Skins is brutal — one big number on the back nine and you're cooked. Wolf needs a flowchart to explain. Nassau is fine but only pays out three times the whole round.

Bingo Bango Bongo is the side game that fixes all three. Instead of total strokes, you score points for three events on every hole — and a hacker stuck in the rough can still walk away with the cash. As of today, BBB is fully live on Buddies on the Green for any 2–4 player round.

The Three Awards

Every hole has three points up for grabs. They're awarded based on physical events, not strokes — so the math is simple and the action never stops.

🎯 Bingo — First on the Green

The first player whose ball lands on the putting surface. Order of play matters: the farthest player hits first, which means a shanked tee shot can actually win you Bingo from 200 yards out while the long hitter waits to hit last.

🚩 Bango — Closest to the Pin

Once all balls are on the green, the player closest to the pin wins Bango. Pure approach-shot reward. Stick it tight, collect a point — no matter how you got there.

🥤 Bongo — First in the Cup

First to hole out. Farthest from the cup putts first, so the 25-foot bomb can beat the tap-in if it drops. Reward for the player who finishes the hole.

That's 54 points available across an 18-hole round (3 awards × 18 holes). Set a point value when you create the round — most groups play $1/point, which caps the damage at a friendly $54.

Why It Works at Any Skill Level

The genius of Bingo Bango Bongo is that the awards reward different parts of the game. The 20-handicap who hit a 40-yard slice off the tee plays first into the green — and might just stick it for Bingo. The scratch player who bombed the fairway plays last — and might not see a Bingo all day. Skill helps with Bango and Bongo, but order of play levels the field for Bingo.

As the old guys at every muni say: "the points always find you somewhere."

An Example Hole

Four players: Chad, Mike, Kevin, Rob. Par 4.

• Tee shots: Chad (fairway), Mike (rough), Kevin (bunker), Rob (fairway)
• Approaches: Kevin is farthest and hits first — he sticks the green from the bunker. ✅ Bingo: Kevin
• Once all on: Chad 20 ft, Mike 12 ft, Rob 8 ft. ✅ Bango: Rob
• Putting: Kevin (farthest) putts first and misses. Mike misses. Chad drains his 20-footer. ✅ Bongo: Chad

Result for the hole: Kevin +1, Rob +1, Chad +1, Mike +0. Three points awarded, three different players, no math.

House Rules That Actually Matter

We shipped Bingo Bango Bongo with two configurable variations that real groups asked for during testing.

No Bingo on Par 3s

On par 3s, everyone tees straight onto the green, so "first on" is decided entirely by honors — pure structural advantage, no skill. Flip this option on and the app skips Bingo on every par 3 (roughly 22% of holes on a typical course). Bango and Bongo still play. The award modal hides the Bingo row automatically on par 3s.

Sweep Bonus

When one player wins all three awards on a single hole, you can pay them extra:

• None — Standard 3 points (default)
• Double — 6 points total. Big swings, high-action groups.
• +1 Bonus — 4 points total. Modest reward, doesn't snowball the leader.

If "No Bingo on Par 3s" is also on, a par-3 sweep means winning both active categories (Bango + Bongo) — the bonus still applies, just scaled to 2 awards instead of 3.

Three Taps Per Hole

The hardest part of any side game is remembering to track it. BBB handles that automatically.

As soon as everyone's scores are entered for a hole, the award modal opens. The Bingo row is highlighted and expanded; tap the player who won it and the row collapses and auto-advances to Bango. Then Bongo. Save. Done.

• One row expanded at a time so you can't miss-tap
• Progress indicator at the top — "2 of 3 awards assigned"
• Skip option on every category for the rare hole where it doesn't resolve cleanly
• Works offline — captured awards queue and sync when you reconnect

Live Standings, Pairwise Settlement

Tap the Side Games floating button at any point mid-round to see the leaderboard: each player's Bingo / Bango / Bongo counts, total points, and the dollar amount at the current point value. After the round, the same view lives on the round detail page under Side Games.

Settlement uses the same pairwise math as every other side game on the app: for each pair of players, the difference in earnings nets out, so you settle up cleanly without anyone calculating who owes whom three different amounts.

Best For

• Casual rounds where the group wants action without complex math
• Mixed-skill foursomes — the points always find you somewhere
• Players who like betting games but find Skins or Wolf too punishing on a bad hole
• Threesomes and twosomes — no rule changes needed for smaller groups

Add It to Your Next Round

Bingo Bango Bongo is available today for any 2–4 player round on Buddies on the Green:

1. Create or start a round with 2–4 players
2. Open the Side Games section on the round-creation page
3. Toggle Bingo Bango Bongo on
4. Set the point value (default $1) and any house rules
5. Save the round — the award modal opens automatically after each hole

For the complete rules walkthrough, head to the Bingo Bango Bongo rules page. Then start a round and find out where the points find you.