Boring Meeting Bingo

You probably already know about Boring Meeting Bingo, also known as Bull$#!t Bingo. First you make a bingo card with a grid five boxes wide by five boxes high. Into each of the twenty-five resulting boxes you write catchwords or catchphrases that are likely to be used during the meeting. When one of those words or phrases is used during the meeting, you put an “X” through it. When you get five “X”s in a row, either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, you shout out “BINGO!”

You may also know that there are online random bingo card generators which use specific lists of catchwords and catchphrases to generate bingo cards for Education Bingo, Marketing Bingo, Software Bingo, etc.

Well, I want to play denominational-specific Unitarian Universalist Boring Meeting Bingo in the worst kind of way. But I haven’t been able come up with enough Unitarian Universalist catchwords and catchphrases. I have to attend several meetings a month where I want to play this game, and I’ll want to play against other people, so I’m going to need forty or more UU catchwords and catchphrases.

So I need your help. Below is my list of UU catchwords and catchphrases thus far. Please add your contributions to this list in the comments below! (I left out acronyms because they seem too easy, but maybe you can convince me otherwise.)

  1. anti-oppression
  2. fiscally responsible
  3. policy governance
  4. herding cats
  5. mission statement
  6. empowerment
  7. prioritize
  8. safe congregation
  9. win-win
  10. walk the talk
  11. lay leader
  12. interfaith
  13. stewardship
  14. inherent worth
  15. process observer
  16. check-in

Ideally, I’d like to come up with a ton of these bingo cards to bring to General Assembly (oo, add that phrase to the list), our annual denominational meeting. Imagine hundreds of people bending over their bingo cards during some terminally boring discussion — when suddenly at the back of the hall, someone stands up and shouts “BINGO!” — pandemonium ensues…. [Update: Niko tells me that Boring Meeting Bingo did take place at General Assembly back in 2005. Maybe someone can track down one of those bingo cards and give us the catchwords and catchphrases used on those cards?]

12 thoughts on “Boring Meeting Bingo

  1. UU Jester

    covenant
    caring community
    congregational polity
    spiritual not religious
    fair share
    non-creedal faith
    green sanctuary
    canvas
    Spirit of Life
    language of reverence

    (I think you should add the initials in. Every bingo card has a few freebie spaces on them. DRE, R.E., UUSC, UUA)

  2. Jean

    This is so fun. I’m going to make an Academic Bingo for our first faculty meeting of the year. Heh heh.

  3. Jess

    I second “affirm” and raise you an “honor that,” and also “justice” and “equity,” with a dash of “youth” and “young adults.”

    And perhaps “life-time UUs” and “spiritually wounded.”

    ;-)

  4. Jean

    Hi Angela – The education cards are close, but some miss the mark a bit for higher ed. We don’t — yet, anyway — have “parent teacher conferences” “SPED” and other public school stuff. Although, a lot of these are darn close to what we say in meetings. A little whiteout and I think we may be ready to proceed. Trial run tomorrow…!

  5. Jean

    Sigh. It didn’t go very well. I was the only one who played wholeheartedly. In fact, when I (along with my two partners) recognized that we had a bingo…I was the only one who shouted: BINGO! No, even I didn’t shout BULLSHIT! But being the lone BINGO shouter was … well … lonely. I got a long, grumpy look from the Dean.

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