FAQ

What is Food Bingo?

Food Bingo puts a fun twist on the traditional game of bingo in order to help kids try new foods. Our Food Bingo Card Generator allows you to create a set of custom bingo cards with foods that you’ve selected from our menu. Your food selections are then randomized into a set of unique bingo cards that are available as a pdf download upon purchase. During game play, when a food is called out by the bingo ‘caller’, the kids eat (or smell or touch) a bite of the ‘called’ food prior to placing a bingo chip on their card for that food. Alternatively, Food Bingo can be played as a traditional bingo game without serving food to be played with. Full instructions are available here.

Is there a sample game?

Yes, we’ve provided free sample games that anyone can download: Large Cards or Small Cards . Please note the sample game uses a 4×4 card, but you have the option of selecting a 3×3, 4×4, or 5×5. 

Can I use my phone to play Food Bingo?

The Food Bingo Card Generator is best viewed from a larger screen (computer or tablet) so that you can see the full menu of food choices and the preview card all at once. However, it is possible to use a phone to generate the cards (just a bit more challenging).

What’s the pricing & what’s included?

Our Food Bingo Card Generator randomizes your food selections into a set of cards, so each card is unique with the foods appearing in a different order. This way players don’t all achieve BINGO at the same time.

The pricing is as follows:

  • $3.99 for a set of 10 bingo cards (great for families)
  • $6.99 for a set of 30 bingo cards (great for classrooms)
  • $9.99 for a set of 50 bingo cards (great for events)

After you’ve designed your card and selected your foods, you will check out and receive immediate access to a pdf download which includes written instructions, a caller’s card and a set of randomized bingo cards. You will also receive an email with your receipt and a download link that is active for 30 days (check your spam box if you don’t receive your email within 15 minutes).

Will I have to prepare 9+ Foods to play?

Before creating your cards, it’s important to think about how many foods you want to prepare for the game because you will provide each child several pieces/slices of each food for a few rounds of the game. If you don’t want to provide 9 (3×3 card), 16 (4×4 card), or 25 (5×5 card) unique foods to your players, here are some tips for making your cards:

  • Select ‘free space’
  • Duplicate some foods in your game ** Please note that if you repeat foods, the card generator places the foods in random positions on each card (each card is unique), so you may have some cards where the same food is found in neighboring squares (ex. apple 🍎 next to apple 🍎). This shouldn’t be a problem for game play, because the caller’s card will also have the same foods repeated, so the chances of achieving bingo are the same.**
  • Add some ‘easy’ menu items such as water or a snack like pretzels or popcorn. Including some preferred or favorite foods on your cards will make the game more fun and motivate the players to try new foods.
  • Food Bingo can be played over 1 week (or even 1 month). For example, each day 1 food can be drawn from the hat and prepared for the child(ren) to taste and play to achieve Bingo over the week (or month).

How do I prepare & present the foods?

  • Provide bite size pieces of each food on the menu for each child
  • Easy ways to present the foods for each child include providing a large plate with little mounds of each food or using ramekins or muffin cups to provide separate portions of each food.
  • If you have repeated foods on your cards or plan to play several rounds in a row, provide bigger servings of each food.

What other supplies will I need?

You only need 3 items to play: Food Bingo Cards & Calling Card (printed or digital), Food (see above about preparing food), and Bingo Chips (raisins, dry macaroni, construction paper squares, etc).

Does the menu represent foods from various cultures & countries?

We kept the foods as generic & broad as possible so that they could be used for a variety of different cultural & regional dishes. For example, ‘Soup’ can represent Pho, Tom Kha Gai, African Peanut Soup, Lentil Soup, Chicken Noodle Soup, or any other soup. ‘Chicken’ can be chosen for any type of chicken dish. Since we had to limit the menu to a manageable number of selections, we also provided the option to add your own food (both pictures & text). Please contact us if there’s something you’d like to see added to the drop-down menus. The first version of our game is available in English, with plans to expand to additional languages in the future. 

Can I create Dairy-Free, Vegan, or Plant-Based Food Bingo cards?

Several food categories (fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts & seeds) are entirely vegan/plant-based & will give you many delicious foods to choose from! In addition, we designed the dairy / dairy alternatives category to be generic, meaning that the selection ‘milk’ can be chosen for any type of milk (almond milk, coconut milk) and the same is true for cheese, yogurt etc. If your players eat dairy-free yogurt, they will still recognize it as simply ‘yogurt’.  Many of the entrees can also apply to a vegan diet; for example, ‘burger’ can mean a traditional hamburger or a plant-based burger. Nuggets can be veggie-nuggets, etc. We designed our menus with broad/generic labels as often as possible to allow each food icon to apply to various diets and keep our menu to a manageable size.

Are there tips for playing Food Bingo with a child who is a VERY picky eater?

  • Food Bingo is a great game to help picky eaters try new foods in a way that is fun & stress-free for both the child and adult. The following strategies can help children who are very picky eaters experience new foods while playing Food Bingo:
  • Rather than eating the food in order to place the bingo chip, allow the child to just touch, smell, or lick the food.
  • Use your Food Bingo cards to play traditional bingo (without actual food involved) to simply introduce some images and names of new foods.
  • Have your child help you make the food selections for the board, including 1 or 2 ‘new’ foods for them to try. They can also get involved by helping to pick out new foods from the store or helping to prepare the foods.
  • Be sure to include a variety of new and preferred/favorite foods in your game; this will make the game more fun and rewarding for the child.
  • You can duplicate foods on the board so that there aren’t an overwhelming number of different foods introduced during the game.
  • Food Bingo can be played over 1 week (or even 1 month). For example, each day 1 food can be drawn from the hat and prepared for the child(ren) to taste and play to achieve Bingo over the week (or month).

How can I help young kids keep their bingo chips on their card?

Our favorite way to make sure bingo chips stay in place is to place a small magnetic board under each printed bingo sheet, and use small magnets as the bingo chips. Everything stays in place!

Can I play Food Bingo without a printer? 

Yes, Food Bingo can be played by providing each player with a digital snapshot of a bingo card.  Each child will need a device (tablet, phone etc). The easiest way to do this is simply use the device’s camera to take a snapshot of a different bingo card for each child.  The snapshot can be taken from the Food Bingo PDF opened on a computer or tablet. Each bingo card has a unique ID (ex.001) at the top to make sure everyone has a different card. Players can either physically set Bingo Chips on the device to keep track, or they can use a photo markup tool to draw an X over the foods as they play. ** Be sure to change the auto-lock settings on the device to make sure the screen doesn’t lock in the middle of the game**.  

Which options are available to customize my cards?

  • Our Food Bingo Card Generator allows you to customize by:
  • Entering a title that will appear at the top of each card (example: Thompson Family Food Bingo)
  • Choosing whether or not to have a Free Square
  • Selecting the grid size (3 x 3, 4 x 4, or 5 x 5)
  • Choosing the unique foods for your Food Bingo cards
  • Selecting the size of the bingo cards (i.e. the number of bingo cards per sheet of paper)
  • Selecting the number of bingo cards that you will generate (10, 30 or 50)

 How can I add a food I don’t see on the menu?

Click on the green ‘Add Your Own’ button in the Food Bingo Menu.

  • Click on the gray Apple icon to upload an image of the food (optional)
  • Type the name of the Food in the ‘Enter Name’ field (required)
  • Click + to add the food to the board
  • If you’d like to add additional foods, click the orange ‘Add More’ button

Which payment forms are accepted?

Credit Cards and Debit Cards (through Stripe) and Paypal

Which browsers are compatible with Food Bingo?

Google Chrome, Firefox, Mozilla, Explorer.  Please make sure you are using the most updated version of the browser and clear your browser’s cache if you are having any trouble with the Food Bingo Card Generator.

How can I contact Food Bingo?

Please reach out with any additional questions here.