Most people are familiar with the game of bingo. Even those people who have never played bingo probably know how the game is played. However, in case you are one of those few who don’t know how to play, there are instructions:
1. One person acts as a bingo caller (and referee), the others act as players.
2. Each player receives a bingo card containing a grid of squares (usually 5 by 5, but other sizes can be used), each square containing a different number.
3. The bingo caller calls out the numbers in a random order and the players mark the squares containing that number from their cards.
4. The player’s goal is to mark a row, column, or diagonal of squares (or in some variants, other shapes, or all elements of the card). When a player succeeds he yells “Bingo!”, and the first to yell it is the winner.
Of course, there are many variants of the game, and it is these variants that are attracting the attention of a much wider public to bingo. Some examples of these include:
– Baby Shower Bingo: Played like a baby shower game, using bingo cards printed with baby-related items.
– Bachelorette Party Bingo: played at weddings and bachelorette parties, this time using bingo cards with wedding-related items.
– Holiday Bingo: Bingo is played on special occasions such as Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, 4th of July, Halloween or Thanksgiving, regardless of the theme of the day by using bingo cards containing holiday related elements. the particular holiday.
– Educational Bingo: Bingo is also an increasingly popular activity among teachers and educators. Educational variants of bingo are commonly played in schools, universities, Sunday schools, and in ESL classes. Once again, specially printed bingo cards are used, either with words the student must learn to read, math problems, country or city names, chemical elements, or whatever.
The common thread running through all these different bingo variants is that non-standard bingo cards are used. In some cases, it is possible to order pre-printed cards from a specialist publisher, although this can get expensive quickly! In other cases, preprinted cards may simply not be available. As a result, the best option is usually to have the game organizer prepare the bingo cards; Fortunately, with the help of a computer and proper bingo card making software, this can be a quick and easy job.