#AtoZChallenge BINGO!

It's Sunday, a.k.a. Break Time, a.k.a. Visiting Day. And we have a game for you!

In 2017 J Lenni Dorner made an A to Z Bingo, just for fun, and we decided this would be a great time to revive the tradition. So, here is your A to Z Challenge Bingo card for 2022!

You can share your wins and results in your Reflections post in May, or with us in the comments.

Enjoy!

X in Noughts and Crosses #atozchallenge

Noughts and Crosses, or Tic Tac Toe, is a very old game. There is some debate among historians as to when it first began (ancient Egypt or ancient Rome) and what was originally used to make the board and pieces. (It's suggested that it was four sticks, pebbles, and coins.) As it evolved, it became a game of unity between Christian and Jewish children.

The X represented Christianity, as it came from chi. (The Greek letters for Christos, chi (looks like an X) and rho (looks like a P), is an early symbol for Christianity and for Christ Himself. Emperor Constantine is likely responsible for crafting the letters together.) The o or 0 is a kikel, a circle in Yiddish. Many Jewish immigrants used an O rather than an X as their signature in the early days of Ellis Island. The 0 is also known as a nought. The name tic tac toe wasn't given until the 20th century.

The object of the game is to get three of your symbols in a row. Players take turns selecting one of the nine squares. Statistically, the player who goes first has the greatest chance of winning. Marking in a corner first is considered the best move. 

Be sure your blog displays a participant badge so everyone knows they're in the right place!
Please consider getting a t-shirt.

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The Master List - know what blogs are officially taking part in the 2021 challenge:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mvSm8FsuFVkOQulQ0EgzslGiNd8CZWWrqaRhCG8Sv4o

Magnifying Glass Game #atozchallenge 🔎

🔎 Magnifying Glass Game:

In this game, you post close-up (magnified 🔍) pictures on your blog and visitors guess in the image in the comments.

(You'll also find out how dusty your camera is. Yikes. 😬)
ANSWERS will be posted at: https://twitter.com/AprilA2Z on Sunday!

The following all start with the letter M:

(Hint: marine mammal)

(Hint: may attract metal)

(Hint: Meat condiment)

(Hint: 💪🧀)

(Hint: Makes 🔥 fire)

How many can you guess correctly? 

 

Be sure your blog displays a participant badge so everyone knows they're in the right place!
Please consider getting a t-shirt.

THE SIGN-UPS ARE CLOSED!
The Master List - know what blogs are officially taking part in the 2021 challenge:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mvSm8FsuFVkOQulQ0EgzslGiNd8CZWWrqaRhCG8Sv4o

J is for Journeys #atozchallenge

Alright, so this past year has not been great in terms of travel opportunities. If you are like me, and you like to explore new places, it has been quite exhausting to stay put. Travel is one of the Categories for bloggers in this challenge, and I love reading about people's journeys, experiences, and countries I have never been to.

Since we are still pretty much staying put, today I wanted to share with you some of my favorite online games that revolve around travel:

GeoGuessr. There is a free version and a "pro version", but even the free version is fun. It gives you random street views from around the world, and you have to guess the place where the picture was taken. Anywhere. In the world. It is quite a challenge, but who doesn't love a challenge?

City Guesser. This one gives you videos from cities around the world, and asks you to guess where you are. Honestly, I just like to look at the place, and the people walking around.

The Map Zoom Quiz. This one starts you zoomed in on a city map, and you have to guess the city. You can zoom out to see more, but you lose points. Zooooooom!

What are your favorite places around the world? And your favorite travel blogs? Are you a travel blogger yourself? Let us know in the comments!

Games #atozchallenge

GAMES

(For those of you taking part in the scavenger hunt, today is easy! This post is about a game!)

What games can be played on a blog? Here are some ideas:

Pictionary -- https://randomwordgenerator.com/pictionary.php or https://www.drawize.com/ (contains ads) 

Instead of leaving the drawing on the site, I could take a screenshot and put it on my blog for readers to take a guess. (Print Screen button [Prt Sc], paste into paint, crop, save, upload the image to your blog.)

Truth or Dare -https://psycatgames.com/app/truth-or-dare/

You could make a post asking readers to comment with various Truths and Dares, and then tackle them as you see fit. Or you could let a website pick for you.


Honestly, 🐛🐜🐝🐞 bugs don't bug me. I can't say I have a special affinity for them. But overall, they're just part of nature. I don't enjoy being stung or bit, and certainly am not a fan of mosquitoes. But overall, I don't especially like or dislike bugs in general. I am glad they exist and serve their function. 

J- Jublient 

A- Author

Y- Youthful

D- Determined

E- Erotic

N- Nice

What other games could be played on a blog?

 


Be sure your blog displays a participant badge so everyone knows they're in the right place!
Please consider getting a t-shirt.

THE SIGN-UPS ARE NOW CLOSED!
Need a copy of the Master List so you can "get hopping" to other blogs?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mvSm8FsuFVkOQulQ0EgzslGiNd8CZWWrqaRhCG8Sv4o
File > Make a Copy (save to your location of choice)

D is for Dice: Roll them! #atozchallenge

Who doesn't like rolling dice? Click-clack, go the shiny math rocks! Whether you are a tabletop gamer like I am (with a collection of multi-sided dice), or you just have some dice lying around somewhere in a box... grab one and let's roll! (If you don't have dice at all, just type "dice roller" into Google)

Do either, or both of the two sets of results below.

THE CHALLENGE

1 - Write a long and thoughtful comment to someone's post today, and give them a lot of detailed compliments!

2 - Add two A to Z authors to your TBR list! 

3 - Pick three blogs that you have enjoyed so far in the Challenge, and Follow them, sign up for their newsletter, or follow the author on social media!

4 - Visit four new blogs, and retweet, reblog, or share the content of the one you liked best!

5 - Pick a Category from the Master List that you are the least interested in, and visit 5 blogs from that category!

6 - Visit 6 new blogs today!

THE REWARDS

1 - Eat something delicious today! (chocolate, fruit, pastry, whatever)

2 - Treat yourself to something small today! (an ebook, a snack, some cool stickers)

3 - Have you had enough water today? Go hydrate!

4 - Listen to your favorite song on repeat!

5 - Give yourself permission to postpone a task until tomorrow!

6 - Give yourself permission to take a nap today!

We hope you all have a lovely day! :)

It is not too late yet to join the challenge! You can sign up here, and see all the participating blogs on the Master List here. The sign-up closes on the 7th of April!

The Moon is round

It's full moon tonight, and it'll be low enough in the northern sky to shine through my bedroom window when I'm asleep.  I explained why in my blog yesterday.

I like moon-gazing, in fact I like all sorts of natural phenomena, which is why I'm working on making that my theme next April. I'm a long way from being the only moon-gazer, and the moon has played a huge part in our folklore and mythology.  Csenge is a better person to tell you about that than me, and then, of course, there are all those other stories with reference to paranormal influences from the moon!

Whenever I see the phrase "The Moon is round" I think of an old game that was in a book of 'Wonders' I had as a kid, showing various party games to mystify your friends.  The idea was that you had a stick (or pole, or rod) which you used to draw on the ground a circle (representing the moon), then adding two eyes, a nose and a mouth with dots and a line.  You recited "The Moon is round, and he has two eyes, a nose and a mouth" followed by passing the stick to the person on your left and asking them to do it exactly as you did it.  Most of the time the person would not follow your actions perfectly, and you said "No, try again", or passed on to the next person.  Anyone that did it exactly as you had you congratulated, which mystified the rest of your friends even more.  The secret was that you drew the moon with one hand, but passed the stick into your other hand before passing it on, and most people never changed hands.  Silly, but a fun (or infuriating) way to pass the time - especially with nothing more than a stick to play with.

If you're still wondering about a theme for next April's A to Z Challenge, you could look at games, children's games, folklore, or your preferred science.  If you cover any of these things in your blog, why not add a link in the comments below.

Jemima Pett writes scifi-influenced stories for children and adults, including the Princelings of the East books - mystery with a time travel twist - and her new series about asteroid miners caught up in a freedom fight.
Follow her blog Jemima Pett, Author
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