It is no coincidence that classic game shows such as Bingo are now flourishing online, branded in various margarine-branded guises, alongside revived takes on venerable parlour games such as this.
Taking themes from movies to music, this type of content appeals to a diverse mix of interests, and helps expand the gaming community online, while chat features allow it to interact.
Educational Bingo
While bingo may conjure up images of geriatric dauber-wielders or songs sung by children of every age, the classroom-ready version of the game offers an ideal opportunity to weave any of a myriad number of learning objectives into an enjoyable, everyday and invaluable lesson. Students mark out pre-set patterns on their bingo cards by covering items called out by a caller.
Math is likely the most common curricular content used to set up educational bingo games, with teachers creating classroom-specific games as preschoolers or slowly building upon as students age. There are even options for lesson plans for fractions: figures are cut into shapes with some parts shaded to represent fractions and the value of them. When playing with small groups of children, the sociability aspect of educational bingo can make it a social activity and encourage students to work together.
Music-Themed Bingo
Music Bingo brings the fun of bingo to a musical level with clues of songs from classic rock to reggae rhythms to provide a fun musical challenge! A musical fiesta in a party pack!!
EDM (Electronic Dance Music) bingo: ‘Move your body tonight,’ is the order of the day here – any time of the day! High-energy beats and DJs whose most recent album was in the charts – an instant party! Latin Beats music bingo: Let’s salsa and bachata! In this bingo, players learn to name or connect sounds with instruments: If it twangs, it probably is a catgut-sounding string. Or, if it tingles, it might be a triangle. Or a bell. In instrument music bingo, players learn to name and categorise instruments that belong to very different groups in an orchestra! To play, you need a bingo board and the cards that have visual or aural connections.
Movie-Themed Bingo
The game has expanded from its simplest incarnation as a pure number game to an entertaining activity with multiple forms and variants that have become cultural icons, depending on their own specific types of winning combinations.
Movie-theme bingo. Print out a bingo card filled with all the most notorious tropes of romantic comedies and watch your movie with a group of family and friends; check off each one as it appears onscreen, and the first one to get five in a row is a winner!
If your bingo game needs even more pizzaz, consider an all-disco deck! Amplify the noise level with a cocktail of drugged soundtracks!
Holiday-Themed Bingo
These themed games add an extra level of personalisation to Bingo by allowing players to customise their own gaming experience according to their tastes. They also allow for themed versions of power-ups and bonuses as well as social features to tackle the loneliness that may be associated with playing Bingo.
Bingo themed for a holiday allows kids to mark off items checked off as they are called, using a calling card with holiday images of Santa, stockings, reindeer, gifts and presents — the first to create a line vertically, horizontally, or diagonal wins. Throw in a periodical song or movie relating to the holiday for an added twist; the game can even be a fun way to add intrigue to a gift exchange game, keeping everyone auditioned until all gifts are opened!
Regional-Themed Bingo
Depending on the theme, the joy of bingo can transform numbers into a festive learning experience or a cultural interpretation of history One simple way to texture bingo is with circus themes, which delight in all the sillyness from a seedy freakshow. Or go on an astrological trip and learn about celestial activity.
In many places, calls now consist of something less than just number announcements: should they heighten interest, add colour, add a little playfully subversive fun to each round? – going beyond local, national or regional folk traditions – why not? Good reason or not, and in pigeon years soon to be yesterday’s news.
‘Two little fleas’ is worth 30 in pre-decimalised UK money (2 shillings and sixpence) and ‘halfway there’ is 49, one quarter of 90, the highest-scoring pattern in 90-ball bingo.
