[bread_baker]

Hello,
Well, this is how I do it. I figure out how many students I will have, then I make enough different cards to give one to each student, plus have some extra. I don't use the BINGO across the top. I like to create bingo cards with a 5x5 grid and no free space. Any word can be in any cell on a bingo card. I print out all the cards on cardstock. (Here in California, that's very heavy paper we use to make cards.) If you teach kids, just use regular colored paper and have each bingo card laminated. I create a separate call sheet (for me to use as we play) with 32 words. That means on every bingo card, 7 words are not there! This adds to the suspense. I also put a number (small size, in the footer) on each bingo card. Then if a card gets damaged, I know what number to replace, without having to replace all the cards.
When we play, each student and I get a paper cup half-full of dried lima beans. No person writes on a bingo card. When a student gets a word I call, he/she puts a bean on the word. When I call a word, I put a bean on the word on the call sheet. I use Microsoft Word to create a table (4 columns and 8 rows) for the call sheet. This type of bingo game has been a hit many times in my past adult education ESL classes. I like to use a game that can be re-used many times, thus saving me the money and time of making new sets of bingo cards.