Instruction Manual & - PARENT'S GUIDE

Instruction Manual &

PARENT’S

GUIDE

AGES

4 and up

ZINGO! is a fun and interactive matching

game that brings fast-paced excitement

and learning to the classic game of Bingo!

Players eagerly await their chance to slide

the ZINGO! Zinger and reveal new tiles. The

ﬁrst player to cover all the spaces on his/

her ZINGO! card is the winner! ZINGO! tiles

and cards feature both images and words,

making this game great for pre-readers and

early readers alike.

ZINGO! SKILLS:

Playing ZINGO! will help children develop

these important learning and social skills:

• Image and Word Recognition

• Matching

• Vocabulary

• Observation and Perception

• Concentration and Memory

• Letter/Sound Relationships

• Fine Motor Skills and Coordination

• Following Instructions

• Taking Turns

• Winning and Losing

4 5

worm

kite

ghost

bird

cat

clock

tree

star

train

house

bunny

cat

dog

foot

shoe

bat

clock

ghost

CARD 1

train

ghost

tree

star

ball

smile

heart

cake

shoe

CARD 2

CARD 3

fish

worm

ball

heart

foot

apple

bird

cat

sun

bunny

smile

cake

star

apple

dog

heart

bird

owl

CARD 4

cup

train

star

smile

shoe

apple

house

clock

foot

CARD 5

ghost

cat

house

sun

ball

bird

bunny

CARD 6

fish

worm

ball

heart

foot

apple

bird

cat

sun

kite

fish

shoeowl

smile

star

ghost kite

heart

house

sun

train

tree

worm

dog

fish

foot

cup

cake

cat

bunny

clock

ball

apple

bat

bird

Includes:

INSTRUCTIONS

Your Goal:

Be the ﬁrst to cover all the spaces on your ZINGO! Card with

matching tiles!

Setup:

1. Remove the top from the ZINGO! Zinger & scramble the 72 tiles.

2. Load the tiles into the Zinger in two

equal stacks and replace the top.

3. All players should have a clear view of

the ZINGO! Zinger before play begins.

4. Each player selects a ZINGO! card. Cards are two-sided to

allow for two levels of competition. Players should all have the

same colored side facing up.

Green Side: This side is LESS competitive as cards have fewer

images in common. This level is better for younger players.

Red Side: This side is MORE competitive. Red Cards share more

images, so players must act faster to claim the tiles. This level

is better for older and more advanced players.

Green Side: LESS competitive

Red Side: MORE competitive

Remove cover to reload tiles when

Zinger is less than half-full.

Reload tiles through cover slots

when Zinger is more than half full.

Reloading ZINGO! Tiles:

72 double-sided ZINGO! Tiles 6 Two-Sided ZINGO! Cards

(3 tiles per image)

6 7

Simple Steps to Play:

1. One player can serve as Dealer and operate the ZINGO! Zinger

or players can pass the Zinger each turn, giving everyone a chance

to operate the device during the game. We recommend choosing an

adult or older child as the ﬁrst Dealer.

2. The Dealer slides the ZINGO! Zinger forward and back to reveal

two tiles.

3. When a player sees a tile that matches an image on his/her

ZINGO! card, the player calls out the image name, takes the tile,

and covers the printed image on the card.

The Dealer slides any unclaimed tiles back into the

Zinger through the reload slots at the top of the device.

4. If two or more players need the same tile, it goes to the player

who calls for it ﬁrst. In the case of a tie, the Dealer places the tile

back in the ZINGO! Zinger.

Game Variations:

Once you’ve played the original ZINGO! try out some exciting new

play variations for an added Zing!

Mini-ZINGO!

The ﬁrst player to match three images in a row—across, up, down,

or diagonally—is the winner!

Zany ZINGO!

Select a pattern to match. The ﬁrst player to match the pattern

is the winner!

Multi-Card ZINGO!

Play using two or more cards each round. Try playing with one

green and one red card. The ﬁrst player to ﬁll one of his/her

cards wins!

house

bunny

cat

dog

foot

shoe

bat

clock

ghost

train

ghost

tree

star

ball

smile

heart

cake

shoe

fish

worm

ball

heart

foot

apple

bird

cat

sun

bunny

smile

cake

star

apple

dog

heart

bird

owl

“Picture Frame” “X Marks the Spot” “Four Corners” “Z is for ZINGO!”

shoe

cake

train

ghost

apple

dog

heart

bat

fish

owl

smile

cat

foot

star

house

worm

bunny

clock

bird

5. If a player calls for a tile he/she doesn’t need, the tile goes to the

next player to correctly call it.

6. The ﬁrst player to cover all 9 spaces on the card shouts, “ZINGO!”

and wins!

7. The winner starts the next game as the Dealer.

1 2 3

TO PLAY

8 9

Know Your Game: It’s important for children to

have a chance to familiarize themselves with the various

game components before cooperative or competitive play

begins. We’ve found that the Zinger is so much fun to operate

that just dispensing and reloading the tiles can be a game all

on its own! Young children love the sliding motion required to

make the Zinger work and they marvel at how tiles are magically

produced—understanding the function of the device is a true

learning experience for little ones! Encourage your child to read

the images on the tiles and practice matching them to a card.

Once comfortable with the different elements of the game, your

child will be ready for the fun play to come!

Build Memory and Concentration Skills: En-

couraging players to study their ZINGO! cards before the

game begins helps them to focus on the speciﬁc images

they need to match. At the start of a round, ask players to name

the tiles they are looking for. Pause midway through the game to

ask which images are still left uncovered. Frequently reminding

players to pay attention to these details will persuade them to

think about the goal and concentrate on the task at hand.

Gain a Competitive Edge: ZINGO! can be used to

practice healthy competition! Remind your child to pay

attention not only to the images on his or her own card,

but to be aware of what images other players need in order to

PARENT’S GUIDE

Tips on how to use ZINGO! to improve

your child’s thinking skills.

ZINGO! provides a rich opportunity for hands-on learning.

With its zany Zinger and fast-paced matching, ZINGO!

helps young children build image/word association, vo-

cabulary, and matching skills through an engaging and fun

play experience.

Beginning around age 3, children are particularly drawn to

matching activities and are developmentally able to begin

building reading skills. As children grow, they become

increasingly interested in playing with language and storing

new words in their rapidly expanding mental dictionary.

Emerging readers love to “read’ their environments, labeling

common objects and becoming familiar with letter sounds.

ZINGO! draws upon this natural love of matching games and

growing interest in word play to create a fun-ﬁlled, enriching

play experience.

While thinking skills are developed naturally through growth

and exploration, it’s important that children are provided

with frequent and varied opportunities to test their abilities

in new ways. Game play is a fun way to support the cognitive

and social development that will serve a child throughout his

or her life.

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ﬁll their cards. If players are attuned to the images that they

have in common with others, they are likely to be speedier

when calling for tiles. In this game it can pay to be quick—

particularly on the more competitive red side!

Support Early Readers: The ZINGO! tiles and

cards have been designed to show familiar images

along with words to help young players begin to make

associations between the two. To reinforce the text/image

connnection, play Name-That-Tile ZINGO! Slide the ZINGO!

Zinger slowly, stopping once the word at the base of the tile is

revealed but not the image. Challenge your child to match the

word to the correct image on his/her card!

Encourage Word Play: Your child’s language

skills are developing rapidly, and playing ZINGO! is a

fantastic opportunity to help him/her increase vocabulary.

Encourage your child to practice new vocabulary by making a

silly sentence with an unfamiliar word. Use the printed text to

point out spelling patterns and letter sounds. Exploring ZINGO!

words as part of game play can help emerging readers learn short

and long vowel sounds (cat vs. cake) and understand how letters

combine to show various sounds (“gh” as the beginning sound

in ghost, “ck” as the ending sound in clock, etc).

Practice Good Sportsmanship: Young players

are just beginning to move away from parallel play

and becoming comfortable playing competitive games.

Learning to take turns, have patience and celebrate the success

of other players takes practice. ZINGO! helps players experience

these highs and lows in a safe, fun environment. Talk to your

child about how it feels both to win and lose, and encourage

him/her to consider the feelings of others when playing.

Engage the Whole Family: While ZINGO! is

particularly designed to support the learning needs of young

children, it is fun for all ages! The fast-paced game play and

two levels of competition make this a great game to share with the

whole family. We’ve even heard reports of parents continuing the

game play long after their children have gone to bed!

Celebrate success: Share a funny ritual with your

child each time he/she makes a match. This can be a

high ﬁve, a secret handshake, a wiggle dance, or your own

special celebration! Laughter abounds when a player wins a round

and calls out a triumphant “ZINGO!”

Praise from the Heart: Here is the best advice we

can offer—praise your children not for how smart they

are, but rather for the hard thinking that they use and the

great results they achieve for their efforts.

Have Fun! ZINGO! is a great thinking game that is fun

for players of all ages. The unique Zinger adds a fantastic

element of tactile fun. We hope ZINGO! will provide hours

of fun for you and your child!

The Zingo! Zinger was created by Theora Design.