Oscar Bingo

Fun Watching the Oscar

I went to an Academy Awards party, and everyone had a great time playing Oscar Bingo. Each card has 25 squares containing an Oscar category, and one of the two top nominees. The first to get five in a row wins.

This web page generates a random Oscar Bingo card:

Oscar Bingo Page

Each card has about 30% chance of a bingo, and we wanted a winner so the three of us each played two cards.

Results

Below are my two bingo cards. I got knocked out early.

Dean #1

Dean #2

Midway through the cerimonies Dave got four in a row, needing only Best Picture / Slumdog Millionare for bingo. Nate Silver estimated Sumdog's odds at a whopping 99% -- a virtual lock! But Best Picture is announced last, so if somebody else could beat him to the punch ...

Dave #1

Dave #2

Late in the ceremonies, Rich needed Best Actor/Sean Penn, or Best Actress/Meryl Streep -- both considered long shots. But Penn pulled off the upset sending Rich to victory.

Rich #1

Rich #2

Unbingo

The best part of the game is speculating about possible paths to victory, trash talking, and whinning about our bad luck. We soon realized that five loosing squares in a row (unbingo) was almost as difficult. So next year the first to unbingo will get a VHS tape of Plan 9 From Outerspace.