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Bingo bango bongo: rules and scoring

Three points are available on every hole and they have nothing to do with your score. One for being first on the green, one for being closest to the pin once everyone is on, and one for being first in the hole. Three points a hole, 54 over eighteen, and a 24 handicap can win it.

This is the game to call when the group's abilities are miles apart and nobody wants to do the arithmetic on a handicap. It rewards things a weaker player can actually do, and it punishes the good player who drives it 280 and then gets careless.

The three points

One player can take all three on a hole, which is three points and usually means they hit a good shot and then two good putts. More often the three points go to two or three different players, which is what keeps everybody involved.

Order of play is the whole game

Bingo bango bongo only works if you play ready golf in reverse: the player furthest from the hole always goes first, on every shot, every time. Honour on the tee does not matter, but away on the fairway and on the green matters enormously.

Let a player who is nearer the hole play first and you have handed them a free shot at bingo or bongo that they should not have had. A group that gets sloppy about this turns the game into a lottery, so somebody has to be willing to say "you're not away" a few times on the front nine.

A worked hole

Note that Ryan, who hit the best shot into the green, came away with one point, and Dave, who was furthest away all hole, came away with two. That is the game behaving correctly.

Handicaps

Bingo bango bongo normally needs no handicap adjustment at all, which is a large part of its appeal. The points reward position and order rather than quality, and the player who is away keeps getting the first opportunity, so the game self-levels.

If your group is very lopsided, the usual tweak is to let the highest handicap take a free "nearest the pin" on one or two agreed holes, rather than trying to apply strokes to a game that does not use scores.

Questions that come up

Does the fringe count for bingo?

No. The ball has to be on the putting surface. Agree this on the first tee, because the edge of a green is where this argument always happens.

What if two players are on in the same shot?

Only one can be first, and they do not play simultaneously, so whoever played first and found the green takes it. If a group genuinely cannot separate them, split the point.

When is closest to the pin measured?

When the last player's ball reaches the green, and not a moment earlier. Being closest after two shots means nothing if somebody gets closer before everyone is on.

What if someone chips in?

They take bongo, because the ball is in the hole, and they cannot take bango, because the measurement happens once everyone is on the green and their ball is no longer on it. Some groups give a chip-in both points. Agree in advance.

How many players does it suit?

Three or four is ideal. Two works but there are only three points to split. Five or more and the order of play gets hard to police.

Tap who took each of the three on every hole and the running totals take care of themselves.