Most people are familiar with the game of bingo. It is play using bingo cards contain a five by five grid of squares, with each square containing a word or number. Each player is given their own bingo card, and marks off the squares from their card when the corresponding item is announced by the bingo caller. In most games, the winner is the first player to achieve a continuous line of five squares, in any direction (regardless of whether the line is horizontal, vertical or diagonal), and call out “Bingo”. For a longer game, players can aim for larger or more complex target shapes than a single line, for example, two intersecting lines of five squares, a postage stamp of three by three sequares, or even all squares marked off.
In the standard or traditional game of bingo, each of the squares on a bingo card is printed with a different number between 1 and 75. Today however, variants of the game, but using cards printed with words or phrases instead of numbers, are becoming increasingly popular. Using a computer and bingo card maker software, it is dead easy produce custom bingo cards of this type. In fact, the ease of producing custom bingo cards has been one of the main contributing factors to a renaissance in the game’s popularity: teachers are increasingly using custom bingo cards in their classrooms, and themed versions of bingo are also growing in popularity for religious and secular holidays and events.
St. Patrick’s Day is the Irish national holiday, named in honor of one of the patron saint’s of Ireland. It usually falls on March 17th, although the date is moved in those years when March 17th falls within Holy week. The day is used as a celebration for all things Irish, and is of course an excellent opportunity for playing an Irish-themed version of bingo. All you need to do is prepare some bingo cards containing words or phrases relating to Irish history, culture or geography, and you’re ready to play.
By: Sunil Tanna
Most people are familiar with the game of bingo. It is played with bingo cards containg a five by five grid of squares, with each square containing a word or number. Each player is given a bingo card, and marks off the squares from their card when the corresponding number is announced by the bingo caller. In most games, the winner is the first player to achieve a line of five items across the card (regardless of whether that line is horizontal, vertical or diagonal) and call “bingo”. For a longer game, other target patterns than a single line can be required, for example two lines of five, a postage stamp shape of three by three squares, all squares marked off, etc.
Today versions of bingo, played exactly like the “standard” game, but using cards printed with words or phrases instead of numbers, are become increasingly popular. No doubt this is in part because with the helper of a computer and bingo card maker software, it’s dead easy to produce these cards! However, the main reason why these versions of bingo have become popular is that they can be used in schools and education, as well as in community events and gatherings celebrating both religious and secular holidays.
St. Patrick’s Day (usually March 17th, although the date may move if it falls within Holy Week), which is annual event of honor of one of Ireland’s patron saints but has subsequently become a celebration of all things Irish, is an ideal occasion for playing bingo. In St. Patrick’s Day bingo, the game is of course played using bingo cards printed with words or phrases relating to Ireland or Irish culture. It’s a lot of fun to play, inexpensive, and suitable for people of all ages to play together – may be you should give it a try?
By: Sunil Tanna
