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Games and puzzles can provide a stimulating alternative to noninteractive lectures. Games such as Relays (1), Chemical Squares (2), Jeopardy (3), and Odd Man Out (4), as well as numerous puzzles, have been reported in thisJournal. BINGO has been applied to chemistry education for matching element names to symbols and compound names to formulas (5). Teaching and drilling chemical nomenclature can be particularly mind-numbing, and a game of Nomenclature BINGO can allow a bit of fun while providing instruction and practice. I have had success applying BINGO to simple alkane nomenclature, and many variations are possible.
Playing Nomenclature BINGO
As in the traditional BINGO game, players mark cards to try to be the first to achieve 5 in a row The BINGO card consists of a 5 x 5 matrix with a name fragment in each box. A sample card is shown in Figure 1.
A Lewis structure is selected at random from a pile and viewed using an overhead projector. Students name the compound using IUPAC rules and match parts of the name to their BINGO cards. For instance, the structure shown below is properly named 4-ethyl-3-methylheptane. After naming the compound, the student would then mark 3 boxes on the BINGO card: ethyl, methyl, and heptane. The first person to get 5 in a row yells "BINGO" and the spaces are doublechecked against the proper name.
A student might incorrectly name this structure 3-secbutylhexane, marking both sec-butyl and hexane on the BINGO card. Portions from incorrect names will, of course, not count. Since each structure can lead to as many as 3 or 4 spaces to fill on the card, often more than one person will achieve BINGO...