xkcd Forums Bingo: Weeks 12 & 13

Welcome, all. Bingo is now even better than ever! I've added new squares and taken some away where they didn't make sense. More about that later, but first, let's look at a semitransparent overlay of the last few dozen bingo cards, so we can see which squares are more popular.

As you can see, there is a skew towards the left hand side. I've fixed that in the new score card, giving a much more even distribution. However I couldn't help but fix a whole lot of other things.

I changed the numbering system from 1-5 and A-E. Now it is B-I-N-G-O and 1-5. This is apparently how a real bingo card works. Thanks to Anon 10:58 for letting me know that.

Here is the new bingo card:


The old 'feminism' square (C4) is gone. It hasn't been used since comic 896. It had to go. B5 and D1 have been merged together to become B4 on the new grid. There was too much overlap between them anyway.

I've introduced new squares for 'Maths/physics' and 'Language/grammar' (G2 and I2 respectively). They are a staple of long discussions, which forumites often get sidetracked into. As the thread grows longer, the probability of one of them being mentioned approaches one.

In return we lose D4, which is now covered almost entirely by 'Language/grammar'. Likewise, B1 has been replaced with I1. The difference is that it now doesn't require forumites to say which bit made them laugh. Simply stating that the comic made them laugh is enough to win the square. Another entirely new square is I4.

Various other squares have been renamed to make them clearer, but their meanings remain the same. Here is a list:
A4 -> G4
C2 -> O3
D3 -> B2 (I only added a pronoun.)
D5 -> G3
E5 -> G5

You'll notice I've also included important information at the top of the score card - comic number, title and the number of squares it ticked (in case you can't count them).

And now without further ado, here are the scores!

933 - Tattoo

Yes! The new score card worked. BINGO! It could have almost been a double bingo. Let's examine it, shall we.

O1 (Disagreeing with the science) - given by Kirby, with the assumption that electrons travel at the speed of light. Protip: they don't. Aaargh, I just said 'protip', aaargh.

O2 (Not funny, but made me think.) - this thread had heaps of it, being the thread for a cancer comic and all. If I had to single out one reply, it would be this. Note that he signed up just to say that, but it doesn't actually count for B1 unless he says that as well.

O3 (Reminds me of another comic.) - thanks, Eternal Density. The comic in question was Shortpacked.

O4 (Red moderator text) - used by SecondTalon in order to prevent the thread from sidetracking into a discussion about circumcision. I wish I was joking.

O5 (Explaining the joke) - thanks, ConMan. She is totally talking about her cancer!

Other squares of interest:

B4 - this guy was hoping for a DnD reference.

I2 - how typical of xkcd forumites to get sidetracked by the pluralization (or lack thereof) of'bicep'. I'm sure this will be a popular square.

N2 - this post (related to the physics argument) clocks in at 757 words. This one beats it with 884 words.

I5 - this post is hilarious, in that it refers to the xkcd forum 'a forum for cancer'.

934 - Mac/PC

Our new I4 square makes its first appearence, here. In this case it was regarding the alt text, specifically the idea of having xmonad as a Firefox extension. G5 and O5 were also related to the alt text. I1 also makes its debut here. And a few people made the point that we don't do everything through a browser (well, Randall does) so we get a healthy dose of O1.

935 - Missed Connections

Eh, not much to say here. On a comic like this, it's inevitable that G5 and O5 will make their appearence. At least from reading the thread I actually understood what the frick it means. (Frick you, spellchecker, frick is a word!)

936 - Password Strength

This is one of those comics where the discussion is about the issues raised, rather than the comic itself. Usually these are low scorers for bingo. But we sure were bound to find something in those ten pages. I2 and G2 make their second simultaneous appearance, even though people stayed mostly on topic with them.

We had N2 with this 933-word post. And yes, someone actually wanted a shirt with 'correct horse battery staple' written on it (G3).

937 - TornadoGuard

We had I3 in all its glory here, with "I declare thee the winner in the thread-starting race." I really thought that square would be more popular, but I've only ever had it a few times. Fairly short discussion though, barely two pages.

And with this post, we are caught up with the bingo schedule for now. The next regular post will be next weekend.