As a Spanish teacher always on the lookout for new ways to engage my students (especially this year), I was pumped when a colleague told me about the online game Baamboozle.  (Thanks, Jamie!)

I love this game for many reasons but the best reason is how versatile it is!  You can use it with any content and grade level.  I like to switch up how we do teams so it feels different each time. Plus, it’s a nice alternative to the individual player online games like Kahoot and Blooket.

How to get set up

Baamboozle is played with just one device.  The teacher brings it up on their computer, projects it on the screen or board, and you’re ready to play.

Creating the games is not super time consuming.  Add a title, description, and an image to help you keep track of your different games and you’re ready to create questions!

The questions are really simple to create.  Type in the question & answer, add an image or gif if you’d like and repeat.  If my question asks for students to do a movement, I usually put the answer as “student answered correctly.”

Playing Baamboozle

The free version allows for up to 4 teams.  I usually make around 12 questions so I choose the 16 question option.  I like to make sure there is room for some of the fun power-ups.

There are a few different options for how to play the game. 

The quiz option on the left will just be question / answer. 

Classic Jr. on the right has the questions worth fewer points.  Plus, it only does the simple power-ups; not the mean (steal from the other team) ones.  This version is great for classes that struggle with wining/losing.

I usually play the Classic version.  This has positive and negative power-ups.

To keep things simple for teams, I usually divide the class in half down the middle.

I call on the first student to pick which question they’d like, using the Spanish number.  If they answer in English, we all count up together in Spanish.  The student who picked the question has to tell me the answer but they can check in with their team mates as needed.

If you’re short on time or have a little extra, you can play a lightning round.  In that case, I just start with question 1 and make my way through the questions numerically.

Now that we’ve looked at set up and how to play, let me share with you…

Reasons Why I Love Baamboozle

It’s easy to create games

Maybe it’s just me but creating games on Baamboozle takes me way less time than other game sites.  I love that they have images and gifs included; and that you can also upload your own images.

You can use different types of questions

It’s so nice to be able to have different tasks other than the typical multiple choice question.  This is an easy way to incorporate conversation type content.  I also love that students don’t have to be able to read the questions & answer options–the teacher can do that during the game.  Students can respond with a word, phrase, sentence, movement, you name it!

Incorporate movement

Honestly, this is my top reason why I love this game.  Especially this year, I’m sure we’re all looking for ways to enable our students to move (in a positive way, not like hanging upside down from their chair or draped over their desk…).  Baamboozle lets us do that!  They can do an action for a certain vocabulary term or repeat an action a certain number of times.  Learning numbers?  Have them count to a certain number while marching or jumping!  Working with more advanced students?  Have them act out a sentence.

It’s fun to play with bigger teams

I often play “Clase vs. Señora” during games like tic tac toe or board games as a whole group. However, it’s fun to switch it up and play Baamboozle with two larger teams. Although keep in mind, you are able to have as many as 4 groups with the free version.  I typically have the student who picks the question give me the answer but I allow them to check in with their team if they want to.

It works great with all grade levels

This is one of the few online games I will use with any grade level.  It’s nice that there is no logging in and the only set up is clicking the link and deciding teams.  No running around helping 20 kindergarten friends figure out how to login! 🤣

Some degree of luck

Each class has those one or two students whose brains work really fast and tend to win more often than not.  I like that this game throws cards in that help or hurt the team.  That degree of luck allows for some epic comebacks and increased engagement from all students.

It allows for teacher scaffolding / support and discretion on answers allowed

Since the teacher is the one deciding if the answer is correct or incorrect, this allows for a little wiggle room.  I love being able to provide support for those students who need it and then being able to still award points when they come up with the answer.

Give it a try!

Maybe these games I already made will be helpful to you.  Check them out!  I’d love to hear what you think once you’ve tried it–leave a comment below.