Find someone who bingo

How to run find someone who bingo

The page opens with the class list loaded. Use Start from above the prompt box to switch to the team list, then cut prompts that do not fit your group and add your own: the name of your school's reading scheme, the office's lunch spot, a skill your new team actually uses. Your edited list is kept in this browser for next time.

The rules, read out before you start

Everyone gets a card and a pencil. Walk around and find a person who matches a square, ask them, and if it is true they write their name on the line in that square. One name per square, and each person may sign a given player's card only once, so you have to talk to as many different people as there are squares. You cannot sign your own card. Ask the question out loud ("Can you whistle?") rather than holding the card up for people to read; the talking is the point of the game.

There are two ways to finish. In a big group, the first player with a full row, column or diagonal of signed squares calls "Bingo" and reads the names out; each named person confirms their square. In a smaller group, set a timer for ten minutes and the player with the most signed squares when it rings wins. Either way, the follow-up is often the best part: ask the person who signed "Knows a magic trick" to show it.

Size and count for your group

Because nobody can sign a card twice or sign their own, a group of n people can fill at most n − 1 squares on any one card. A 4x4 card has 16 squares, so a full card needs at least 17 people; a row needs only four signers. That is why the cards start at 4x4 with no free space (an even-sized card has no centre square) and you play for a row or for most squares in ten minutes. For a group of six to ten, choose 3x3. Choose 5x5 with a free space only for a large group of 25 or more who want a full-card game.

The default is 30 cards, enough for a class, printed 2 per page on 15 sheets. Every card has a different layout, so neighbours cannot simply copy one another's names in the same order. Keep the prompts short: the square holds the prompt above the line, and prompts over about 20 characters print smaller. To put each player's name on their own card, fill in Names on cards under the card count.

Choosing fair prompts

Good prompts are things anyone could say yes to and nobody minds saying aloud: what you like, what you have tried, what you can do. Both lists here leave out questions about faith, health, bodies, money, family situation and where someone's family comes from, because a new class or a new team does not know each other yet and nobody should have to explain why they cannot sign. If you add your own, the same test works: would a shy person be comfortable answering it in front of strangers? The class list is written for roughly ages six to eleven; read the card aloud with younger children and let them sign with a first name or an initial.

Printing

Press Download PDF for a file with the write-in line drawn under each prompt, or Print cards to print straight from the browser (set scale to 100% and margins to Default). Two per page gives each card about half a sheet of Letter or A4 in landscape, with room to write a name in every square of a 4x4 card. There is no caller sheet for this game, because nothing is called.