Bingo Cards: Numbers

Number bingo, ready to print

The item list arrives pre-filled with the numbers 1 to 75, which is the American ball set. Add 76 to 90 to the list and you have the UK and Australian game.

Every card is shuffled independently, so no two players hold the same grid. A call sheet prints for whoever is running it.

75 or 90

The difference is more than fifteen numbers.

With 75 balls and a 5×5 grid, one card covers a third of the pool and lines land quickly. A game runs ten to fifteen minutes. Go to 90 and each card covers a smaller share, so calls take longer to land and the whole thing stretches out. Which is why the 90-ball version suits an evening and the 75-ball version suits a classroom hour.

Pick the grid to match. A 3×3 card against 90 balls is a very long wait for nine numbers.

Running a game that does not fall apart

Cross off on the call sheet as you go. Every bingo game eventually reaches somebody claiming a line that includes a number you never called, and without a marked sheet you cannot settle it.

Say each number twice, in two forms. "Forty-two. Four, two." Numbers get misheard constantly across a hall, and fifteen and fifty are indistinguishable at volume.

Agree what wins before you start: a line, two lines, or the full card. Announce it, because half the room will assume something different.

Counters beat pens

If the cards are to be reused, hand out counters, dried beans or small squares of card rather than pens. It also lets you correct a mistake, which matters with children who mark a number in the wrong square and then cannot un-mark it.

For a one-off, pens are fine and quicker.

Using it as maths practice

Call sums rather than numbers. "Six times seven" instead of "forty-two" turns the game into times-table recall, and the pace is set by the caller rather than by the slowest child, which is unusually forgiving for a timed activity.

The same works for any calculation whose answer is in range — halves, doubles, additions, or "the number of sides on a heptagon".

The controls

The number list, grid size, free centre, how many cards, cards per page, the call sheet, card numbering and a seed. A4 or US Letter.

Print at 100%. Two cards to a page is the usual choice for adults; four is fine for children who are using counters.