Volunteer runs Catalan 'word bingo' at Pas communal library

Cristina Bassóns, 45, who has volunteered with the federation for more than ten years, is once again organising a Christmas bingo where letters, not numbers, are called. The event will be held tomorrow at 16:00 in the Pas communal library.

“We invented a word bingo at the L’Hospitalet club,” she says. The aim was to offer an activity in Catalan that everyone could join; many people didn’t know Scrabble and that put them off. Bingo, she adds, has the advantage that everyone recognises it. Instead of numbers, letters are called and players form words on their cards — you get bingo when you complete five words.

Bassóns presents the game as a playful, family-friendly way to learn the language that fits well with libraries. It allows participation from children learning the alphabet to adults who want to practise Catalan. Although competitive, she says, it also encourages socialising and forming friendships.

Her group has visited Encamp a couple of times. This year, alongside the regular bingo, they will offer a duplicated round in which all players receive the same letters. That format becomes more cooperative and directed, she explains, because participants will be asked to look for words typical of Andorra, which makes the game easier and more enjoyable.

She gives examples of local words — donja (a type of sausage) or tana (tobacco) — but warns these particular entries will not appear in the game. Bassóns notes a loss of vocabulary: in competitive Scrabble, obscure consonant-heavy combinations and strange words often surface that are not used in everyday speech and fall into disuse.

Her team prefers short words that include high-value tiles like l·l, ç or x to score many points. Examples she cites include ix (from the Valencian verb eixir), al·le (not the breath but a hydrocarbon) and ol·li (adapted from English, describing a skateboard move). Some entries may be unlikely to be used in daily life but are strategically useful in Scrabble.

She recalls her first match at a championship in L’Hospitalet: she wanted to play but didn’t know how, so the club connected her with other beginners. That was more than ten years ago, and she has been involved ever since.