesday, social game creator Zynga launched Slingo for Facebook. If you’ve been a fan of online games for a long time, you might have played Slingo in the past — the game started on America Online 15 years ago.
“Anybody who’s played Slingo in the past will feel right at home,” says Rich Sawel, product manager for Zynga Slingo.
Zynga Slingo combines the classic features of Slingo with the glitz and pizzazz of Zynga games.
Players click “spin” and match numbers to fill a bingo card. They can bump up their score by earning balls and coins. Get a “bingo” by matching five numbers vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Players can wager their points — the whole loot or just a percentage — and flip the devil v. cherub coin to potentially win big or lose it all.
There are five “worlds” in which to play Slingo and lots of visual appeal — confetti, flashes, bright colors, a moving joker in the bottom right corner. Zynga kept the cherub and devil images from the original version.
And just like other social games, you can play for a bit at a time then walk away and pick up the game later on. Unless, of course you’re addicted.
“It’s like recess for adults,” Sawel said.
Slingo was one of the first free casual games on the market 15 years ago, said Slingo Inc. CEO Rich Roberts. The game has been played by more than 55 million people over the years.
“Zynga has the experience on social games and this certainly fits what Zynga does,” Roberts said. “We think that with this relationship the game will appeal to user.”
The game is available in 14 languages, including: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Turkish, Danish, German, Swedish and Norwegian.
Click here to play.
Check out this gallery to see what the game looks like: