Zingo! Sight Words Board Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Objective of Zingo! Sight Words

The objective of Zingo! Sight Words is to be the first player to cover all of your spaces with a word tile.

Setup

Remove the top from the Zingo! Zinger.
Take the 72 tiles and mix them up. Load the tiles back into the Zinger in two equal sized stacks. Place the top back onto the Zingo! Zinger.
Place the Zingo! Zinger in the middle of the table where all of the players can clearly see it.
Each player takes one of the cards. The cards are double sided. The players choose which side of the cards they are going to use. All of the players should use the same side of the cards.
- The green side is less competitive since the boards share less words with the other boards.
- The red side is more competitive as more words on each card are shared with other cards.
Choose whether one player will act as the Dealer or if the players will take turns. If the players decide to take turns as the Dealer, you will pass the Zingo! Zinger between players after each turn.

Playing Zingo! Sight Words

To start each turn the Dealer reveals two new tiles. To reveal the tiles you will first push the top of the Zingo! Zinger forward. Then push the top back to reveal the two tiles for the current turn.

Revealing Tiles in Zingo! Sight Words — For this turn the tiles “now” and “my” have been revealed.

All of the players will then look at the two words that were revealed. They are trying to find a word that matches one of the words on their board that has not been covered yet.

Searching For A Matching Word — This player along with all of the other players will look at their boards to try and find the words “now” and/or “my”.

When you see a tile that matches an uncovered word on your board, call out the word as quickly as possible. You will then take the tile and place it on top of the corresponding spot on your board. If two or more players call out the same word at the same time, neither player gets to take the tile.

Finding A Matching Word in Zingo! Sight Words — This player has the word “now” on their board. They should call out the word as quickly as possible. They can then take the tile and add it to the corresponding space on their board.

Should a player call for a tile that they don’t need, the tile remains in the Zingo! Zinger. If another player calls for the tile, they will get to take it.

Any tiles not claimed by a player are inserted into the slots at the top of the device. This is the end of the current turn. If the players chose to take turns as the Dealer, the Zingo! Zinger is passed to the next player.

Returning an Unused Tile — As a player claimed the other tile, the “my” tile is returned to the Zinger.

Winning Zingo! Sight Words

When you cover all nine spaces on your board, you will shout out “Zingo!”. The first player to cover up all of the spaces on their board, wins the game. The winner of the game starts the next game as the Dealer.

Variant Games

Mini-Zingo! Sight Words

In this variant game you don’t need to cover all nine spaces on your board in order to win. Instead you need to cover three spaces in a row vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The first player to cover three spaces in a row wins the game.

Winning the Game by Getting Three in a Row — This player has gotten three tiles in a row vertically on their board. They have won the game.

Zany Zingo! Sight Words

Choose a pattern that each player tries to complete. The first player to complete the pattern by covering spaces wins the game. Some example patterns are as follows:

Winning Pattern Picture Frame — Picture Frame

X marks the Spot Winning Pattern — X Marks the Spot

Four Corners Winning Pattern — Four Corners

Z is for Zingo Winning Pattern — Z is for Zingo

Multi-Card Zingo! Sight Words

In this variant game each player takes two or more cards. Play one card on the green side and one on the red side. The first player to completely fill one of their cards wins the game.

Year: 2012 | Publisher: ThinkFun | Designer: Theora Design

Genres: Children’s, Education, Word

Ages: 4+ | Number of Players: 2-6 | Length of Game: 10-20 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate

Components: 72 Sight Word Tiles, 6 Boards, Zingo! Zinger, Instructions

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