How to Run Bingo for Seniors

Why bingo earns its place on the calendar

Activity directors sometimes apologize for how often they schedule bingo. There is no need. It is one of the few games a whole room can play at once, needs no explanation for most residents, and works for people who cannot walk, cannot see well or cannot remember last week. A resident who skips the exercise class and the craft table will often come to bingo.

The social side matters more than the game. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists older adults among the groups more at risk for social isolation, and names dementia, depression and heart disease among the health risks linked to isolation and loneliness. A weekly hour where thirty people sit at tables, talk between calls and cheer a winner is a small, regular answer to that.

Cards residents can actually read

Low vision is the norm, not the exception, in a group of residents in their eighties and nineties. The National Eye Institute reports that more than half of all Americans aged 80 or older either have cataracts or have had surgery for them, and cataracts make glare worse and colors look faded. Cards designed for a church fundraiser are often too small.

The American Printing House for the Blind publishes research-based guidelines for large print documents. The points that matter for a bingo card are:

• A document is only large print at 18 point or larger. Smaller enlargements do not count.
• Fonts should be sans serif, with bold used for emphasis instead of italics.
• Black on white gives the best contrast, but white paper causes glare for some people, so ivory, cream or pastel yellow with black text are good alternatives.
• Gray paper and gray text are never recommended, and neither are patterned backgrounds behind text.

On the free bingo card generator, the setting that gets you there is the Large print box in Options under the word list. It locks the cards to one per page, prints the biggest text that fits each square, and draws the grid in heavy black instead of green. For word bingo, choose the 4 x 4 grid; the squares are wider than on a 5 by 5 card and short words print at up to 48 point. For number bingo, use the 75-ball cards with the same box ticked, and the numbers come out far larger than on a standard card. Leave Ink saver off, because it lightens the lines, and print on white or cream cardstock. Keep word squares to two or three words, so the generator does not have to shrink the type to fit.

Markers, tables and light

Bingo daubers are the right marker for almost everyone. They need no grip strength, they leave a big colored dot, and a resident can see across the table whether a square is covered. Pens and pencils are the worst choice: hard to hold, hard to see.

Seat residents at round or long tables with the caller visible from every seat, and turn on every light in the room. People with cataracts need more light to read and are bothered more by glare, so avoid a window directly behind the caller and shiny laminated cards under a lamp. Keep spare cards and daubers on the caller's table for late arrivals and spilled coffee.

Calling so everyone hears

Hearing loss is as common as low vision, and hearing aids amplify the clatter of the room as much as the caller's voice. A few habits make calling clearer:

1. Face the room, not the sheet. Lips are part of hearing for many residents.
2. Say every call twice, slowly, with a pause between. For numbers, add the letter and split the digits on the second read: "G 52, five two."
3. Show the call as well as say it. Hold up a large card, write it on a whiteboard, or put it on a screen.
4. Keep background music off during calling. Save it for the breaks.

The easiest way to show every call is to connect a laptop to the lounge television and use the free online bingo caller in Projector mode. The current call fills the screen in white on green, the board of called numbers stays visible, and the last five calls sit underneath for anyone who looked up late. Tick Read each call aloud and the computer announces each call in a clear voice, which saves your throat over an hour. Auto-call with a slow interval frees your hands to walk the tables and help residents find squares. The caller runs 75-ball and 90-ball numbers and any word list on this site, so a remember-when game can go on the screen too. If you call from paper instead, enlarge the printed caller sheet on a copier; its type is small.

Pace, patterns and length

A number every five to eight seconds is the pace of a bingo hall. In a senior community, ten to fifteen seconds is better, and longer when someone has a question. Watch the slowest table, not the fastest. When most daubers have stopped moving, call the next number.

Start every session with a straight line game, because it is the pattern everyone knows and it produces a quick first winner. Then vary it: four corners, a letter shape, or a blackout for the last round with the best prize. Announce the pattern before the first call and draw it on the board. Our bingo patterns guide has pictures you can print and prop up on the caller's table.

Forty-five minutes to an hour is a comfortable session. Three to five rounds fit in that time, with a stretch and a drink halfway through.

Prizes that feel generous without a budget

Prizes do not need to cost much, but there should be plenty of them. The disappointment in a bingo room is never the size of the prize; it is watching one person win three times while everyone else goes home with nothing. Play each round until two or three people have a line, and give every one of them something.

Prizes that work well: wrapped hard candy, packets of cookies, small bars of soap or hand lotion, a single flower, a cup of ice cream from the kitchen, a puzzle book, or first choice of seat at the next movie afternoon. A prize table where winners pick what they like beats handing everyone the same thing. Ask local shops for small donations and families for unwanted gifts.

Charging residents for cards or paying out cash can bring a game under gambling rules in many states, even in a private community. Keep bingo free to play, keep prizes small, and check your facility's own policy before you run anything that looks like a raffle.

Remember-when bingo: the conversation round

Numbers bingo is the one residents expect. Word bingo built from the decades they grew up in is the one they talk about afterward. The cards on the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s pages are filled with things people owned, wore, ate and watched: the party line, the sock hop, the beehive, the eight-track in the car. Each square is a prompt.

Run it differently from the numbers game. Call a square, then ask the room a question about it before anyone looks down: "Who had a milkman? What time did he come?" Let two or three people answer. Then say the square again and give everyone time to find it.

Edit the lists before you print. Add the dance hall or diner from your town, the local radio station, the factory where half the room worked. Remove any square that would land badly with a particular resident. A card that feels made for this community is worth the five minutes, and visiting grandchildren can play along while the grandparent explains every square.

Adapting for memory loss

Residents living with dementia can still enjoy bingo, and often did for decades before they came to you. The Alzheimer's Association advises sticking with activities the person has always enjoyed and adjusting them to match current abilities, and focusing on enjoyment rather than achievement. For bingo that translates into a few changes:

• Use the 3 x 3 grid with Large print ticked. Nine big squares are enough, and a line comes quickly.
• Call slowly and repeat each call three times. Point to the number on the screen.
• Seat a staff member, volunteer or family member beside anyone who needs help, and let them guide the dauber without taking over.
• Do not correct a wrong square. Nobody is keeping score.
• Finish rounds often, so there are many small wins, and give the prize right away while the moment is fresh.
• Keep the session shorter, around thirty minutes, and stop while people are still enjoying it.

A resident who cannot follow the card can still hold one and be part of the room. Being at the table is the point.

A sample hour

Here is a plan that works for a group of twenty to thirty residents with mixed abilities:

1. Before: print 75-ball cards with Large print ticked, plus a few 3 x 3 cards for memory care residents. Set up the TV with the online caller in Projector mode. Put daubers and a prize basket on the caller's table.
2. 0 to 5 minutes: hand out cards while residents settle. Announce the first pattern and show it.
3. 5 to 20 minutes: straight line round, played until three winners. Prizes immediately.
4. 20 to 35 minutes: four corners, then a drink and a stretch.
5. 35 to 55 minutes: a remember-when round with a decade word list, with a question after every call.
6. 55 to 60 minutes: thank everyone, name next week's theme, and collect the daubers.