Signature Bingo

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Help participants meet multiple peers and discover shared experiences or background traits.

Use it when: At the start of a meeting, workshop, or training session with people who do not know each other well.

Skip it when: When participants already work closely together daily or when moving freely around the room is not feasible.

Group arrangement: Individual roving mingling in an open room

Timing: UWT suggested allocation based on standard 10 to 15 minute icebreaker window

Materials and tools

• One printed Signature Bingo card per person
• One pen or pencil per person
• One countdown timer display or chime

Before participants arrive

1. Print one copy of the 25-square Signature Bingo card for every participant plus three spares.
2. Distribute pens and bingo cards face-down or at the room entrance.
3. Clear chairs or center tables to allow unobstructed circulation.

Say this to open

Take a card and a pen. In a moment, you will stand and mingle. Your goal is to find someone who matches a description in a square and have them write their initials or signature in that box. Each person may sign your sheet only once or twice, so talk to many different people. You do not have to answer any prompt you prefer to skip. Let us start.

How to run it

1. Explain rules and hand out materials 3 minutes

   Distribute the cards and pens. Read the opening script. Set the ground rule: one person can only sign a given sheet up to twice. Clarify that any participant may decline a square without explanation.

2. Mingle and gather signatures 8 minutes

   Signal the start of the mingling period. Participants walk the room, introduce themselves in pairs, ask about specific squares, and collect signatures. Give a verbal two-minute warning at minute six. If someone completes a line of five squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, they call out 'Bingo', but play continues until the timer sounds.

3. Return to seats and check patterns 2 minutes

   Call the group back to their seats. Ask for a quick show of hands: who got a line of five? Who collected ten or more signatures? Acknowledge any completed rows without formal prizes.

4. Debrief observations 2 minutes

   Facilitate a brief share with the whole room using the debrief questions. Take two or three quick volunteer responses.

Debrief questions

• Which square was the easiest to find a match for across the room?
• Which trait or experience surprised you when someone claimed it?

Finished output: Each participant holds a marked bingo card showing signatures and conversation starters from peers.

Remote

Replicate the 25-square card on a shared digital spreadsheet or editable slide deck where each attendee has a tab. Run 3 successive 3-minute breakout rooms with 3 to 4 people each. Participants verbally ask who matches a square and type the matching person's name into their own sheet.

Hybrid

Pair in-person participants with on-screen remote attendees via dedicated video terminals or paired laptops, or have remote participants run their own parallel breakout mingling track while in-person participants mingle in the room. Bring both groups together on the shared audio call for the final 4 minutes of seat check and debrief.

Access and participation choices

• Participants with limited mobility may remain seated while ambulatory peers rotate past their station to talk.
• Anyone may decline to answer a specific prompt or pass entirely by serving as a timekeeper or card distributor.

If the session gets stuck

Two participants stand together and sign multiple squares on each other's sheets to finish quickly.

Remind the room of the rule: each peer may sign your card a maximum of two times. Encourage them to move on to someone new.

An odd number of participants leaves one person standing alone during pairwise conversations.

Prompt groups of three to talk together, or invite the standing individual into an active pair.

Terms used here

• Bingo: Completing a continuous line of five marked squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally across the grid.