How to Play Human Bingo (with Templates + Sample Questions)

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An engaging icebreaker that helps players get to know each other
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Human bingo is a fantastic icebreaker at any party where the guests might not know each other well! It's also a great game to play at work for team-building, or on the first day of school to get to know your classmates even better. Human bingo encourages people to socialize with one another, and after the game is over, you’ll know much more about each other. In this article, we’ll teach you how to play human bingo (so you can teach your guests in turn), with plenty of creative questions and prompts for your human bingo cards. Let’s get started!

A Brief Overview of Human Bingo Rules

  1. Prepare human bingo cards, making them on 5 x 5 square grids (one for each player).
  2. Fill each square on the bingo card with an interesting trait, skill, hobby, experience, or life fact that could apply to one of the players.
  3. Hand out bingo cards to every player, along with a pen or pencil.
  4. Explain the rules of the game before you start playing.
  5. Encourage everyone to mingle and try to complete their bingo cards.
  6. The first person to mark off every square on their card is declared the winner.
Section 1 of 4:

What is human bingo?

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  1. Human bingo puts a social spin on classic bingo. Instead of numbers, bingo cards feature various personal experiences, traits, and skills in each box. Players must mingle with one another and find someone who matches each square of their bingo card to win the game. Thus, human bingo paves the way for new connections and lots of social interaction! [1]
    • For example, one of your squares might say "Has a pet turtle." In order to mark off that square, you'll need to find someone who actually has a pet turtle.
    • Human bingo is ideal for getting groups of people to interact, even when the players involved are total strangers.
    • As such, it works in plenty of different settings—from parties to classrooms, workplaces, and more.
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Section 2 of 4:

How to Play Human Bingo

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  1. Use a standard 5 x 5 square grid (as used in the regular bingo games) to make your cards. Create one card for each person attending the gathering, and make sure you have pens or pencils available for each card. [2]
    • You can draw 5 x 5 grids on a blank sheet of paper using a ruler, or just print them out using a template.
    • You can also create bingo cards digitally on sites like Canva .
  2. Each box should have an interesting human characteristic, personality trait, skill, life fact, or experience of some kind written inside. The goal of human bingo is for players to try and meet people who fulfill the prompts within those boxes! Some examples could be: [3]
    • Owns or has owned a pet
    • Commutes to school/work
    • Has never smoked before
    • Has gone to a sporting event
    • Has visited another country
    • Has tried a different cuisine outside of their own
    • Has ever won something
    • Has more than two pets
    • Has worked in another state
    • Has a social networking account, etc.
  3. You can do this as they arrive at the party, or whenever you’re ready to start the game. While you’re at it, make sure the room you’ll be playing in is set up to allow for lots of mingling and movement, since people will be walking around a lot!
  4. Again, it’s up to you when you do this—you can explain the rules as you hand out the bingo cards, or wait until everyone has arrived and is ready to play. Tell the players that they must interview each other, going around the group and asking other people to check off one box that applies to them on the bingo card. Names or signatures on multiple boxes don’t count.
    • Reinforce that socializing is a must! This entire game is based around getting to know each other, so encourage chatting and getting to know one another.
    • If your party has a very small number of people, the signature rules are more lenient and can be signed upon if any trivia applies to the person.
  5. 5
    Begin the game and start mingling with guests. Let guests start chatting and interviewing one another (and, assuming you’re playing too, you should do the same). Keep an eye on the game as it progresses—make sure it’s moving along at a good pace, and that everyone is feeling included and getting to talk to different people. [4]
    • For example, if someone is a little shy, you might partner up with them and help ease them into conversations with people.
    • Basically, if you’re the host, make sure everyone is having a great time!
  6. Tell players to come to you when they’ve fulfilled the winning condition for the game; this can be a full, completely signed card or a complete row or column (more like traditional bingo). Just ensure everyone knows what they need to do to win when you start the game—then, the first person to come forward with a “bingo” will be declared the winner.
    • Consider declaring winners when a row or column has been checked off if you want to run a speedier game, or require the whole card to be checked off if you want people to take their time.
    • Offer a small door prize, such as a chocolate bar or a cake, to the winner!
  7. 7
    Optionally, have a group discussion when the game ends. Immediately after a winner is declared, it’s the perfect time to call everyone together to chat about any cool discoveries or introductions they made while playing. Maybe a group of people all discovered shared interests, or experiences they have in common, for example.
    • You definitely don’t have to have a group chat if you’d rather let people talk amongst themselves, but it can be a fun little way to recap the game!
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Section 3 of 4:

Human Bingo Questions & Ideas

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  1. 1
    About family and pets Your human bingo prompts could touch on players’ families. Who has siblings? Who doesn’t? And don’t forget pets—players might be able to discover someone’s really unique pet, or swap pictures of each other’s adorable kitties and puppies as they go. What’s not to love about that? For example:
    • Has a brother
    • Has a sister
    • Is an only child
    • Is an older sibling
    • Is a middle child
    • Is the youngest sibling
    • Is a twin
    • Has a dog
    • Has a cat
    • Has a fish
    • Has an unusual pet (bird, gerbil, snake, etc.)
  2. 2
    About life experiences and travel Delve into the interesting things people may have done in their lives. Where have they lived? What unique or singular experiences have they had? There’s a lot of room to explore with this category, so if possible, you might want to base a few on experiences you know certain people in the group have had. For example:
    • Has lived in a different state
    • Has lived in another country
    • Has lived in another city
    • Has lived in the same house their whole life
    • Has lived in multiple houses
    • Has traveled to another country
    • Has traveled to a country I haven’t been to
    • Has run a marathon
    • Has met a celebrity
    • Has been skydiving
    • Has played an extreme sport
    • Has a book signed by the author
    • Has won an award or competition
    • Has built something
    • Has been camping
    • Has been skiing
    • Has been on an airplane
    • Has broken a bone
    • Has been stung by a bee
    • Has ridden a motorcycle
    • Has performed at a talent show
    • Has done karaoke in public
    • Has seen the Statue of Liberty
    • Has been to a national park
    • Has seen a wild bear in person (or another unusual animal)
  3. 3
    About similarities and differences Human bingo is also an excellent opportunity to help people discover the things they have in common. So, get them started with prompts such as:
    • Has the same birth month
    • Has the same hair color
    • Has the same color shirt/jacket/sweater
    • Has the same eye color
    • Has a different eye color
    • Has a different favorite color
    • Has a different hair color
  4. 4
    About likes and dislikes With this category, players can figure out if they like any of the same things, and discover common ground! Try coming up with different potential likes and dislikes (or use a few that you already know about based on the people who’ll be playing). For example:
    • Likes spicy food
    • Likes winter more than summer
    • Likes rainy days more than sunny days
    • Has a sweet tooth
    • Likes cats more than dogs
    • Likes baking
    • Likes painting
    • Likes horror movies (or another specific genre)
    • Likes classic rock (or another specific genre)
    • Dislikes spicy food
    • Dislikes the rain
    • Dislikes pop music
    • Dislikes football
    • Dislikes ice cream
    • Prefers brownies to cake
    • Prefers coffee to tea
    • Prefers salad to pizza
    • Prefers night to daytime
  5. 5
    About personal attributes Personal attributes include physical features, like eye color and hair color, as well as the details of what someone is wearing. Challenge players to find someone with a floral print shirt or someone with gorgeous brown eyes! For example:
    • Has brown (blue, green, hazel, black, etc.) eyes
    • Has red (brown, blonde, black, etc.) hair
    • Has dyed hair (a bright color)
    • Has an “L” in their name (or any other letter)
    • Is wearing a green shirt (or another color)
    • Is wearing a patterned piece of clothing
    • Has black shoes
    • Isn’t wearing socks
    • Has freckles
    • Has pierced ears
    • Has a piercing somewhere other than their ears
    • Has a tattoo
    • Is left-handed
  6. 6
    About hobbies and skills Finally, explore players’ hobbies and special skills. Do they have any neat talents to showcase? Are they a talented singer or a superb gymnast? Challenge players to learn more about one another’s favorite activities (and maybe find things they have in common, too). For example:
    • Favorite subject in school is… (English, social studies, math, etc.)
    • Plays an instrument
    • Can sing
    • Plays games (video games, cards, etc.)
    • Has performed in a musical
    • Has read 10+ books this year
    • Collects… (toys, dolls, rocks, stamps, coins, etc.)
    • Can ride a bike
    • Can juggle
    • Has a special hidden talent
    • Speaks more than one language
    • Can do a flip
    • Has ridden a horse
    • Can do a magic trick
    • Can recite a poem from memory
    • Enjoys DIY projects
    • Plays a sport
    • Does volunteer work
    • Likes hiking
    • Does photography
    • Grows their own garden
    • Can crochet
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Section 4 of 4:

Benefits of Playing Human Bingo

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  1. Human bingo is an easy and fun icebreaker. It’s a game that encourages socializing, discussion, and communication, which is a great tool to have—whether you’re hosting a party, introducing coworkers to one another, or helping a class of students get to know each other. In addition to the social interaction, human bingo has a few other notable perks: [5]
    • It gets people engaged. With a game like human bingo, where there’s such a wide range of prompts (experiences, traits, skills, and so on), nobody will feel left out. In short, there’s something for everyone to contribute!
    • It facilitates team bonding. If you play human bingo in a work-related setting, it can get people in the habit of communicating and collaborating with one another.
    • It encourages learning. As players discover things about one another, they have the chance to explore each topic further and maybe even learn something they didn’t know before.

Community Q&A

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  • Question
    How do I win the match?
    HumanBeing
    Top Answerer
    The first person to cross off all the boxes on the card wins the game. You can award prizes for the first person to get a match for every question on the corners of the card or to get a line of crosses on the card, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
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    Not Helpful 10 Helpful 7
  • Question
    Can I play Human Bingo with my cats since I don't have friends?
    JTrinidad Castillo-Sanchez
    Community Answer
    You can certainly try playing with your cats, but keep in mind it might not work effectively if the cats react poorly to each other.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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      Tips

      • If you want people to find potential romantic matches, angle some of the bingo matches to reveal this, such as "arrived with a platonic friend" or "came here alone", or "looking for love".
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      • You can make human bingo as complex or as simple as you'd like. It depends on who you've invited and how much of a game you want to turn this into.
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      • Human bingo works best with larger groups. Ensure that everyone keeps circulating after a few minutes of getting to know one another.
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      Things You'll Need

      • Cards or standard 8 x 11" paper
      • Pens or pencils

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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.mplgames.com/blog/human-bingo/
      2. ↑ https://blog.tcea.org/human-bingo-a-fun-and-effective-icebreaker/
      3. ↑ https://icebreakers.ws/large-group/did-you-know-bingo.html
      4. ↑ https://icebreakers.ws/large-group/did-you-know-bingo.html
      5. ↑ https://blog.tcea.org/human-bingo-a-fun-and-effective-icebreaker/

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