Not all teams can come together in person to organize a Christmas party together — but that doesn't mean that it can't at least take place digitally. 😉 Especially when the work is primarily done remotely, it can be more difficult to cultivate a sense of community with each other, as there is no physical space for this. It's no different at the annual Christmas party.
So grab your Ugly Christmas Sweater, dust off your reindeer headband and get your Santa hat out again, because we've prepared the perfect remote game for the digital Christmas party for you: Our X-Mas Music Bingo! 🎄🎶
Wham! , Mariah Carey and Frank Sinatra are waiting for you!
Below you'll find the instructions, game rules and links to the bingo slips and the appropriate Spotify X-mas playlist for the DJ — all for free, of course. A little tip from us: For digital cooperation, it is also worthwhile to prepare perhaps one or the other hot drink of your choice and order something to eat together in order to share that little bit of Christmas spirit even better. 😉
Have fun and wish you a happy holiday
Your team from 55Birchstreet
lowdown
- Number of players: 4 - 12 (if you are more than 12, share the PDFs so that not everyone has 16 bingo cards, but less)
- What material do you need?
- Everyone needs 1 laptop (alternatively tablet or mobile phone) with which he/she can participate in a video conference
- headphones with microphone
- Possibility to print out the bingo slips + pen (if necessary, a split screen with the video conference and the bingo note on the laptop can also be used to digitally mark the PDF)
- 1 Spotify Premium account (with advertising works too, but it's less fun) — this person is the best DJ to play (see roles)
- period: flexible, approx. 1-2 hours is the most fun for us!
instructions
- 1 person from the group must invite all participants to a video conference (e.g. MS Teams, zoom, webex)
- All participants transmit camera and audio so that you can hear the others' singing. 😉
The role of the DJ
- Unfortunately, the DJ cannot play bingo himself because he/she sees the song titles. For this, he/she is responsible for organizing, moderating, checking the winner's slips and, of course, for the mood.
- The DJ distributes the individual bingo cards to the players individually in advance (e.g. via email). The PDFs can here be downloaded.
- The DJ should decide in advance how many bingo cards may be used per person per round (min. 1, maximum 16 possible) or whether it is up to the players themselves how many they can “keep an eye on”.
The DJ plays the Spotify playlist on Shuffle:
- Only the DJ may have opened the Spotify playlist, the link is here: Music Bingo — XMAS.
- The DJ opens Spotify on the same device as the video conference and does a “screen transfer” (important: transfer the video conference image and click on the sound transfer, plan B: The DJ lets the playlist run via a music box that “rings” directly into the laptop microphone (important, no headphones for the DJ in this case).
- We recommend that you do a short sound check 10 minutes before the appointment.
- After about 15-20 seconds, he/she should stop the song and start the next song. The DJ can adjust this period according to mood and skill so that the song is guessed (difficult especially with long intros without lyrics) and is also celebrated a bit.
- The DJ scribbles the names of the songs in progress so that he can control the bingos later on.
The role of the other players
- The remaining participants are “dancers” and each receives an individual PDF (numbered 1-11) from the DJ, which they print out.
- On this, as with normal bingo, you have to tick the boxes whose songs are being played. But first you have to recognize the song!
- If a dancer has placed 4 crosses in a row — horizontally, vertically or diagonally — he/she must say BINGO! call. The game is stopped at this point, the DJ checks whether all the selected songs have been played and announces the winner of the round.
More tips
- If everyone dresses up (e.g. Santa Claus hat, Christmas sweater) and/or decorate for Christmas, it can be even funnier. The video background can also be selected accordingly.
- When there is something to win, ambition increases, which, depending on the participants, can lead to increased motivation but may also lead to less celebration. Just decide how you want to do it, you know your people best!
- Feel free to adjust the rules as you please (e.g. blackout, every field must be ticked, or max. 10 seconds of song excerpt) — just make sure that all participants have understood the rules beforehand.
We hope you're having a fun evening and are of course looking forward to all screenshots and impressions — feel free to link us on Instagram or LinkedIn.
Have a Merry Little Music Bingo!
note: The corresponding music tracks may only be used or played in private settings. The applicable GEMA guidelines apply to business events.
