J Swiderski and Travis McIntyre with a TranspoBINGO board. Image by Rachel Maisler.

TranspoBINGO is a DC-born game that challenges people to try new ways of moving through and exploring the city. Created in 2020 by the two of us — Rachel Maisler (aka HandlebarsDC), a city cyclist and transportation advocate, and Erin Palmer, a former DC advisory neighborhood commissioner — the game encourages non-car travel, like taking the bus, using rail, biking, walking, and rolling.

Participants partake in week-long play on a unique bingo board that builds insight, accountability, and momentum for more people-first transportation and infrastructure.

This year’s TranspoBINGO runs from February 5 through February 12, with the theme Play Your Way Through the City. The game invites players to approach public and active transportation with curiosity and joy, trying new routes, earning points through exploration, and treating the city itself as the gameboard. At a moment when joy matters, TranspoBINGO offers a playful way to rediscover connection, delight, and possibility in how we move through our city together.

The TranspoBINGO basics

***How do you play? ***TranspoBINGO is simple and fun. Each year, a new board — designed by us — goes live shortly before the game begins. Players mark one square per trip and see how much of the board they can complete over the course of the week, using public and active transportation and engaging with the city along the way. While the prompts change each year, some favorites regularly return, like transporting something unusual on transit, trying a new-to-you travel mode or exploring a new-to-you public space, and using transit to support a local small business.

Players are encouraged to share their successes, challenges, and surprises using #TranspoBINGO on Bluesky or Instagram, because play is better when it’s shared. Participation isn’t limited to being online; players can print, share, and complete boards offline as well.

***Who can play, and where? ***Anyone can play TranspoBINGO, including first-time riders, long-time advocates, and elected officials. We created the game in DC, and it is intentionally designed to reflect how people move through the District and the surrounding region, including opportunities to connect with nearby Maryland and Virginia. While TranspoBINGO is distinctly DC-rooted, some players join us from other cities and countries each year and the game’s format can easily be adapted specifically for other cities and regions — and has been (including in Austin, Texas)!

***Why play? ***TranspoBINGO is a community-building game and an advocacy tool. Played each year in February to honor Rosa Parks and Transit Equity Day, we created the game to encourage elected officials to make a sustained, week-long commitment to experiencing public transit and public spaces the way neighbors do every day. What started locally has grown organically as players share the game with friends, neighbors, and communities. We’ve even heard stories of people meeting through TranspoBINGO and building lasting connections around public and active transportation.

What makes 2026 different?

This year leans fully into play. In shaping the 2026 theme, we wanted to emphasize joy, especially in a challenging political moment, and to express our love for this amazing city. This year’s board intentionally highlights delight, curiosity, and connection as powerful tools for care, resilience, and change.

TranspoBINGO 2026 blends movement with whimsy, civic engagement with creativity, and everyday trips with moments of surprise. The board includes returning player favorites alongside new prompts that invite group play, winter fun, creative expression, regional exploration, and deeper engagement with the transit systems that shape daily life.

We intentionally release each year’s TranspoBINGO Board and Rulebook shortly before the game begins on February 5 so that players can be surprised. In the meantime, players can expect squares that turn everyday trips into playful experiments, spark connections across neighborhoods and the wider region, and pair joy with advocacy for safer, more accessible streets and transit.

At its core, this year’s game treats the city like a living board, something you can move across, connect with, and reimagine.

Celebrate together at the finish line

Join us on February 12, 2026, for the Active Transit Social, a fun, community-friendly evening to wrap up a week of TranspoBINGO and celebrate the many creative ways people played their way through the city.

We’ll gather at Atlas Brew Works – Bridge District, a five-minute walk from the Anacostia Metro and a fitting location for a transit-themed and climate-forward celebration. Atlas is known for its commitment to sustainable operations, from a high-efficiency, gas-free brewhouse to reuse of brewing heat, donation of spent grain to local farmers, and a shift to fully recyclable aluminum cans.

We will award prizes at the Active Transit Social based on how you played during the week, not just how many squares you completed. Players are invited to complete the TranspoBINGO scorecard to share how many squares they finished, which ones they loved, and how they challenged themselves. This year’s main prizes include the High Score Award, Level Up Award, and Playmaker Award, with additional surprise prizes for those who attend the Social.

Powered by community

TranspoBINGO 2026 is powered by an incredible community of sponsors who bring the game to life, including through events hosted throughout the week, giving players fun, social ways to mark squares and play together. From group games with Labyrinth Games & Puzzles, DC Gaymers, and Big Chair Chess Club, to transpo-ing to open mic karaoke with District Karaoke, to joining a group bike ride with Ward 5 Family Biking, to enjoying a little recess at DC History Center, these gatherings turn movement into connection and fun!

We are adding events regularly, so players are encouraged to check back often as they prepare to try something new and build their week around shared experiences that celebrate public and active transportation, fun, and community.

**TranspoBINGO 2026 sponsors also include: **Greater Greater Washington, Coalition for Smarter Growth, and metrobar, which have sponsored the event since it started, as well as Hill Family Biking, Bunch Bikes, WABA Cargo Bike Library, RideFlowDC, RideScore DC, BicycleSPACE, Upshift Workshop, Petworth for Safer Streets, DC Families for Safe Streets, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689, Ground Shift Studio (Chalk Riot), Sierra Club DC, Ward 8 Woods Conservancy, Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail, The Hill is Home, Ward 6 Public Schools Parent Organization, Capitol Hill Association of Merchants and Professionals (CHAMPS), District Bridges, Game Genius, the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia, the APA (American Planning Association) National Capital Area Chapter, Georgetown University Urban & Regional Planning Program, Cleveland Park Smart Growth, Cleveland and Woodley Park Village, and Atlas Brew Works.

Behind the scenes, TranspoBINGO planning involves a committee of community advocates and advisory neighborhood commissioners from across the District. Thank you Angela Allison, Janell Pagats, Ashley Ruff, Aru Sahni, Mónica Martínez López, Travis McIntyre, and Evan Yeats.

Together, these organizations and people show what’s possible when cities are designed for people, and when play is treated as a powerful way to move, connect, and care for the places we love.