tombola.com

UPDATE 28/02/2002 - This morning I received a cheque through the post for £20, proving that Tombola do give out cash to real people. I highly recommend the site!

Yes, we'd all love £5000. What would you spend it on? A holiday, or perhaps a new computer? Maybe you'd stick it in the bank account with the rest of your savings, or maybe you'd buy all of the latest CDs and games. For most people, a spare £5000 to spend on anything is only a dream, but with Tombola, your dreams can become a reality.

The first thing that you'll have to do is sign up, which is really simple. It's just a matter of providing a few details, and then you're off to try and win some money.

The basic concept of Tombola is to play simple online games, and have the chance to win some cash. The games are easy scratch card type games, but don't be put off by how simple the games are - this could be the ticket to having all your dreams come true.

There are usually five games running at once. These games are changed regularly to keep the members of the site interested. There is only one serious rule, and that is that you can only play each game once a day. Each new game day starts at 8AM GMT. The reason for limiting the amount of times that people can play, is to make sure that everybody has the same chance of winning a prize. If you try to play again on the same day, then Tombola will just give you the same gamecard again, and they will only honour the first time you win on one day.

The games are quick and easy to play - you can probably have a go of all the games within ten minutes are so, and Tombola say that their games are perfect for a coffee break.

With Tombola, you could win anything from a nice £5 gift voucher for the famous online retailer amazon.co.uk to £5000 (the only problem with that is that you have to share the top prize with anybody else who wins on the same day, but I doubt that people win this amount every day, so if you are the big winner, you probably won't have to share with anybody).

The site has a lovely, colourful design, and the site is so easy to navigate, a six year old could probably do it (actually that could be a problem... I doubt that Tombola will honour wins from a six year old!!).

Tombola isn't like some of the other lottery sites, who share your email address with their advertisers, resulting in tonnes of junk mail floating its way into your inbox every day. The only emails that you will get from Tombola, are short updates telling you about winners of big prizes and information about new games.

Here are the games which are currently running on Tombola:

I-SCRATCH - This is a game similar to the scratch cards that you can buy in shops, but much better considering that it is, just like everything else on Tombola, absolutely FREE! The themes change daily, and they can be anything from Dino-Scratch to Space Scratch. You are given nine circles to scratch off, and if you get three pictures which are the same, you win the prize that corresponds with the picture.
Prizes: £5000, £200, £100, £50, £20, £5 Amazon Gift Voucher

HAMSTER RACE: Every day you get a new Hamster Race. The game automatically puts a bet on a hamster for you, one in 1st place and one in second place. If your 1st place hamster wins the race, then you will be given a £5 gift voucher, but if your 1st place hamster wins, and your 2nd place hamster comes second then you will win £1000! This is a quite fun game, but my hamsters never win! It's almost as if the game teases you - my hamsters usually start out and look as if they are definately going to win, and then they slow down to a crawl half way through!

HANG ON: This is my favourite game. There are some balloons floating around the screen, with some strange creatures hanging onto them. You must burst the balloons, and a cash amount will be revealed behind each one. If you reveal three cash amounts which are the same, then you win that amount.
Prizes: £1000, £500, £200, £100, £50, £20, £5 gift voucher

CASH FOR QUESTIONS: This game opens in a new window and takes you to lastminute.com. This isn't a very exciting game - you answer questions (it doesn't matter whether you know the answers or not... you just go through the answers until you find the right one) and when you answer correctly, a cash amount will be revealed. There are 8 questions. If you get 3 cash amounts which are the same, you will win that amount.
Prizes: £1000, £500, £200, £20,

LYCOS FETCH: This game opens in a new window and takes you to the Lycos site. There are paws flying around the screen, and you have a number of columns on the right hand side. When you click on a paw, Lycos gives you a number. If you get all the numbers on one column, you win the amount shown on that column.
Prizes: £5000, £500, £100, £20

Tombola also gives you ANOTHER chance to win! If you refer a friend who wins, you will receive a £20 bonus if they win one of the Play-Mates games.

Well, I'm sure you want to hear my experiences with Tombola before you sign up. I must admit that everybody around me said that I would never win, and I always insisted that I knew people on the Internet who claimed to have won. It got to the point where I was starting to get bored, and thinking that the chances of winning were slim to none. I was playing Lycos Fetch one Sunday morning, and to be honest, I wasn't really paying much attention. I ended up winning £20, and now I'm back into Tombola again, hoping that one day I will win one of the big prizes. Tombola have promised to deliver my money within 28 days, so I will definately update you when/if I receive my cash.

And if you're looking for somebody to put into your referrers box, then you could always put my email address in there, but I'm not forcing you to!

Have fun, and most of all, good luck!