Updated:

The first round of Blogger Bingo is about to get underway tomorrow morning and so it seemed like a fine time to go through the rules one more time. Just to explain how the game is played because it's really very simple.

1. Every morning, I will pick a card from the pack that has one of the categories found on your game board written on it. I will leave the category of the day in that permanent post found at the top of my blog that has a link to the current LFCA and current BlogHer post and general status. If I can't post for some reason, there will be a note there directing you to the person who is posting the clue for me that day (I'm not sure how long the game will last--it could technically last 24 days!).
2. In addition to the category, I will also give you a date range for the post, such as "before August 15, 2009" or "after September 2008."
   
3. You will use the participant list (which is super easy to find because I replaced one of the header buttons with a "Blogger Bingo" button--look up at the top of the blog, under the title banner--with a link to the post that holds the list) to find a post that matches the category. For instance, if the category is "a post that made you gasp written after August 3, 2009", you will click around until you find something personally gasp-worthy that was written after August 3, 2009 from any blog on the participant list. You will bookmark that post or hold the url somewhere because you will need to send it in if you get bingo.
4. Leave a comment on the post that tells the person you read their post (in other words, something beyond "great post!").
5. Once you use a post from a person's blog, you can't use that blog again for another square. It spreads out the love.
   
6. When you get five in a row, email me with Bingo! in the subject line. In the email, list the name of the category, the url of the post, and why you think it fits (you can get creative here).
7. The first person to do so wins. Except that everyone is a winner in my heart.

Oh--one thing I never said, but is certainly something you could do. If you don't have time that day to search for a blog entry, at least stop by and write down the category of the day somewhere and look up two days worth the next day (or save up five days worth and do it on the weekend). I will erase the category of the day after 24 hours so you'll need to write it down somewhere if you want to look up the posts later. Does the person who finds the entry every day have a leg-up? Sure. But the point of the game isn't to make yourself anxious. And the timestamp on your comment doesn't need to be from the day the category was listed; the timestamps just need to be a bit spread out to show that you didn't wait until you were close to bingo to go backwards and comment.

Anything I didn't answer? Questions you still have? Check here too because I went through a bunch of what ifs towards the end of the post.

It's your last chance to sign up--the list closes tonight at 11 p.m. (EST) and then the game begins...

Moved the questions up from the comment box to answer them:

1. What if for one of the catagories I find a post in the right date range and from the list, but on which I had already previously commented? Is that comment good enough [assuming it was not a "great post" type of comment]?

Yes, that should definitely suffice. Because even an old comment would mark that you were there and read the post in full.

2. What about international players - the date stamp is it going to be affected by our time zones.

I don't think that will be a problem. The timestamps don't have to be on a certain day. They just have to be spread out so that someone doesn't run backwards and only leave comments if they think they're close to bingo. And when I say a date, it's the date on the post--which means that you go by the time/day of when the post was written even if it would have been the next day or the day before where you are living.