Getting to Know You
With the tremendous growth churches have seen in the last several years, it seems more and more difficult to get to know our brothers and sisters. Rapid growth is great, but it can also mean a loss of connection we once felt in our small, safe spaces.
Church congregations are often spread out over distances or kept apart my work or school schedules. Making a personal connection with someone in your ward or congregation can be difficult and often feel overwhelming.
This simple Bingo game is a great, fun way to start conversations that help us get to know one another better.
How to Play
I have created this version of the classic Bingo game to be played at home. I printed copies and distributed them after church. Each household gets one gameboard. The prompts in the squares are designed to get players to talk to one another, ask questions, and learn something new about someone they may not have previously known.
Players are instructed to write the name of someone who matches each clue in the appropriate box. Each name can only be used one time. After 2 weeks, gameboards were returned to me at a ward game night.
Adaption: This game can also be played during a ward activity instead, and you can and out hgameboards when guests arrive and collect them at the end of the night. This would give people time to mingle and can be the sole activity for the night.
Who Can Play
Everyone! This is an easy game that can be played by anyone. I chose to do one gameboard per household since we were playing at home prior to the activity night, but it can also be played individually.
Who Wins
We all do! Creating a connection with someone you may not have previously known is really the prize.
Since this was the lead up game to our family game night activity, we gave each household that participated a King Size candy bar as a prize. Prizes can range from participation, to 5 box bingo, and even a black-out prize if someone fills in all the boxes. The choice is yours!
Multiple Winners
Yes, if everyone uses the same gameboard, you could have multiple winners. With this game it really doesn’t matter but, by moving around the prompts to other boxes or simply changing one or two of them, you can easily create multiple versions of the board which will limit copy winners.
Additional Prompt Ideas:
- Someone who doesn’t like chocolate
- Has sung with the Tabernacle Choir
- Went to BYU
- Danced in a parade
- Is a teacher
- Can drive a car with a stick shift
- Has driven a boat
- Has written a book
- Owns livestock
- Has driven a tractor
- Has never been camping
- Has traveled to more than 2 countries
The possibilities are endless!
Online Adaption
Our ward boundaries are very large. It encompasses 9 counties! I uploaded the image of the gameboard with the directions in our ward social media page. This allows anyone who follows the private page to download the image onto their phone or computer.