Bingo

Now everyone is aware of this game, even I have played it when I was young, or when some of my cousins cajoled me into playing it with them.

Typically it involves an n*n square box, full of numbers (1 to n²), arranged in random across the box. The numbers are struck as and when they are called, the person, who is the first to strike off all the numbers in a particular row, or column or diagonal shouts “Bingo”. The person who ends up with more bingo shouts is the winner.

Today I received a mail from one of my colleagues, informing me about the latest version of Bingo being played amongst the corporate. The game is titled “Bullshit Bingo”. The mail claims that this is the perfect remedy for people who keep falling asleep in meetings, seminars and conferences. The mail details the steps to be followed during the “game”.

1. Before, or during, your next meeting, seminar or conference call, prepare your “Bulshit bingo” card by drawing a square, 5” by 5”, and divide it into 5 rows and 5 columns. This would result in 25 1” by 1” small squares inside the big box.
   
2. Write one of the following phrase in the each of the box –

• Synergy
• Strategic fit
• Core competency
• Turbulent environment
• Out of the box
• Pushback
• Bottom line
• Revisit
• Take that off-line
• 24/7
• Out of the loop
• Bench mark
• Value-added
• Proactive
• Bandwidth
• Win-win
• Think outside the box
• Fast track
• Result-driven
• Paradigm
• Empowerment or Empower
• Knowledge base
• At the end of the day
• Touch base
• Mindset
• Client focused or Customer focused
• Ballpark
• Game plan
• Scenario
• Leverage
• Cascade
• Sequence or Sequentially

3. Strike off the appropriate word as and when they are mentioned in the meeting
4. When a row or column or a diagonal is struck, get up and should “Bullshit”.

On searching the net for this new version of Bingo, I found its reference in Wikipedia and CompanyCulture.

It seems that this version of Bingo is a satirical or ironic version of “Buzzword Bingo”. The game Buzzword Bingo was first played at MIT’s 1996 graduation; the chief guest was the then vice president of US, Al Gore. He was known for his frequent use of technology buzzwords in his speeches. The graduating class had distributed buzzword cards containing many buzzwords to the audience!!!!

Now, where was this piece of news when I was at TAPMI??