How to play photo bingo at a wedding or party
Photo bingo is a simple game: each table or guest gets a card of photo challenges and tries to snap a picture for every square. Guests start talking to each other, and you end up with the kind of photos no photographer can take, because they can't sit at every table.
The rules in five steps
- Put one card on each table or at each place setting. A pen nearby helps with crossing off squares.
- Guests take photos on their phones to match the challenges and cross off the squares they've done.
- The first to complete a row, column or diagonal shouts BINGO. A full card is the version for overachievers.
- Photos go into a shared album: guests scan the QR code on the card and add them straight away, instead of promising to send them later.
- Announce the winners, for example after the speeches or before the cake. A small prize is plenty: a bottle of wine, some sweets or first slice of cake.
How many cards and which grid
At a wedding, one card per table is usually enough: guests play as a team and get to know the people next to them. At a smaller gathering, such as a birthday at home, everyone can have their own card. The generator makes up to 40 different cards, so the challenges aren't in the same place on every one.
A 3 × 3 grid is a quick game for a short party or for kids. 4 × 4 works for most events. 5 × 5 is classic bingo for a whole evening, but it needs at least 25 challenges and an A5 or A4 card so the text stays readable.
How to write good challenges
You can use the ready-made lists as they are or add your own ideas. A few tips that keep the game going:
- Keep it short: 2-5 words fit in a square even on a small card.
- Mix easy challenges (a photo of the cake) with ones that get guests mingling (a selfie with someone from the other side of the family).
- Add a few challenges that are just about you two: where you met, your song, your favourite food.
- Think of guests who don't like posing: details such as the rings, the decorations or dessert count too.
- Avoid anything that could upset someone, such as age, weight or exes.
Printing and the QR code
Each card prints on its own page in the size you picked. In the print dialog, set the scale to 100%, and to get a PDF choose "Save as PDF". Matte card stock of 200-300 gsm looks best and is easy to write on with a pen. The Evening design has a dark background, so printing lots of cards uses a fair amount of ink.
The QR code on the card is optional. It comes out at about 2 cm (0.8 in) on A6, about 3 cm (1.2 in) on A5 and about 4 cm (1.6 in) on A4, so guests scan it up close. Before printing every card, scan the code from your screen with two phones and open the link on a phone where you're not logged in. For a bigger code on each table or at the entrance, use our QR code sign template.
Frequently asked questions
Is the photo bingo card generator free?
Yes. Creating, printing and downloading cards costs nothing, needs no account and adds no watermark. Make as many cards and versions as you like.
How are the cards different from each other?
Each card gets the challenges in a different order, and when your list is longer than the number of squares, a different set of challenges too. That way neighbouring tables don't have identical cards. The "Shuffle again" button reshuffles every card.
How many challenges do I need?
At least as many as there are squares: 9, 16 or 25. A few more is better, because then the cards differ in which challenges they include as well. If you don't have enough, the extra squares stay blank and guests can write in their own ideas.
What is the QR code on the card for?
It takes guests to wherever you want them to add photos: an album, a shared folder or any web page. It's a static code that stores your link directly, with no redirect in between, so it works for as long as the link itself does.
Does Album QR have Foto Bingo built in?
Yes. With the Album package, Foto Bingo runs on guests' phones: they see a board of challenges, upload matching photos through the same QR code they use for all their other photos, and a leaderboard updates live. Guests don't need an app or an account. You can print the paper cards from this page whichever way you collect your photos.
Is anything I type sent to your server?
No. The challenges, text, link and QR code are generated entirely in your browser. The page doesn't send or store anything.