Bingo Companion

A companion app for SAFE Animal Shelter's bingo nights that puts every called number on screen, live, for anyone in the room.

The problem

At a busy bingo night, not everyone catches every call. Players seated far from the caller, players who are hard of hearing, and anyone who simply looked away for a moment can miss a number and lose track of their card.

How it works

SAFE wanted to keep the traditional ball cage and the caller announcing each number out loud, so the app works alongside the game rather than replacing it. As each ball is drawn, the caller taps or types the number into a simple caller screen, and it appears instantly on the companion displays and on players' phones.

Players can see the latest number at a glance, along with the full board of everything called so far, so a missed call is never more than a look away.

What I built

• Caller screen: built for speed during a live game, a number goes up with a single tap or a quick type.
• Live companion displays: every screen updates the moment a number is called, with no refreshing, using Laravel Reverb.
• Called-number board: the full history of the current game, so anyone can catch up on what they missed.

Ongoing

The app is still in use at SAFE's bingo nights, and I keep improving it based on feedback from the callers and players who use it.