BINGO! Chilliwack resident creates COVID-friendly game for Christmas light tour

If you’re driving around looking at Christmas lights this holiday season, why not play a little game of bingo while you’re at it?

Every year, Jody Raabe puts together ‘Christmas Lights Bingo, the Chilliwack Version’ and submits it to the Chilliwack and District Real Estate Board (CADREB) to go along with its list of homes decorated for the Christmas Light Tour (list at bottom of story).

“We have made this a family tradition since 2014, so this will be our seventh year,” Raabe said about the Christmas bingo.

Christmas Lights Bingo is a self-guided event. She’s created rules to follow (below) and people are encouraged to hand out small prizes to the winners.

Folks can either download and print out the bingo cards and use daubers/markers to check off the squares, or they can play on their smartphone/tablet.

The 2020 version of bingo has five categories to help with locating items: (B) Lights, (I) Characters, (N) Santa, (G) Animals, (O) Other Décor.

Rules:

• no bingo until the car is stopped in a safe location, in park, and the interior lights are on

• once the car lights are off and the car is moving again, no bingo until the next stop

• everyone helps younger participants with reading and spotting

• someone needs to buy the driver a coffee or hot chocolate after the first round

• have fun

Raabe and her family will be doing just that and having a friendly competition with their friends this year.

“We are lining up a caravan event with our friends - including walkie-talkies - so that we don’t miss out but still respect our bubbles,” She said. “We recommend a supply of silly hats, light-up accessories, candy canes, and holiday music to add to the ambience between stops. We even decorate inside the van.”

To download and print the bingo sheets, and to see the full rules, click here. To play Christmas Lights Bingo on your smartphone or tablet, click here.

All of the info and links are also available at CADREB.com.

Below is the CADREB Christmas Light Tour 2020.

Christmas Lights 2020 by Paul Henderson on Scribd

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