Multiplication bingo cards

How to run multiplication bingo in class

Print one card per student and one caller sheet for yourself; the PDF puts the caller sheet after the cards. Read the first problem on the sheet aloud, “six times nine”, give the class a few seconds, and tick it off. Anyone with 54 on their card covers that square. Keep going down the list in order. The first student with a full row, column or diagonal calls BINGO and reads their covered answers back to you; each answer on your sheet is printed in small grey type next to its problem, so you can check a win in a few seconds without doing the sums under pressure. Counters, scrap paper squares or a pencil cross all work for covering.

Every answer is called exactly once. With times tables 2 to 10 there are 81 problems but only 37 different answers, because 12 can be 2 x 6, 3 x 4, 4 x 3 or 6 x 2, and 36 can be 4 x 9 or 6 x 6. The caller sheet holds one problem for each answer, so a square can never be covered twice by two different sums, and no student is left waiting for a number that was already called under another name. The problem chosen for each answer changes from set to set, so a class that plays every week hears 3 x 8 one time and 4 x 6 the next.

Which tables suit which class

As a rough guide only (your school’s own scheme decides when each table is taught): children who are just starting multiplication do well with a small range such as 2 to 5 on a 3x3 card with a free space, which uses 8 of the 10 possible answers, so nearly everything called is on every card and the game moves quickly. Once most of the class knows the tables up to 10, use 2 to 10 on a 5x5 card. For older students revising up to 12 x 12, use 2 to 12 (53 answers) or 6 to 12 (27 answers, the hard end of the tables only, which gives more practice where mistakes happen). The addition setting covers number bonds: 1 to 10 makes the 19 sums 2 to 20, enough for 3x3 or 4x4 but not 5x5, and 1 to 20 makes 39.

Planning the game length

On a 5x5 card with tables 2 to 10, each student holds 24 of the 37 answers, so roughly two calls in three hit any given card. In 300 simulated games with 30 cards, the first line came on the 11th call in the middle case and between the 8th and 14th call in 8 games out of 10. A blackout game (every square covered) was first won around the 34th of the 37 calls, so it uses nearly the whole sheet: about 15 to 20 minutes at 30 seconds a call. If you want a short warm-up, play first line only; if you want a whole lesson, play line, then two lines, then full card without reprinting.

Printing

Two cards per page on Letter or A4 gives answers large enough to read from a desk; four per page saves paper for a class of 30 (8 sheets) if the students are older. Press Download PDF to keep the set: the set number on each card and on the caller sheet makes the same cards again from this page, so a lost caller sheet can be reprinted. Everything is made in your browser and nothing is uploaded.