How to Play HitBingo
The rules, preparations and practical tips & tricks
Prefer reading? Here is the text of the video
Throwing a party? Turn it into a music bingo! Everyone gets a card, you play the hits, and whoever fills a row, a column or the whole card first shouts: bingo! With HitBingo you put a game like that together in a couple of minutes. Let me show you how.
First, create a free account. Your first name and your email address. That's all we need to know. You get an email to confirm, and then you're ready to go.
Click New Bingo. Give your bingo a name, for example: Emma's Birthday. Fill in how many people are playing; everyone gets their own, unique card. And choose how long you want to play: fifty songs for a normal game, seventy-five if you're making a long night of it. Up to ten cards, it's completely free.
Now for the best part: the music. No idea where to start? Pick one of our ready-made playlists, and one click puts fifty hits on the list. Already have a playlist on Spotify? Paste the link here, and HitBingo pulls in the songs. It can be someone else's public playlist too. Still missing that one song the whole room sings along to? Search for it, and add it. A song that doesn't suit your guests? Get rid of it. One in the wrong spot? Just drag it up. Or let the shuffle button do the work. And the golden tip: don't make it too hard, or nobody will ever shout bingo!
Time for the cards. Pick a design: cheerful orange and green, blue, pretty in pink, or black and white if you want to save ink. Choose how to print them: one card on A5, or two on an A4. The preview shows you exactly how it turns out. Happy with it? Hit generate. HitBingo shuffles the songs around, so no two cards are the same.
You get two files. The bingo cards, to print and hand out. And the playlist: that's your running order, with every song in the order you play them. Print a second copy for whoever checks the bingos. One more handy thing: you can get the playlist on Spotify as well. Spotify no longer allows a direct export, so we take a small detour. Click Export to Spotify, and we put your playlist in our own account. You get an email with the link, and from there you save it to your own library. Do give us a moment, because we do this by hand.
And then: party! Hand out the cards, turn up the music, and play the songs in the order of your playlist. Agree up front on what you are playing for: a line, four corners, or straight for a full card. Someone shouts bingo? Put the card next to the playlist, and check. All correct? Big applause, and a prize!
After the party, your bingo is still there under My Bingos. Tweak it, and use it again for the next one. Feeling inspired? Create a free account at hitbingo.music, and build your own music bingo. Have fun!
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: Second row
- Bingo 3: Letter X (both diagonals)
- Final bingo: Full card
-
Corners & Lines
- Bingo 1: Four corners
- Bingo 2: Middle 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?
Our cards are built so that each round has a single winner, as long as you play the playlist in order. Even if a few players miss their bingo, the next one usually still falls alone. But if someone spots a missed bingo later on, two people can still call at once. So agree beforehand how to settle it: roll a die, ask a bonus question, or give both a prize. (First to call wins? With small children that can lead to sad disappointments.)
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