Hipster Bingo

First of all, the term 'hipster' doesn't apply to you. You, of course, are an independent-minded rugged individualist whose personal sense of style and taste is obviously superior to that of the poseurs who have coopted your fashion over the past several years. You are authentic and are not subject to the vicissitudes of contemporary popular culture. You prize authenticity and originality but you despise pretension. In this project I'm putting the spotlight on the over the top examples of hipstertude and calling attention to the pretentiousness of the hollow hipster. You? You're cool.

Grab your fixie bike and head down to the local dive bar and play along with free printable boards, all you need is a marker.

Automatic board randomizer which you can print, courtesy of the very clever member steveturri

Ready? Set...Hipster!

What makes a hipster, a hipster?
Hipsters, like trendy coffee shops and Justin Bieber singles, are everywhere. I had to condense exactly what made up a hipster. What were the defining qualities?

I spent some quality time in dive bars, bike shops, and record stores to really get deep into the concept. There's plenty of things we can define that could be 'hipster', but an epic beard doesn't automatically qualify someone as a hipster. There needs to be more to this counter-culture trend.

Knowing I wanted a 5 x 5 matrix, just like a real BINGO board, I started brainstorming ideas that embodied what it means to be a hipster. The items on this list had to match the fashion and lifestyle of the hipster, but also had to translate into an easily identifiable image that could be widely applied across the genre.

Here's some of the ideas for hipster BINGO tiles:

Important note:
It's important to know that any one of these qualities doesn't make you a hipster, but when compined with several other identifiers you can safely establish who is (and who isn't) a hipster.

Playing games is always more fun with friends, so I made 2 boards that are different. The 'free space' in the middle is obviously the iconic cornerstone of hipsterism: the waxed moustache.

These boards are printable on any standard printer.

Download and play today!

Take turns circling an attribute you notice on a hipster that matches a square on your sheet. It helps if you're out at a social event so you can play the game passively during the evening. It's important to know that you don't have to find all the images in one person.

Just like in regular BINGO, when you score 5 in a row in any direction, you win!

In case hipsters in your neighbourhood are different than the ones I see, I also included a blank BINGO board for you to fill with your own regional quirks.

Happy making :)