How to Play HitBingo
The rules, preparations and practical tips & tricks
What is Music Bingo?
Music bingo is a fantastic way to enjoy music together with friends, family or colleagues while adding a bit of friendly competition.
What do you need?
- A sound system: For a small group, a portable speaker with some power and your smartphone with Spotify will do. For a larger group, a microphone for the DJ is also handy.
- A good playlist with 50 or 75 songs (depending on how long you want the music bingo to last), with music that suits your group – age, music taste, etc. Don't make it too difficult... otherwise nobody will call bingo!
- A DJ: Someone who plays the songs and keeps the atmosphere going.
- A host: Someone who checks whether the called bingos are actually correct.
- HitBingo cards: At least one per participant. You can of course also give everyone 2 different cards.
- Pens or pencils: One for each player.
Prizes!
How many prizes there are is up to you. Most commonly 4 prizes are awarded. You can also choose between different patterns:
-
Classic: diagonal
- Bingo 1: First (top) row
- Bingo 2: First two rows
- Bingo 3: Letter X (both diagonals)
- Final bingo: Full card
-
Corners & Lines
- Bingo 1: Four corners
- Bingo 2: First (top) row
- Bingo 3: Plus sign (middle row + middle column)
- Final bingo: Full card
-
Classic: Plus
- Bingo 1: First column
- Bingo 2: Second column
- Bingo 3: Plus sign (middle row + column)
- Final bingo: Full card
Tip: The HitBingo system gives you a prediction for your bingo game per pattern, showing when the bingos are likely to fall (assuming all players actually recognise all songs, of course). This helps you choose the right pattern.
How do you play?
Once everyone has a bingo card, you're ready to go. The DJ starts the first song. How long you play each song is a matter of feel. For a very well-known song, a few seconds may be enough. It's also fun to throw in the occasional lesser-known song. We calculate an average of 30 seconds per song.
The game is briefly paused for checking. In the meantime, the DJ might play a song that is NOT on the playlist, or has prepared some fun interval music (think Benny Hill or Mission Impossible). Find inspiration here
Bingo correct?
Big applause, eternal glory and a prize!
Bingo wrong?
Oops! There are purists who say you can't play for the rest of the game, but it's much more fun to give the "cheater" a funny challenge: "Sing the national anthem at the top of your lungs", "Wear the loser hat until the next false bingo", draw a heart on the player's forehead with lipstick, or the cheater buys a round. Make it fun!
Double bingo?
Yes, it can happen. The probability is quite low, but the more participants, the higher it gets. Be prepared for it. Do you give double prizes? Or is it: first to call wins (with small children this can lead to sad disappointments). It's wise to communicate this "rule" in advance.
Preparations
Create playlist
The playlist is of course the most important thing. How do you put together a list of songs, not too hard, not too easy, that suits your event and your audience? Do you choose a specific genre, an era, or a mix with another theme, like a colour? With HitBingo you easily put together your ultimate playlist. Which you can then easily export to your own Spotify account.
You can also import an existing Spotify playlist: your own or a public playlist from someone else.
Create HitBingo cards
You can do that here in no time. The system generates a PDF document that you can print yourself. Together with the playlist on paper (print an extra copy for the bingo checker).
Your own music bingo in 4 steps
Create account
Sign up for your free account with just your first name and email address. No long forms or complicated verifications – you'll be ready in a minute!
- Only first name and email required
- One-time email verification
- Free for up to 10 cards / participants
Choose songs
Choose your favourite songs for the bingo. You can add songs from our database or enter them entirely yourself. Make it as personal as you like!
- Search our music database
- Add your own songs
- Import from standard playlists
- Import from your own Spotify playlists
- All genres supported
Generate music bingo cards
Let our system automatically create professional bingo cards: the songs are randomly distributed.
- Automatic distribution of songs
- Multiple cards at once
- Beautiful design (colour or black & white)
- A5 format, print straight away
Print & Play!
Download your PDF files and print them at home or at a copy shop. Start your music and let the fun begin!
- High-quality PDF downloads
- Optimised for home printers
- Playlist PDF also available
- Export your playlist to Spotify
Practical Tips
- Choose well-known songs for more fun
- Mix different genres for variety
- Test your playlist in advance
- Print a few extra cards
- Have prizes ready for the winners
- Use pens to cross off the squares