...While watching the latest installment of American Idol the other night, the family and I found ourselves trying to guess how Randy Jackson was going to start his comment to the contestant.

Would it be "dawg", or "listen up" or "check it out, check it out"? And would Paula state a color in reference to a singer? I loved that when she called DreadHead 'colorful' and Simon picked on her for it. I muttered something about developing buzzword bingo for AI. DH stopped and said "Now *that* is bloggable."

He's right. It is. Think about what fun someone could have playing buzzword bingo with American Idol just based on what the judges say? USA Today already did a bingo board a couple of years ago (I found while researching to make sure that I wasn't stealing an idea) but they had other things like the contestant wearing leather (Carly Smithson and David Cook), or doing a Whitney Houston cover (Syesha...) and it's set up nicely into a bingo board.

I think it just should be a certain combination of things that circle around the judges and what they do or say. Randy Jackson alone has a laundry list that could comprise a third of a bingo board by himself.

Randy's List
Dawg
Man
Hot
Pitchy
Check it out
Hold up
Yo (usually used in conjunction with "dawg" or "man")
I gotta tell you

Look at that. 8 spaces just for Randy. Even more if you work the combos - check it out, check it out, dawg, you were HOT. Seriously, for those who don't watch AI he really does string them together like that. I think bonus points could be awarded for multiple strings of things.

Then there's Paula who oozes love for everyone after she sits down because she stands up for almost every contestant that performs. She's just as prolific as Randy...

Paula's List
Authentic
Beautiful
Colorful
Oh My God
What I Love Most About You
Proud of you
Wow
Awesome
You're It
You're a Star

I sat with paper and pen the other night and was adding things to the list as the hour wore on. I won't even get into Ryan's comments although I think the USAToday board is missing one serious component - Ryan smiles smugly as if he is the king of everything. That really should be a space on that board.

And then there's Simon. Lovely wonderful Simon who actually says what a lot of people are thinking but articulates it in a much more biting way. And even if it's true he gets booed. When he doesn't get booed for criticism then people should really watch out. The problem with Simon is that he doesn't use buzzwords like the other two do...

Simon's List
It's just an opinion
Having said that
At times...
I don't meant to be rude, but...
*when Simon doesn't get booed
*makes the audience go "awwww"
*wears a shirt that is colored other than black, grey or white
*tells a contestant that he doesn't know why they're still there
*agrees with Paula completely on something

See, more than half of Simon's things are actions rather than specific words. Either it's because he's more articulate/less spacey than the other two or because he doesn't want to look stupid.

I would think this would make an excellent drinking game although I'm hesitant to say that because when Randy compounds things someone might be at risk for alcohol poisoning. So, how do you make this bingo? Well, you could break it into a board like USAToday did - between all 3 of them I have 27 things, so three items would have to be dropped to make it even. Or it's menu style: 3 from column A, 3 from column B, 3 from column C with each being worth one point. Bonus points for compound thoughts on one contestant as I mentioned with Randy stringing his buzzwords together.

So, there you have it. My idea for a judges only version of AI Buzzword Bingo.