DLTK's Printables
Using our Bingo Game with Large Groups
We originally made Custom Bingo with small groups of children at a birthday
party in mind. The original game had a 3x3 card using themed images.
Since then we have added a 4x4 picture bingo card and a 5x5 picture bingo card as
well as a traditional bingo card. One thing we have found is that picture bingo
tends to have a lot of winners at the same time when playing in large groups. The reason is that
we only have a pool of 30 images to choose from (see below) as opposed to the 75
numbers that traditional bingo uses. So here are some suggestions if you
need to reduce the number of winners at the same time:
If you have a group of 30 or more:
- Number Bingo - Use the
number bingo cards (5x5 number bingo game) as this works the same as
traditional bingo.
- Combine Themes - If you really want to
use picture bingo then you would be best to choose two themes that work well
together. For example, Christmas and winter. Step through
the bingo card making process for a Christmas theme and print half the
playing cards you need as well as the call out sheet. Then start from
the beginning again and build winter themed bingo cards. Print the
other half of the playing cards you need for your group as well as the call
out sheet. Cut up the call out sheets for both themes and combine the
60 images in a hat. Then mix the playing cards from both themes
together and hand them out randomly.
- Knockout Bingo - If you really can
only afford to have a single winner in your bingo game you might want to
play multiple rounds. Say you have a group of 200 people and you are
playing 5x5 picture bingo. The first round you might have30 winners
when you call the 24th image. Those 30 winners are allowed to play in
a second game. In the second game you may have 4 winners after
you call the 24th picture. The rounds continue until such time as you
end up with a single winner.
If you have a group of 15 to 30:
- You would be best off using the 3x3 picture bingo cards but if you really
want 5x5 picture bingo you may want to double up the themes as discussed
above to reduce the chances of having multiple players calling bingo at the
same time.
If you have a group of less than 15:
- Any of the bingo games (3x3, 4x4, 5x5 or number bingo) will work fine for
smaller groups.
Why does picture bingo not work well in large groups?
I don't want to pretend that I am a mathematician or statistician but the
reason that our bingo does not work that well in large groups has to do with the
probabilities of a winner given that there are only 30 images in the 'pool' for our picture
bingo.
Granted there are thousands of combinations (possible playing cards) when you
are choosing 24 images out of a pool of 30 to create a 5x5 bingo card. (25
spaces less one free space.) The problem is not with the number of
possible cards but rather the size of the call sheet or pool of pcitures that you choose from when
playing the game.
If you are playing blackout bingo with a 5x5 picture bingo card the
probability of a having a winner after calling 23 pictures is zero. You can't
have blackout bingo (24 spaces) with only 23 pictures called. At this
point there are only 7 pictures left and chances are roughly one in seven that a
player will have a blackout after the 24th picture is called. That means that if you have a group of 30
people you are likely to have around four players call bingo after the 24th
picture is called.
Having 4 people call bingo at the same time might not be a problem if you
have a classroom of 7 year olds all playing for a Halloween treat. When
Leanne played bingo with her Sparks group they continued playing until all the girls had called
bingo and everyone got a treat. It worked perfect because all the girls had
BINGO'd once the 30 pictures had been called.
If you have a group of 30 adults competing for a door prize it might make it
a little awkward trying to split the prize four ways.
I have oversimplified the probability analysis as any mathematician would
tell you but I think you get the gist of it. In order to reduce the odds of people
calling bingo at the same time you need to increase the ratio of call out
pictures to the size of the playing card. If you play 5x5 picture bingo
the ratio is 30:24. If you play 3x3 picture bingo the ratio is 30:8 and
that means when the eighth picture is called there is a 1 in 23 chance that you
will have a winner.
For large groups you can increase the pool by playing traditional number
bingo (75:24) or by playing 5x5 picture bingo combining to themes (60:24).
Hope that makes sense. I have to stop now...combinations, permutations,
probabilities and statistics give me a headache! (*grin*)
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