Friday, 10 August 2012 - Bingo!

Today's Activity - Bingo

Have you ever played Bingo at a party or with friends?  It's a lot of fun, but after a few rounds, it can get kind of boring.  So today, I am going to give you some tricks to liven up your next game of Bingo.

First of all, if you don't have a Bingo set, you can easily create your own Bingo game.  First of all, you will need the numbers 1-75 to pick randomly from, and you will need Bingo boards and covers.  To make some number, I recommend that you cut up some index cards into small pieces and put them in a bag, you can shake up the bag to mix them up, and not look when you reach in to pick them.  You could also put stickers on pennies and write the numbers on the stickers.  You will need 15 numbers for each letter:  B1, B2, ...B15, I16 - I30, N31 - N45, G46 - G60, O61 - O75.

To make boards, you can just draw a grid and fill it in with random numbers (make sure to use numbers that belong in each column, for example, don't write 75 in the B column!).  To get a 5x5 Bingo board, you need to make 4 vertical lines, and cross them with 4 horizontal lines.  Write FREE on the center square.
For covers, you can just cut up a bunch of little pieces of index cards (colored would be nice), or use a bunch of pennies.

You are ready to play!  Here are some different games you can play:
Standard Bingo - players compete to be the first to get 5 covered squares in a row, either vertically (up and down), horizontally, or diagonally.

This shows the three ways to win standard Bingo

Postage Stamp - players compete to cover the 4 squares in any of the corners of the board.
Plus sign - players try to cover all their N squares, as well a horizontal line that goes through the FREE space.
4 Corners - (you don't need to call any I, N, or G numbers for this game, if you pull one out, keep it out of the bag and just try again)

Here are the patterns for postage stamp (win with any 1 corner), plus sign, and 4 corners

Railroad Tracks - cover the entire I and G columns
Diamond - cover all the N column, the middle 3 of the I and G columns, and the middle one of B and O.
Picture Frame - just cover the outside edge of the board

And here you see railroad tracks, diamond, and picture frame

Black Out - try to cover the whole board (no picture required!!)

When people play Bingo, there are often "nicknames" for the different numbers that make calling the game more fun.  Print out or memorize some of your favorites and your players will love it!  And if you can think of any other good ones, email me and I'll put them on the list!  mindiphipps@gmail.com

2.... One little duck
4.... B4 (Crowd says "and after")
5.... One little snake
7.... Lucky seven
11.. Chicken legs, skinny legs
12.. One dozen, The vitamin
13.. Lucky for some unlucky for others, baker's dozen
16.. Sweet sixteen
22.. Quack quack - Two little ducks, All the twos
24.. Two dozen
27.. Little duck with a crutch
33.. All the threes
44.. Droopy drawers - All the fours
50.. Hawaii five O, Hawaii (USA)
52.. Weeks in a year, 52 Pickup (USA)
55.. Snakes alive - All the fives - Double nickels
57.. Heinz varieties
75.. Big Daddy, Granddaddy of Bingo