Party Game: Human Bingo

I've shared many, many party games on my blog and while I love them all, most of them are catered to smaller party groups. I'm so used to organizing events for 10-15 people, so most of my games are best suited for that size of group. That being said, I really love animating a larger crowd (potentially why I love teaching so much!) and I have a few games that I save for when I entertaining a large group!

Today, I'm talking Human Bingo. If I could animate this game at every party I plan, I would. I love it so much! I love explaining the game and then watching the room transform into sheer chaos! This game is my all time favorite ice breaker because it's so darn easy and it works! Human Bingo is definitely best suited to a large group of people (think 20-25 or more) and it is especially useful when there are party guests who haven't met before. It's great to get your guests talking and mingling!

Here is the Human Bingo Card I used at my Dad's 50th birthday:

You can find several Human Bingo cards online that you can just print off and distribute to your guests. I always opt to make my own bingo card so they are better catered to our guests and a little more personal. For my Dad's party I chose to make a 4x4 bingo card and filled it with characteristics of people I knew were attending the party. I did this for two reasons - First, it's more personal. The guests can easily see themselves in the card. And second, to make sure the card could be completely filled out. Every square needs to be filled in to win this Bingo and by personalizing our cards, I knew that would be possible.

While I was at the microphone explaining the game, I had a bunch of helpers handing out playing cards. This made it super easy for the end of the explanation to coincide with everyone having a bingo card and being ready to play. As an animator, it is important to tell everyone that they must have all 16 squares filled in to win the game, the must get signatures from other people (they can't just write names!) and they cannot get the same signature twice. Then let them run wild!

We had piles of pens already distributed to each table, so our guests could use those pens to sign cards. For the most part, our party goers were pretty independent in filling their cards out, but if there was help needed we gladly offered! This game is not meant to stress people out and the end goal isn't really to have one big winner. It's about getting your guests talking and moving around the room. On several occasions, someone would come see me and say I can't find anyone with a double letter in their first name and I would suggest they go introduce themselves to my Uncle Glenn or my bestie Hannah.

This game took about 20 minutes for our guests to get through. I didn't put any time limit on the game, some finished earlier than others but I let the game go on until most people were back in their seats and the room had quieted.

Let me know if you have questions or if you would like me to share a blank Bingo playing card.