“The Hottest Thing in Baseball Is a Grid of Nine Blank Squares”

Globally popular, bingo is one of my favorite childhood games. However, I never thought of the practical uses of bingo until I read about Immaculate Grid.

Having tried it out, the game felt like a stress-free quiz that attests to my understanding of baseball. The proud feeling of completing the bingo acts as a validation of the depth of my baseball knowledge.

By reading this article and playing the game, I wondered if adapted bingos like this could be implemented in education.

At my school, the words “boredom” and “unfun” are typical responses from students that dislike school. If Immaculate Grid attracts 200,000 daily users, would learning become more popular to students through adapted daily bingos? If lectures, rote learning, and other stressful passive teaching methods detract students from having fun, active learning in the form of games and prizes might gauge greater student attention in class. Beyond increasing attendance, these bingo practices act as retrieval practices that aid student learning: learning through visual elements rather than words alone can make things more recognizable and therefore rememberable. Moreover, if winning Immaculate Grid can help fill the gaps in my baseball knowledge and thus deepen my passion for it as well, I expect winning adapted bingos for educational intents would do the same for other students, allowing them to enjoy learning in a fun and quirky way.