Printable bingo cards
Human bingo icebreaker cards
In human bingo, also called people bingo or find someone who, the squares describe people and not things. Players walk around the room, ask questions and write a name in each square that fits somebody. It gets a group of adults talking within a minute, which is the whole point.
Find someone who...
The preview is scaled to fit your screen and prints at full size, one sheet of paper per page of cards. In the print dialog choose your printer or Save as PDF, and set scale to 100%. Nothing you type leaves this browser.
Facilitator notes
- State three rules before anyone moves: a person's name may appear only once on your card, you may not sign your own, and you must ask the question out loud instead of handing your card over to be read.
- Give a time limit of eight to ten minutes and stop on the clock even if nobody has a line. The player with the most names wins, and the conversation that started is the real result.
- Twenty big cards take twenty sheets. For a group of sixty, print the set three times so that each card goes to three people, or raise the number of cards to sixty for one each.
- Debrief for two minutes. Ask who found the hardest square and have that person introduce the colleague whose name they wrote. It turns a list of signatures into a few facts people remember.
- Tailor the prompts to the room. For a new project team add lines about tools and past roles; for a family reunion use branches of the family, home towns and who travelled furthest.
The find someone who prompts
Each line completes the sentence that begins with the card title. Prompts are kept short so there is room under them to write a name, and each card prints large on its own sheet. Shares your month means a birthday in the same month as yours.
- Has a pet cat
- Has a dog
- Plays an instrument
- Speaks 2 languages
- Was born abroad
- Is left-handed
- Has run a marathon
- Cycles to work
- Bakes bread
- Takes tea black
- Never drinks coffee
- Has met a celebrity
- Has been on TV
- Can juggle
- Can whistle loudly
- Knits or crochets
- Grows vegetables
- Is a twin
- Has 3+ siblings
- Is an only child
- Is the eldest child
- Summer birthday
- Shares your month
- Has moved this year
- Lived in 3+ cities
- Reads every night
- Loves spicy food
- Is vegetarian
- Can ride a horse
- Can ski
- Has camped in snow
- Swims every week
- Has sung on stage
- Plays chess
- Does crosswords
- Walked here today
- Joined this year
- Here 5+ years
- Wears glasses
- Keeps houseplants
- Early riser
- Night owl
- Has scuba dived
- Can drive a tractor
- Volunteers
- Has a hidden talent
- Loves karaoke
- Paints or draws
- Collects something
- Has a garden shed
Questions
What is human bingo?
An icebreaker in which every square holds a description, such as plays chess or is a twin. Players circulate, find a person who matches and write that person's name in the square. A full line of names is a bingo.
How many people do you need for human bingo?
It works from about eight players upward. With fewer than ten, use the three by three or four by four grid, or allow a name to be used twice; otherwise there are not enough people to complete a line.
Are the prompts safe for a workplace?
The list avoids age, health, relationships, religion, politics and money. Read it through with your own group in mind anyway, and delete any line that might put one person on the spot.
Does every person need a different card?
No, though it helps. With identical cards people copy answers from each other. Different arrangements send each player after different squares first, so more separate conversations start.
More bingo cards
First day of school bingo
Find a classmate who walks to school, has a pet or lost a tooth. Names fill the grid.
Bridal shower bingo cards
Towels, mixing bowls and wine glasses: a gift bingo for the present opening.
Custom bingo card maker
Your own list in, a full set of different cards out. Any topic, any language.