# BingoCards
[LaTeX](http://tug.org/) and [python](http://www.python.org)-powered randomized bingo cards with custom cells. 
Takes a user-supplied list of phrases and randomly assigns them to a user-specified number of bingo cards, using LaTeX. 
A python script creates a complete checklist for all possible bingo card cells. 
This project is ideal for televised political events like State of the Union or presidential [or primary] debates.

Although I made some changes to the LaTeX code, the bulk of the code -- and all of the hard stuff -- 
was taken from [tex.stackexchange.com](http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/63357/automatically-generated-bingo-cards).

## Introduction

The list of phrases (and don't make any individual phrase very long) needs to be semicolon-separated text, 
with a small bit of LaTeX encompassing the list. 

```LaTeX
\myItems{Believe me;
Make America Great Again;
Build a Wall;
Benghazi;
Crooked Hillary;
% [et cetera]
% note comments are allowed, as is whitespace
We don't \emph{win} anymore
}
```

:exclamation: **Important:** the list of items must _not_ include a final semicolon.
 LaTeX interprets a final semicolon to mean "the next entry is a blank", 
 and you will end up with randomly empty cells on the bingo cards.
The list should terminate only with a close-brace, though the brace can be on a new line.

The LaTeX file, when run, will take the list, pick 24 at random 
(the "Free Space" is humorously listed as _"Candidate Talks Past Allotted Time"_, 
as though that could ever _not_ happen), and assign them to a standard 5 x 5 bingo card. 
This random process is nice because it avoids "sets" of cards all providing Bingo at the same time. 
The LaTeX file includes a for-loop to create some number (initially set at 50) of PDF cards. 

## Customizing the Code

The bingo cards also include a small label below the bingo grid, so customize the ```\biglabel``` macro to suit your event.

```LaTeX
% make a nice identifier for the card (in case, say, there is more than one
% presidential debate, etc.)
\newcommand{\biglabel}{\vspace{0.2in}\begin{center}
\begin{LARGE}
Some Bingo Event

State of the Union

01 January 1900

\end{LARGE}
\end{center}
}
```

If you want to use an arbitrary "Free Space" label, you can change the 
[TikZ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGF/TikZ) code:

```LaTeX
\node [scale=1.2] at ($(\col,-\row)-(0.5,0.3)$) {Something};
\node [scale=1.2] at ($(\col,-\row)-(0.5,0.5)$) {Else};
\node [scale=1.2] at ($(\col,-\row)-(0.5,0.7)$) {Entirely};
```

For those wholly new to TikZ, the second number of the pair is a y-coordinate for the line, 
and a line space of 0.2 is about right.
If you trim the cell to two lines, you will want to change the y-values to be more centered. 

## The Master Checklist

The python script parses the entire list and provides a ```longtable``` checklist for the moderator to use 
when evaluating a given event. 
The ```bingochecklist.tex``` file reads the output of the python script, which is a file called ```checklist1.tex```.
So, from a terminal on your machine of choice, run 

```shell
python makechecklist.py
```

And if you've got all the files where they are supposed to be, it will form up the guts of the checklist. 
Next, compile ```bingochecklist.tex``` a few times and you'll be good to go. 
You need to compile the TeX file at least twice because it uses ```longtable```, and column widths are determined
dynamically over the course of a few LaTeX compiles. 

Jesse Hamner, 2016. :rocket: