Gift Bingo: Match the Right Gifts to Strangers in a Row!
Xingyu Chen
This interactive art project critiques the performative nature of gift-giving in obligatory social settings, where selecting presents becomes a calculated transaction rather than a sincere act of care. Inspired by the tension between societal expectations and personal uncertainty, Gift Bingo exposes the anxiety and randomness embedded in forced gift exchanges.
To play Gift Bingo, players first randomly select 24 gifts from a provided gift list to fill their gift bingo board. Next, they draw character cards, each of which represents a stranger with a hidden gift preference. The goal is to match the selected gifts on their bingo board with the preferences of the drawn characters. Each successful match builds a connection, and players win by aligning four successful matches in a row. The game mirrors real-life social pressures, in which players must blindly guess which gifts will suit the recipient’s hidden preferences, fearing that a mismatched choice could strain their relationship or signal a lack of thoughtfulness.
By gamifying the uncertainty of obligatory gift exchanges, Gift Bingo satirizes how social norms reduce meaningful gestures to empty transactions. The arbitrary wins and losses highlight the absurdity of commodifying relationships, while the impersonal nature of the gifts parodies the hollow rituals that dominate social gatherings. Framing vulnerability as a game of chance, the project invites players to question whether these traditions foster genuine connection—or merely reinforce the cycle of social obligation, leaving participants emotionally drained yet socially “successful.”