Spark & Whetstonethe grown-up commons

The Caller's Table

Bingo was a fairground game, a church-hall game, a troopship game and a Tết game long before it was an app. Here it is the way a family plays it: one person calls, everyone else listens, and the fun is in the calling. Print the cards, put the screen where the caller can see it, and play for nothing but the game.

Set the table

Which game? 75-ball (5 × 5)
The North American hall game: columns B-I-N-G-O hold 1–15, 16–30, 31–45, 46–60, 61–75, and the middle square is free. 90-ball (3 × 9)
The British and Irish ticket: three rows of five numbers across nine columns (1–9, 10–19 … 80–90). Lô tô (Vietnam)
Played at Vietnamese fairs and at Tết: numbers 1–90 on the same three-row ticket, and the caller sings a short rhyme before each number. Try making up your own. Riddle cards (4 × 4)
In the Mexican picture-card tradition the caller never says the card: they sing a little verse about it, and the table works out which picture is meant. Our 36 cards and verses are our own. Mark with dried beans. Tombola with pictures (Naples)
In Naples at Christmas every number has a picture, and the caller calls the picture as much as the number. The 90 pictures here are our own, not the traditional list. Mark with orange peel or lentils. Story Card
Nine things to talk about instead of numbers. Mark a square when someone tells that story. Good with grandparents and children at one table.

How many cards? 6

Table code: —

The same code always makes the same cards, so you can print today and call next week.

Large print (one card a page)

House rules we keep

Family in other homes? Call across distance — a private room code, one card each, no chat.

No stakes. Nothing you can buy changes a card, and there is nothing to win but the call.
Luck is never ranked. Who finished first is not a score.
Late marks are fine. Read a claim back against the called list; there's no rush.
Let the youngest hold the cage. On Spark & Anvil, CallerTots and CallerPals are built for a child caller.

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