One of the attractions of bingo is that while being a lot of fun, it is also incredibly easy to learn how to play. If you get a bingo card and show it to somebody, you can explain how to play the game in just a few minutes.
In the traditional game of bingo, each player is given a bingo card containing an array of squares arranged in a 5 by 5 grid. Each square on the card contains a different number, and players mark off squares from the cards as numbers are called out by the bingo caller. While this basic game can be a lot of fun, more and more people are today turning to variants of the game. Using a computer and bingo card maker software, it’s very easy to print custom bingo cards with squares containing words, phrases, or even math problems, instead of numbers.
With so many people getting together, holidays are in fact a perfect opportunity to play bingo. Obviously if playing on (or in the run-up) to one of these holidays, it’s more fun to play using bingo cards themed around the holiday. Whether it be Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine’s Day, New Year, July 4th, Halloween, or any other holiday, you can play bingo – in each case picking words or phrases for the cards that relate to the particular holiday in question.
Many teachers are also turning to bingo as a classroom activity. The game is well suited to use in schools, since it can be adapted in a wide variety of different ways, game play mechanics can be varied, and of course cards on literally any theme or subject can be prepared. Younger students can benefit from bingo by practising reading the items on the cards, in math lessons, students can be required to write in answers to problems rather than simply mark off squares, and in language lessons students can be required to recognize items written in one language when bingo calls are made in another.
By: Sunil Tanna
If you ask around, I’m sure that you will find that most people have played bingo at some point in their lives. You’ll probably encounter a few folks who say that have never played the game, but the chances are that majority of them will in fact know how the game is played.
The classical game of bingo is played used bingo cards containing numbers (the numbers are normally placed in small squares, and these squares arranged in a five by five grid). Each player’s objective is to be the first to cross off a line of five items diagonally, horizontally or vertically on their card, but the numbers can only be crossed off when called out by the bingo caller. While the classical game remains popular with many people, themed versions of the game (using custom bingo cards) have also come into vogue in recent years. In themed versions of the game, instead of numbers, words or phrases are printed of the cards.
Perhaps the most popular themed versions of bingo are those relating to holidays, to be used on those occasions. For example a bingo card containing words like “Nativity” or “Sleigh” might be used at Christmas, and one containing words such as “Heart” or “Romance” on Valentine’s Day.
Another situation in which bingo is popular is in education. The game is well suited to English, foreign languages, history, geography, science and math lessons. Once again appropriately themed bingo cards should be used – in this case prepared in advance by the teacher. Teachers can also vary game play, for example, by in a French lesson by calling out words in French, and requiring students to find the corresponding English item printed on their bingo card (or vice-versa), or in a math lesson printing the bingo cards with math problems, and requiring students to write in the answers rather than simply cross off squares.
By: Sunil Tanna
Bingo is one of those games that pretty much everybody knows how to play. Most people have probably played the game at some point in their life, but even those who haven’t, generally do know the rules. In case you’re one of those rare people who don’t know the game, here’s a quick recap:
1. Each player is given a bingo card, usually (but not always) 5 x 5 squares. Each of these squares contains a different item – in tradition bingo a number, but in the various themed variants of the game, words, phrases, names, dates, or even math problems may be used.
2. One person acts as the bingo caller and referee. That person calls out items in random order.
3. As the items are called out, players inspect their cards and look for matching squares, and mark off any that they find. In many versions of the game, the center square is a “free space”, and players can mark that square off whenever they want.
4. Usually the objective of the game is to be the first player to get a line of items horizontally, vertically or diagonally on the card, and call out “Bingo!”. The rules can be varied however so that other shapes such as two lines, a postage stamp, or even marking off all squares on the card, is required before “Bingo” can be claimed.
While it’s true that many people do enjoy the traditional game using numbers, themed variants relating to holidays such as Christmas, Halloween, Easter or Valentine’s Day are increasingly popular. Additionally, the game can easily be adapted to educational use and is increasingly popular in schools (including K-12) and English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching environments.
In order to play a themed version of bingo, you will of course need bingo cards printed containing the appropriate items for the theme. Many people consider this is a stumbling block since preparing bingo cards by hand is very time consuming, and preprinted bingo cards may not be expensive or even impossible to obtain. There is however a simple solution to this conundrum: simply print custom bingo cards using your computer – with suitable bingo card creator software, it’s very easy and straightforward.
By: Sunil Tanna
