Challenge 2025 Spring Bingo

Spring Bingo

It’s 21 March and spring is upon us. The air is turning warm, the orange trees in my street are blooming and sweet, juicy strawberries will appear on our tables any day now. This means that it’s time for yet another round of Spring Bingo.

How to play Spring Bingo

1. Choose a row, column, or diagonal with five words from the Bingo Board below.
2. Write a story of at least 500 words for either the Star Wars or Non-Star Wars fandoms inspired by or featuring the words from your chosen row, column, or diagonal.
3. Post your story in the appropriate Star Wars or Non-Star Wars fanfiction board.
4. Post a link to your story in this thread so others can read it.
5. Finish one or more such stories, and you’ll be a Bingo Winner.
6. Finish five or more such stories, and you’ll be upgraded to Ultimate Bingo Champion.
7. Include all the board prompts in a single story of at least 2500 words, and you’ll be further upgraded to All Around The Board Bingo Champion!

Spring Bingo Board



I did my best to include spring-related elements from a variety of sources. You’ll find a few notes behind the spoiler tag about the prompts that aren’t obviously related to spring as a season or to Easter/Passover.

Spoiler

There are three international days observed on 21 March that provided prompts for the bingo board, namely:

• ‘Tolerance’ is a reference to the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
• ‘Forest’ is a reference to the International Day of Forests,
• ‘Poetry’ is a reference to World Poetry Day

‘Stars’ is a reference to the first human in space flight by Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961.

Beyond religious observances, ‘fish’ is also a reference to the French practice for April Fools’ Day, which entails pranking people by sticking a paper fish on their back. It’s known as a “poisson d’avril” (“April’s fish”).

‘Nature’ is a reference to Earth Day, which is observed on 22 April, but also the Iranian festival of Sizdah Be-dar, i.e. ‘Thirteen outdoor’, also known as Nature Day.

‘Industry’ is a reference to Labour Day, which is observed on 1 May in many parts of the world.

The ‘ram & bull’ are of course references to the Aries and the Taurus, the two astrological signs of the spring.

Spring Bingo Rules and Guidelines

1. All stories written for the Spring Bingo event must comply with the overall fanfiction rules and guidelines for this site, but you awesome people knew that already.
2. All stories written for the Spring Bingo event should have at least 500 words.
3. All stories written for the Spring Bingo event should be inspired by a row, column, or diagonal from the Spring Bingo Board.
4. Remember, to qualify for All Around The Board Bingo Champion, you must use all the prompts on the board for a story of at least 2500 words!
5. Stories written for the Spring Bingo may be submitted as entries for other challenges as well if you'd like them to pull double duty.

Spring Bingo Dates
Spring Bingo begins: 21 March 2025 (as of the posting of this thread)
Spring Bingo ends: 01 May 2025 at 23:59 Pacific time

 

Index of entries

By @earlybird-obi-wan:

• A New Home (sunshine, stars, wind, offering, chant)
• Firefighter Games and Lightsabers (whole board)
• Rika and Rascal (stream, forest, journey, fish, fruit/sunshine, stars, wind, offering, chant)
• Antilles and Organa (sunshine, blossom, festival, culture, fruit)
• Protected by Jika Bale (stream, forest, journey, fish, fruit)

By @Chyntuck

• Those Who Would Reap the Harvest: The Tale of the Tribe of Orriorr (Fruit, Culture, Festival, Blossom, Sunshine)
• Those Who Would Follow the River: The Tale of the Tribe of Kepitenochan (Stream, Forest, Journey, Fish, Fruit)
• Those Who Would Redeem the Desert: The Tale of the Tribe of Truvvhhurr (Stream, Industry, Renewal, Sprout, Sunshine)
• Those Who Would Settle the Apex: The Tale of the Tribe of Northaykk (Sunshine, Stars, Wind, Offering, Chant)
• Those Who Would Hold Back the Fire: The Tale of the Tribe of Maarwraawroo (Fruit, Nature, Ritual, Pilgrimage, Chant)

By @gizkaspice

• [Tolkien] A Marriage of Asphyxiation (whole board)

By @devilinthedetails

• [A:TLA] Walk in a Plum Blossom Forest (Stream, Forest, Journey, Fish, Fruit)

By @amidalachick

• [Stranger Things] The Ram and the Bull (Journey, Fertility, Festival, Ram & Bull, Wind)

By @GregMcP

• Free Falling (Sunshine, Stars, Wind, Offering, Chant)

By @Vek Talis

• [Firefly] Shades (whole board)

By @AzureAngel2

• “A light exists in spring” (Stream, Forest, Journey, Fish, Fruit)

 

I have used the column
sunshine, stars, wind, offering, chant
for A new home Spring bingo challenge

 

Yay, our first entry! I have it in the index, and I'm off to read and review now.

 

I'm returning to my Wookiee myths and legends collection for In the Shade of the Wroshyr: Tales of the People of the Trees for this iteration of the Spring Bingo, and my first offering is up: Those Who Would Reap the Harvest: The Tale of the Tribe of Orriorr using the prompts Fruit, Culture, Festival, Blossom, Sunshine

 

Can I sign up because I want to combine this with the angst challenge thing I signed up for? (sorry I'm too lazy to make coherent sentences and explain )

 

@gizkaspice You absolutely can! You know what they say, the more the merrier.

 

Amazing, thank you! I'm so excited to potentially and completely shatter the Internetz with the story I am working on

 

Sorry for the double post, but my thing is finished now and it follows #7. A Marriage of Asphyxiation

 

Thanks for the awesome entries @gizkaspice and @devilinthedetails! I added them both to the index.

 

I have a second story up in my Wookiee myths & legends collection: Those Who Would Follow the River: The Tale of the Tribe of Kepitenochan, using the prompts Stream, Forest, Journey, Fish, Fruit.

 

I wrote a thing doubling as my KR longfic and using the prompts Journey, Fertility, Festival, Ram & bull, Wind: [Stranger Things] The Ram and the Bull

I always love these Spring Bingo prompts. They all capture the beauty of spring so well and I always learn something new with them too!

 

The right edge of the bingo.... 679 words.

Free Falling

SUNSHINE - STARS - WIND - OFFERING - CHANT

 

W00t, such a great crop of stories already, and we're not even two weeks into the challenge! Awesome stuff @amidalachick @GregMcP; I added your stories to the index.

 

I have used all the prompts in Fire-fighter games and lightsabers

 

[Firefly] Spring Bingo Challenge - Shades - Serenity crew & Vek

This is the start of a 5 chapter story that will incorporate all the Springo words.

 

Holy cow, so many stories using the whole board! I'm really happy some of us found this year's prompts so inspiring. I added your stories to the index @earlybird-obi-wan @Vek Talis, and I'll be catching up on reviews hopefully tonight.

 

My third Wookiee-centric ficlet is up with Those Who Would Redeem the Desert: The Tale of the Tribe of Truvvhhurr, using the prompts Stream, Industry, Renewal, Sprout, Sunshine

 

I am in also. First story!

 

Long time no see @AzureAngel2! I'm glad this challenge inspired you. I have your story in the index and I'll be heading over for a review hopefully tonight.

 

I would like to enter this.

 

You've got this, @Nehru_Amidala, go for it!

 

Okay, sign me up for the full meal deal.

 

I have used two series of prompts in Rika and Rascal, spring bingo
stream, forest, journey, fish, fruit
sunshine, stars, wind, offering, chant