Recently, my sons have gotten more and more interested in playing Bingo. While my youngest son was previous satisfied with the rather mediocre version of the game provided by the Five Little Monkeys Travel Activity Kit, the rest of the family was looking for something that was a little more advanced while still being accessible for children of 4 and 7. Luckily, Disney DVD Bingo came to our rescue.

Made by Screenlife, the same company responsible for the Scene It line of games, the Disney DVD Bingo game is fairly simple in its composition. When you open the box, you are presented with a DVD, 6 two-sided bingo cards and 150 bingo chips.  The bingo chips are small and red with Mickey ears on them, while the bingo cards are standard, numbered cards, with the exception that each numbered spot also includes a popular Disney character as well.

When you pop in the DVD, you are given the option of choosing three different versions of Bingo to play: Standard, Blackout and Pattern. Standard is exactly what you would expect, where the first person who gets five spaces in a row in any direction wins. Blackout requires that a player completely fills all twenty-five spaces on his entire board, while Pattern has the DVD choose a random pattern on the board that must be completed (ie, you need to complete an L or an X of squares to win).

The DVD essentially calls each number out as a professional bingo caller would, giving each number and letter combination with a special twist of the tongue (ie “I cannot tell a lie, Pinocchio is sitting on O51”). The Disney characters in are displayed with a wonderful color picture on the screen when the number and letter is called, giving kids another way to find the character on their boards. Each selection is on the screen for 15 seconds before the next combination is called.

The best feature of the game is when a Wild selection pops up on the screen. A short clip will play from a classic Disney film, followed by the narrator telling you to pick any tile from a single letter from the board to fill in. This is the one feature of the game that really has a Scene It feel to it, even if it only occurs once or twice a game.

While the charm hasn’t worn off at all for my wife and kids, I have started to grow a little tired of the game, if only because it doesn’t bring anything new to the game of Bingo other than the Disney images. The game is solidly made and the DVD gives easy to follow instructions and options, but repetition starts to take the luster off the game a bit. If you are going to have a DVD game, there are many more options that you could include when calling out numbers, especially including more movie clips or stills from the films themselves. Maybe it is too much to ask, but for the cover price of $24.99 I would just expect more.

Overall, three members of the family still would give the game five stars, while I would give it a solid three, so I would round it up to an above average 4 stars. The game is for ages 4 and up, and if you have children below 3 the game chips can be a choking hazard, so beware. For anyone else, this is an interesting Bingo game that will bring hours of enjoyment, especially for those who are fans of Disney films.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 10.00
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years