# 2020 Bingo > 2020 Bingo is a Twitter meme using custom bingo cards to track 2020's disasters, popularized by the catchphrase "had on your bingo card. 2020 Bingo is an internet meme where people reference metaphorical or literal custom bingo cards to catalog the nonstop bizarre events of 2020. Starting in early January 2020 on Twitter, the format exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and Australian bushfire season as users joked about which catastrophe or unexpected headline they "had on their bingo card." The meme peaked mid-2020 and spawned the related Kronk "That's Another One For Apocalypse Bingo" reaction image. ## Origin On January 2nd, 2020, Twitter user @jules_lefevre posted what appears to be the earliest known reference to a 2020 bingo card. The tweet came in response to actress Bette Midler calling Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison a "fuckwit" during the bushfire crisis[2]. The tweet picked up over 440 likes and 40 retweets in its first five months. The concept was simple: 2020 had barely started, and events already felt unprecedented enough to warrant a bingo card for tracking them[1]. - **Platform:** Twitter (catchphrase), Reddit (image templates) - **Creator:** @jules_lefevre (earliest known tweet), toxicpenguin9 (Kronk reaction image variant) - **Date:** 2020 ## Overview 2020 Bingo takes two main forms. The first is a rhetorical catchphrase: people react to unexpected news by asking "Who had [event] on their 2020 bingo card?" as if everyone were playing a cosmic game of bingo with the year's disasters[1]. The second form involves actual custom bingo cards listing real and predicted events of 2020, from the Australian bushfires to murder hornets to political upheaval[2]. The format works because 2020 delivered an absurd density of major events. Each new headline felt like another square getting stamped, and the bingo framing gave people a way to process the chaos with humor[1]. ## How It Spread The meme sat relatively quiet through January and February 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic sent it into overdrive. On March 16th, 2020, Twitter user @bjoewolf tweeted "Did anyone have 'Mitt Romney endorsing Universal Basic Income six weeks after voting to convict Donald Trump' on their 2020 bingo card?" The post earned over 4,100 likes and 470 retweets[2]. Two days later, on March 18th, Redditor toxicpenguin9 posted the first known "That's Another One For Apocalypse Bingo" reaction image to r/memes. The image features Kronk from *The Emperor's New Groove* (voiced by Patrick Warburton) and was posted in response to a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in Utah. It received over 148,000 upvotes, 1,500 comments, and multiple Reddit awards[2]. On March 20th, Redditor tumsdout shared a custom 2020 Apocalypse Bingo card on r/memes featuring both past and predicted future events for the year[2]. By June 2020, the "who had X on their bingo card" format was everywhere on Twitter. Notable examples include Rick Wilson posting a "2020 Hellscape Bingo" card on June 5th, and author Maureen Johnson reacting to PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea speaking out against racism with "I didn't have anti-racist tea on my 2020 bingo card but I am delighted that it is here," earning over 2,200 likes[1]. Other viral entries that month included the NYC Department of Health encouraging glory holes, Ice Cube's apparent embrace of conspiracy theories, and "woke Mitt Romney"[1]. The meme thrived because 2020 kept delivering material. Every week seemed to add another square to the card, from the Australian bushfires to impeachment proceedings to a global pandemic to nationwide protests to murder hornets[1]. ## How to Use The catchphrase version is the simplest to deploy. When something unexpected happens in the news or in daily life, you post: "Who had [specific event] on their 2020 bingo card?" The humor comes from the event being so strange that no one could have predicted it. The more absurdly specific the event, the better the joke lands[1]. For the visual version, people typically create a 5x5 bingo grid and fill each square with either events that already happened or wild predictions for events yet to come. Some cards mix real events (coronavirus, Australian bushfires) with escalating hypotheticals (alien invasion, Yellowstone eruption) to sell the apocalyptic comedy[2]. The Kronk reaction image works differently. When a new disaster or bizarre headline drops, you pair the news with the Kronk image captioned "That's another one for apocalypse bingo" to mark another square checked off[2]. ## Cultural Impact The "bingo card" framing entered everyday speech well beyond meme communities during 2020. News anchors, politicians, and brand accounts all adopted the format to react to the year's events[1]. The phrase "on my 2020 bingo card" became shorthand for acknowledging that something was both unexpected and somehow inevitable given the year's trajectory. The meme also fed into the broader "2020 is a disaster movie" narrative that dominated social media throughout the year, alongside related formats like "What month is it now?" calendars and "2020 season finale" jokes[1]. ## Fun Facts - The very first known 2020 bingo reference came just two days into the year, on January 2nd, 2020[2]. - The Kronk apocalypse bingo image hit 148,000 upvotes on Reddit, making it one of the most successful single-meme posts during early COVID[2]. - The format proved so durable that people kept using the "bingo card" framing for subsequent years ("Who had X on their 2021 bingo card?"), though none matched the original 2020 intensity[1]. - The NYC Department of Health encouraging glory holes as a COVID safety measure was one of the most frequently cited "nobody had this on their bingo card" events of June 2020[1]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 2020 Bingo? 2020 Bingo is a meme format where people joke about tracking the year's bizarre, unexpected events as if playing bingo, either by asking "who had [event] on their 2020 bingo card?" or by creating actual custom bingo cards[2]. ### Where did 2020 Bingo come from? The earliest known instance is a January 2nd, 2020 tweet by @jules_lefevre referencing a 2020 bingo card in response to actress Bette Midler's comments about Australian PM Scott Morrison[2]. ### What does 2020 Bingo mean? It means the year 2020 was delivering so many absurd, catastrophic, or unexpected events that it felt like checking off squares on a bingo card of disasters[1]. ### How do you use 2020 Bingo? Either tweet "Who had [unexpected event] on their 2020 bingo card?" when something surprising happens, or create a visual bingo card grid filled with real and predicted events[1]. ### Is 2020 Bingo still popular? The meme was specific to 2020 and largely died out as the year ended. The "bingo card" phrasing still gets used occasionally for subsequent years but without the same intensity[1]. ### What is the Kronk Apocalypse Bingo meme? It's a reaction image featuring Kronk from *The Emperor's New Groove*, captioned "That's another one for apocalypse bingo." Redditor toxicpenguin9 posted the first version on March 18th, 2020, and it received over 148,000 upvotes[2]. ### What events appeared on 2020 Bingo cards? Common squares included the Australian bushfires, COVID-19, murder hornets, political upheaval, nationwide protests, and various unlikely celebrity or political developments[2]. ### Why did the meme peak in mid-2020? The combination of the pandemic, George Floyd protests, and a stream of bizarre news stories in May and June 2020 created a perfect storm of "bingo card" material[1]. ## References 1. [The 2020 Bingo Card Meme Shows Us What The Year May Have In Store]() 2. [2020 Bingo - Know Your Meme]() 3. [List of British bingo nicknames]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/2020-bingo Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library