Team Bingo: a classroom bingo game for the whole class

Team Bingo is a classroom bingo game for the whole class: every team gets its own 3×3 card of answers from your lesson, and each question calls one answer onto every card that has it. Three in a row on your card is BINGO. It's a good fit for vocabulary review and any subject where the answers are short and keeps every team watching.

At a glance

How to play Team Bingo

1. Make or pick a question set with at least 9 questions: snap a textbook page, paste a word list, type a topic, paste your own questions, or start from the free library.
2. Pick Team Bingo, set the teams and start. Each team gets a card of 9 answers picked at random from the set, so no two cards are the same.
3. Play. Teams take turns answering. A right answer gives that team +1. Right or wrong, the answer is then called and stamped on every card that has it. A team that completes a line of three, across, down or diagonally, shouts BINGO and gets +5. When the questions run out, the most points wins.

Rules and scoring

• Right answer: +1 for the team that answered.
• BINGO: +5 for every new line of three on a team's card, even when it wasn't that team's turn. One stamp can finish two lines at once: +10.
• A miss still calls the answer, so a wrong answer can hand another team its BINGO. With a big set, some calls miss some cards.
• The game ends early if every card is fully stamped.
• What goes on the cards: the answers of your questions. True/false questions are left out of this game, and answers longer than 22 characters don't go on cards.

You can switch these in the lobby before the game, or mid-game from the settings button:

• Timer: none, 10, 20, 30 or 60 seconds; running out counts as a wrong answer.
• Wrong answers lose a point. Off by default; scores never go below zero.
• Steal: off by default. When on, after a miss, another team may answer for the +1 (no extra turn).
• Double or triple questions: the points won on that question, BINGO bonuses included, are multiplied.
• Hide the score, a seasonal theme, and full, calm or no effects.

You see the answer on your phone and tap Correct or Not yet.

What you can teach with it

English: picture, word, listen, spell, meaning, sentence order and your own questions.

• Animals, food or classroom objects at A1: picture questions; the cards show the word with its picture.
• Listening: listen questions, where Oly says the word and teams hunt for it on their cards.
• Definitions at B1: meaning questions ("a person who repairs cars") with the words on the cards.

Other subjects: multiple choice and open questions with short answers.

• Math: answers as numbers: "7 × 8", "half of 50".
• Science: "the gas plants take in", "the closest star to Earth".
• History and geography: capitals, rivers, famous names.

Tips from the classroom

• Use 12 to 20 questions. Fewer than that and few lines get finished.
• Big class: with a class list, Oly calls one student per team for each question; the rest of the team watches its card.
• Ask "who has it?" after each call, so every team reads its card.
• Turn on steal for groups that tune out during other teams' turns.

Play it without a screen

• Give each team a paper 3×3 grid and have them write 9 words from a list on the board, in any squares.
• Ask questions team by team; read the answer out after each one, right or wrong.
• Teams cross out the word if they have it. Three in a row: they shout BINGO and score 5.
• Give 1 point for each right answer too.

The screen version makes the cards for you, stamps them without mistakes, adds pictures and sound, and keeps the score.

Questions teachers ask

Is Team Bingo free?

Yes. The game, the library and your own typed questions are free. The free plan includes 10 AI question sets a month (3 from photos) and up to 4 teams; Oly Pro allows up to 8.

Do students need devices?

No. All the cards are on one screen. You use your phone as the remote by scanning the QR code or typing the 6-digit PIN.

How many questions do I need?

At least 9, because each card has 9 answers. A set of 15 to 20 makes the cards different from each other.

Why does a team get BINGO when it wasn't its turn?

Every answer is called on every card. If it completes a line on your card, you score, whoever answered.

Can I use true/false questions?

Not in Team Bingo: "true" and "false" can't make a card. Use multiple choice or open questions, or play true/false sets in another game.

Can I use my own questions?

Yes. Paste them as question | answer | wrong, wrong, type them in the editor, or import a public Kahoot link.

For more lines of three, try Three in a Row or Line of Four.