Last Christmas my kids received Zingo, a form of Bingo designed for young children. As it says on the box, Zingo is “Bingo with a Zing”. Zingo is recommended for ages 4 and up, and for 2 – 6 players.

A box if Zingo includes:
72 Zingo tiles
6 double sided Zingo cards
A Zingo tile dispenser

Each yellow Zingo tile is dual sided. Each side contains the same image and a word, such as a picture of and the word ball or tree. The tiles get set up into each of the two chambers of the plastic dispenser, then return the lid onto the dispenser. The top of the dispenser is moveable. When pulled forward on the track, it will release two of the tiles.

Both sides of the Zingo cards contain sets of 3x3 pictures identical to the tiles. One side of the card is green, which is designed for younger players. The other red side is for older players.

To play Zingo, each player gets a card. Someone pulls the dispenser to release two tiles. When a player sees a match, that person must say the name of the image and then takes the tile and places it on their Zingo card. The first person to cover all the images on the card is the winner.

My kids had first played this game at the home of a friend, so when we got Zingo they were able to dive right in. I thought that it might be too young of a game for my 7 year old, but she enjoys playing with my 4½ year old son. Sometimes my son will even sit and play it by himself. The game is great for early readers. Not only do the tiles have the word and image, but the players have to learn how to quickly identify them with the images on their cards. With regular use the players who don’t know how to read should be able to match the tiles by word rather than image.

Since there are only 9 images to match up, games can move along pretty quickly. My kids can sit down and play together and go through round after round. Luckily for me, they can assemble the tiles on their own. It’s nice that there is a game that they can play independently without me constantly having to set up the game for them. All of the pieces that come with Zingo are study and can hold up to lots of use. The tiles and dispenser are plastic, and the cards are a thick cardboard.

Zingo has won several awards, including parent’s choice awards and toy of the year awards. My kids have fun playing and it is educational at the same time. If you want Bingo with a zing, then definitely go for Zingo.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): gift