Dice Bingo Game: Rules and the Best Card

Dice Bingo is bingo where the players make their own cards and two dice call the numbers. Everyone writes nine numbers from 2 to 12 on a small grid. The caller rolls two dice, says the sum, and anyone with that number crosses one off. The first player to cross off the whole card shouts “Bingo!”. The twist is that choosing your numbers is a real decision, and the best cards are not the ones most people pick first.

What You Need

• Two six-sided dice, or our Dice Roller set to two dice on a screen the whole room can see.
• A 3 by 3 grid for each player, drawn on paper or a mini whiteboard.
• Pencils, or counters to cover the squares.
• Any number of players. It works well with a whole class.

Choosing the Caller

The caller rolls the dice and reads out each sum. Spin our Random Name Picker to choose a fair caller for each game, so different children get the job. The teacher or host can also call every game and let a randomly picked player press the roll button.

How to Play

There are many versions of this classroom game. These are the most common rules, so agree on any changes first.

1. Fill your card: write any nine numbers from 2 to 12 in your grid. You may use the same number more than once.
2. Roll and call: the caller rolls two dice and says the sum out loud, for example “5 and 3, eight!”.
3. Cross off one: if you have that number, cross off one square with it. If you have it twice, you still cross off only one.
4. Keep rolling until somebody has crossed off all nine squares.
5. Shout Bingo! The caller checks the card against a list of the sums rolled.

Which Numbers Come Up Most?

Two dice give 36 equally likely results, and the sums near the middle can be made in more ways. In the table, “Sum” is the number on your card, “Ways” is how many of the 36 results add up to it, and “Chance” is the exact chance that the next roll is that number.

So 7 is called six times as often as 2 or 12. A square with 2 or 12 on it will usually be the last one left on a card. Our dice probability guide explains this pattern in more detail.

What Is the Best Card?

It is tempting to fill the card with 7s, but that is a trap: you need nine separate 7s, and only one roll in six is a 7. We tested six cards on the same 100,000 simulated games. In the table, “Card” lists its nine numbers, “Rolls (avg)” is the average number of rolls needed to cross off the whole card, and “Rolls (typical)” is the median. These are simulated estimates.

The fastest cards spread their numbers over the middle of the range, with more squares for the common sums and fewer for the rare ones. A card with a 2 or a 12 on it has to wait for a 1 in 36 roll, and that one square can hold up the whole card. Nine 7s is almost as slow. When we let all six cards race each other, the two fastest cards won about 55% of games between them, but the plain 3 to 11 card still won about a quarter, because luck plays a big part in any single game.

Teaching Ideas

• Play first, talk later: let children fill their cards freely for the first game. Afterwards, look at which cards finished early and which numbers were left.
• Tally the calls: keep a tally of every sum rolled in a few games. The hill shape around 7 explains the winning cards.
• Design a better card: after the tally, ask everyone to design their best card and play again. Did the new cards finish faster?
• Count the ways: ask pairs to list every way two dice make each sum, from 1 and 1 for 2 to 6 and 6 for 12.
• Mental maths: the caller can say only the two dice (“four and five”) and let the players add them.

For more games that use the same two-dice sums, try Roll and Cover and the Horse Race Dice Game. For classic number-ball bingo, see our guide on how to play bingo.

Variations

• Line bingo: the first player to cross off a full row, column or diagonal wins. Games are much shorter.
• Bigger card: use a 4 by 4 or 5 by 5 grid for a longer game.
• No repeats: every number on the card must be different. With nine squares and eleven sums, you choose which two numbers to leave out.
• Difference bingo: call the difference between the dice and use numbers 0 to 5.
• Times-table bingo: multiply the two dice and fill the card with products such as 6, 12 and 24.
• One die: for younger children, use numbers 1 to 6 and one die. Every number is equally likely, so no card is better than another.

Where Does the Game Come From?

Bingo itself grew out of old lottery games, but this dice version is a classroom game shared by maths teachers in many forms. We found no reliable record of who first played it with two dice.

FAQ

How do you play dice bingo?

Each player writes nine numbers from 2 to 12 in a 3 by 3 grid. A caller rolls two dice and says the sum. Players with that number cross one off. The first to cross off all nine squares wins.

What numbers should I put on a dice bingo card?

Mostly middle numbers, with more squares for 6, 7 and 8 and none for 2 or 12. In our simulation, a card of 4 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 needed about 26 rolls on average.

Is a card with nine 7s a good idea?

No. You need nine separate 7s, and only one roll in six is a 7, so it took about 54 rolls on average in our simulation, twice as long as a spread card.

Why should you avoid 2 and 12?

Each comes up only once in 36 rolls on average, so one square with 2 or 12 can hold up your whole card.

Can you play dice bingo with an online dice roller?

Yes. Set our free Dice Roller to two dice and show it on a screen so the whole class can see each roll.

What does dice bingo teach?

Addition to 12, tallying, and the idea that some results are more likely than others. Designing a better card is a good introduction to probability.