How to run holiday bingo at a party or in class

Christmas or holiday?

Bingo works for a family Christmas, an office party or the last day of class before the break. Pick the word list to fit the room:

• Christmas has Santa, reindeer, stockings, the nutcracker and the rest: 45 squares for a group that celebrates Christmas.
• Holiday keeps the season and leaves out Santa and the tree: snow days, twinkly lights, hot cocoa, gingerbread, gifts and the New Year. It suits an office or a classroom where not everyone celebrates the same way.

Both have 45 words, so with up to about 30 players each card shows a different mix.

Before the party

1. Open the Bingo Card Generator, choose Words, then Christmas or Holiday under Start from.
2. Add or swap a few words that only your group will get: the dog's name, a family tradition, the office plant.
3. Set the number of cards to your guest count plus a few spares, choose red or green ink, and print four to a page.
4. Get something to mark the squares with: dabbers, stickers, mini marshmallows or candy-coated chocolates.

Small prizes help: a chocolate bar, first pick from the cookie tray, a paper crown. Agree on them before the first ball so nobody argues later.

Call the game on a big screen

On the card generator, press Call this set. The cards open in our bingo game as the host, with a 3D ball cage that tumbles, drops each word into the tray and reads it aloud.

• Turn on Holiday at the top for snow, a string of lights and red and green balls.
• Press Music to choose which holiday songs play. They play in turn with a short fade between them, and you can mute them for a quieter room.
• Put the laptop on the TV, or press the full-screen button. Everyone can see the call, and the board below the cage shows every word called so far.
• Press Draw ball (or the space bar) for each call, or switch on Call automatically and choose a pace.

When someone shouts Bingo

Ask for their card number, printed in the bottom corner, and type it under Check a card. The page rebuilds their card, rings every called square and names the winning line. Nobody has to read the card out, and a mistaken shout is sorted out in seconds.

Then press New game to put every ball back in the cage, and play again with the same cards.

How long a round takes

With 28 cards and the 45-word list, the first Bingo usually comes after 11 to 15 calls. At one call every 8 seconds, that's about two minutes of play, plus checking and prizes. Allow 10 minutes for three or four rounds. For a longer game, play full card: everyone needs every square, which takes most of the list.

No printer?

Players can play on their own phones instead. Everyone opens the bingo game, chooses Holiday or Christmas under Balls and plays against the computer. For a shared game on paper, though, print the cards: one caller and one set of cards keeps everyone in the same game.