Frog BingoA night game for the guided frog walks at Sodwana Bay
Frog BingoSpot it. Snap it. Tick it.
A phone game for the evening frog walks around Sodwana Bay and Mbazwana. Visitors join with a QR code, hunt for the frogs on their board and fill it as a team. Every find becomes a photo, a call and a green tick.
1The idea
Every frog the guide's torch finds becomes a green tick on your team's bingo board.
2How a night walk works
From the meeting point to the last frog
The guide runs the game from their own phone. Visitors play on theirs.
- The guide starts a gamePick 6, 9, 12 or 20 frogs, or choose a set. After heavy rain, pick the frogs that only show then.
- Players join by QREveryone scans the guide's code and signs up once: name, email, country.
- Teams in a tapThe guide sorts the group into teams, or lets everyone play on their own.
- SpotThe guide, or a sharp-eyed player, finds a frog in the reeds. Everyone gets a look.
- SnapTap the camera button in the middle of the screen and take a photo.
- The AI suggestsThe app suggests the closest matches from your local list. The player or guide confirms.
- TickThe tile greys out with a green tick. Record the call and add a note if you like.
- CelebrateConfetti and a happy sound. A full line is a bingo.
- LeaderboardsTeam and individual scores update as the frogs come in.
- ShareSend the find to your own iNaturalist account with one tap.
Spot, snap, the AI suggests, tick. On a loop.
3The screens
What visitors and guides see
A dark screen for night use, big buttons for wet fingers, and the frogs front and centre.
Swipe to see all twelve
1Sign up
Join tonight's walk
Sign up once. Your finds stay with you.
Joining game FROG 42 from your guide's QR code
Name, email and country. Occupation is optional.
2The bingo board
Team Lily Pads
Tap a frog to see its card
Thumbnails of tonight's frogs. The camera sits in the middle.
3A species card
Grey foam-nest tree frog
Chiromantis xerampelina
- The female whips up a foam nest with her hind legs, on a branch over water.
- The tadpoles drop from the nest into the water below.
- Resting in the sun, it turns chalky white to reflect the heat.
Swipe the photos, read the facts, play the call. The guides' photos and recordings go here.
4Snap and confirm
The AI suggests the closest matches from your local list. The player or guide confirms.
5The ticked tile
Team Lily Pads
The frog stays visible, greyed out, with a green tick.
6Record a call and notes
Add the details
Capture the call while the frog is still singing, and add what you saw.
7The celebration
BINGO!
Team Lily Pads filled a line
+10 pointsConfetti and a happy sound for every find, and a big one for a line.
8Team bingo
Team Lily Pads
One shared board. When Sam finds a frog, the whole team gets the tick.
9Leaderboards
Leaderboards
- 1Lily Pads5
- 2Night Owls4
- 3Reed Runners3
- 1LLiam3
- 2TThandi2
- 3EEmma2
Team against team, and every player against each other.
10Guide: start a game
Start a game
6, 9, 12 or 20 frogs, or a hand-picked set for tonight's conditions.
11Guide: teams and QR
Scan to join
Game code FROG 42
Players scan in and land in their team automatically.
12Share to iNaturalist
Share to iNaturalist
- Photo1 photo
- Call0:07
- TimeTonight, 20:14
- PlaceNear Sodwana Bay
Goes to your own iNaturalist account.
One tap sends the photo, call, time, place and species.
4Try the board
Tap a frog you have found
This is a sample board of nine frogs recorded around Sodwana Bay and Mbazwana. The guides' full list of about 51 goes in.
Tonight's frogs
Tap a frog to tick it
- Tap a frog to tick it, with confetti and a happy sound.
- Fill a row, column or diagonal for a bingo.
- Fill all nine for a blackout.
- Tap a ticked frog to untick it.
Sound plays only when you tap. Red-light mode is one of our ideas: a dim red screen keeps eyes used to the dark.
5More bingo ideas
Ways to keep every walk fresh
- 🌧After-rain board. The guide picks the frogs that only come out after heavy rain.
- 👂Call bingo. Tick a frog by its call alone, confirmed by the guide.
- 🏆Blackout. Find every frog on the board for the top badge of the night.
- ⭐Rare frog bonus. Double points for the frog the guide marks as tonight's star.
- 🏃First to a line. A race between teams: the first full row, column or diagonal wins.
- 🧒Junior board. Six easy frogs with big pictures for younger players.
- 📅Season board. Your ticks carry over from walk to walk, so return visits build a full set.
- 🦎Night life board. Add the other night animals the guides point out for a bigger hunt.
Red-light mode
The whole app turns dim red, so eyes stay used to the dark on the walk. Try it on the board above.
Offline play, sync later
Signal can drop in the swamp. The game keeps working, and every tick and photo syncs when the phone is back in signal.
6Share to iNaturalist
Send every find to iNaturalist
iNaturalist is where naturalists record what they see. Players can send their finds there from the game.
Players link their own account
Each player connects their own iNaturalist account once, with iNaturalist's own sign-in. It works even if they used a different email address there.
One tap sends the observation
The photo, the call recording, the time, the place and the species go across together as one observation in the player's account.
Sensitive frogs stay protected
iNaturalist automatically hides the exact place of species that could be harmed if their location were known.
iNaturalist's own API lets an app create observations with photos and sounds for a signed-in user. Sharing is always the player's choice.
7What we need from you
Four things from the team at Sodwana
- The species listThe guides' list of about 51 frogs, with the names they use and which ones show after rain.
- Photos from the guidesA few good photos of each frog for the board and the species cards.
- Call recordingsA recording of each frog's call, so players can listen before they go out.
- Your logoSo the game carries your name on every screen.