Retirement party bingo cards

How to run retirement bingo at a leaving do

The page opens with the retirement party list loaded on 5x5 cards with a free space, 30 cards, 2 to a page: 15 sheets of paper. Set Cards to your guest count plus three or four spares for people who arrive late (up to 200), and use Start from above the word box to switch to the next chapter list. Edit before you print: if there is no slideshow, delete it; if the retiree is famous for a phrase, a biscuit tin or a parking space, add it. Your edited list is kept in this browser for next time.

Put the retiree's name in the free space

With 5x5 and Free space ticked (the default here), a Free space text box sits next to the size buttons. Type something like Pat's last day! or Enjoy it, Sam and it prints in the centre square of every card instead of FREE, in the preview, the printout and the PDF. It holds up to 24 characters; type more and the page tells you what will be cut. A 4x4 card has no centre square, so the box only appears on 3x3 and 5x5 cards.

Game one: the party list, marked as it happens

This list needs no caller. Put a card and a pen at each place or hand them out with the drinks, and guests mark squares as the moments really happen: the boss starts the speech, the leaving card is read aloud, an old ID badge comes out, someone tears up. The first person with a full row, column or diagonal shouts bingo and has to say what they saw for each square, which is half the fun because it turns into stories about the retiree. Keep the cards going after the first line; a full card by the time the cake is cut wins the evening. If you would rather run it as a quick called game between speeches, press Caller sheet and read one square every 15 seconds or so.

Game two: the next chapter list, called by the retiree

Hand the retiree the caller sheet for the next chapter list. They read it top to bottom and say out loud only the plans they really have, "yes, the allotment", "never, a cruise", and guests mark the yes squares. It doubles as a way for colleagues to hear what comes next without everyone asking the same question all night. An honest limit: if the retiree only says yes to eight or nine of the 55 plans, nobody on a 5x5 card is likely to finish a line, so for a quiet retiree switch to 3x3 or 4x4 cards, or let them add their own real plans to the list before you print.

Prizes, and keeping it kind

Keep prizes small and not money: the first slice of cake, taking the table flowers home, the seat next to the retiree for the group photo, or the job of reading the leaving card aloud. Nothing on either list makes fun of age, health or the retiree's job, and nothing is about money; it is meant to be played with the person leaving, not about them. For a work party that is not a send-off, the office bingo lists fit better, and for a send-off from school rather than work there is graduation party bingo.

Printing

Two per page keeps 5x5 squares such as "Out-of-office set forever" readable; choose 4 per page only for 3x3 or 4x4 cards. Press Print cards with margins at Default and scale at 100%, or Download PDF to email the file to the office printer or a print shop. Print calling cards makes one slip per square, 12 to a page, if you would rather draw from a hat than read the sheet.