Forty-eight phrases that turn up in every all-hands, quarterly review and status call. Make a card for each colleague, mark the jargon as it is said, and see who gets a line before the Q&A.
Meeting Buzzword Bingo
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Win-win | Ducks in a row | Net-net | Touch base | Quick win |
Ecosystem | North star | Bandwidth | Action item | Best practice |
Run it up the flagpole | Disrupt | FREE | Double-click on that | Think outside the box |
Parking lot | Boil the ocean | Hard stop | Reach out | Ping me |
Socialize the idea | Synergy | Game changer | Stakeholder | At the end of the day |
Card 1 of 30
Meeting Buzzword Bingo
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Core competency | Unpack that | Align | Scalable | Can everyone see my screen? |
Drill down | Mission-critical | Going forward | Loop in | Holistic |
Circle back | Thought leader | FREE | You're on mute | Let's table that |
Move the needle | Leverage | Pivot | Bake it in | Deep dive |
Value add | Low-hanging fruit | Take this offline | Paradigm shift | On my radar |
Card 2 of 30
Buzzword bingo has no caller: the meeting is the caller. Each player has a card of phrases, and every time a speaker says one, players with that square mark it. The first to complete a line wins, quietly or not, depending on the culture of the room. It has been played in offices since the early 1990s, and much of the vocabulary has barely changed since.
The list leans toward phrases that get said out loud in meetings rather than written in slide decks, and it includes the video-call era's contributions: "can everyone see my screen?", "you're on mute" and "let's take this offline". It is affectionate rather than cruel; most of us say half of these every week.
Under the table. Make cards, share the link with the team, and everyone follows their own card on a phone or a printout. The first to a line sends "bingo" in the chat. The rule that keeps it harmless is that squares can only be marked when the phrase is said by someone else; nobody engineers a win by saying "paradigm shift" themselves.
On the table. For an offsite, a retro or a company anniversary, announce the game at the start. Hand out printed cards, name the winning pattern, and have the winner read out their line at the end. Presenters start avoiding the words, which makes the talk better and the squares harder, and the game becomes a running joke rather than a private one.
An hour-long all-hands produces plenty of calls: a line typically falls in the first twenty minutes. For a longer session use four corners or an X; for a two-day offsite, play for a full card and let it run as a background game across every session. For a fifteen-minute stand-up, drop to a 3 x 3 card with the nine most likely phrases.
The winner picks the next team lunch venue, gets the good chair for a week, chooses the next retro's icebreaker, is excused from note-taking at the next meeting, or wins a company-branded mug they probably already have. In a hybrid team, the remote winner gets a coffee delivered. Keep it small; the point is the line, not the prize.
Cards are 5 x 5 with a free centre square. Edit the list, add your own squares or change the card size above; the cards update as you type.
Open the share link on your phone to find your card and keep a quiet tally, or print one card per player and keep it under a notebook. Nobody shouts bingo; the winner sends a single word in the group chat. The game is a private way of staying awake, not a heckle, and it is kinder to the person presenting if it stays that way.
Yes, and that version is better. Announce it at the start of the all-hands, give everyone a card, and have the first bingo winner read their line aloud. Presenters who know the game is on tend to play along and avoid the squares, which is the whole point of the exercise.
Please. Delete the phrases nobody at your company says and add the ones everyone does: the internal project names, the acronyms, the CEO's favourite metaphor. Keep at least 30 squares, and 48 or more if you want the cards properly varied. A card that is half in-jokes is much funnier than a generic one.
It is better if they do, so that nobody wins at the same moment. With 48 phrases there are trillions of possible 24-square sets, and the generator guarantees that no two cards in a game share one.