Band Baaja Baraat Tambola Tickets

Band baaja baraat tambola is the procession-day housie: the ticket holds a ghodi, a dhol, a band, a safa and a dance floor, and six prizes from Baraat Five to the Baraat full house. You will find the free pack, an online game, a prize ladder, a planner for 40 to 150 guests and a run sheet for the baraat evening below.

The whole baraat on one ticket

A baraat is the groom’s wedding procession, when he rides to the venue with family and friends dancing all the way. Band Baaja Baraat Tambola squeezes that noisy, joyful parade onto a housie ticket. The arched ticket carries the title “Band Baaja Baraat” and a medallion that announces “Baraat Aayi”, meaning the baraat has arrived. Its fifteen numbers are shared between five pictures, three numbers each:

• Ghodi: the decorated mare the groom traditionally rides.
• Dhol: the big double-sided drum that keeps the procession moving.
• Band: a brass trumpet, for the uniformed wedding band.
• Safa: the bright turban tied on the groom and the men of his family.
• Dance Floor: two dancers, because no baraat moves without a dance break.

Cousins who have actually danced in front of a ghodi will recognize every picture. As with all our tickets, any set of six covers 1 to 90 with each number used once, so prizes do not cluster on one table.

Ready-to-print Band Baaja Baraat Tambola pack

12 different picture tickets (2 on each A4 page) with a caller sheet, a prize sheet and a rules page. Print it as it is, or press Create your tambola ticket above for more tickets and your own party name.

Download the free PDF

Prizes along the procession

Read the prize list out like the band leader calling the route. Here is what each prize needs:

• Baraat Five: any five numbers on the ticket.
• Baraat Ready: Ghodi and Safa both complete, six numbers, the groom dressed and mounted.
• Band Baaja: Dhol and Band together, six numbers of pure noise.
• Naagin Dance: the three Dance Floor numbers. The naagin dance is the snake-style move every baraat seems to include, so ask the winner to perform a few seconds of it.
• Ghodi Chadhi: the three Ghodi numbers. Ghodi chadhi means “climbed the mare”, the moment the groom mounts.
• Baraat Full House: all fifteen numbers.

Ghodi features in two prizes, so that picture becomes the one everyone watches. A player can win Ghodi Chadhi early and still be in the race for Baraat Ready.

Hosting baraat theme tambola at a wedding

This baraat theme tambola belongs on the groom’s side of the celebrations. Good slots include the evening before the wedding, a mehendi or sangeet night hosted by the groom’s family, the long wait at the hotel while the groom gets ready, or a relaxed post-wedding get-together where everyone relives the procession.

Timing

Most baraats leave in the evening, so the afternoon or the evening before is ideal. Keep the game to about forty minutes. If you play on the wedding day itself, finish well before the safa tying begins, since the same uncles will be needed there.

Dress code

• Safa for everyone: hire a turban tier, or ask a relative who knows how to tie one, and give every guest a colored safa.
• Groom’s side in one color, often a family tradition already.
• Kurta and sneakers, ready for the dance break that will surely follow.

Prize ideas

• Baraat Five: a small packet of dry fruits or a box of sweets.
• Baraat Ready: a brooch or kalgi (the turban ornament) for the groom’s look.
• Band Baaja: a toy trumpet or a small Bluetooth speaker.
• Naagin Dance: a funky pair of sunglasses for the dance floor.
• Ghodi Chadhi: a mini horse showpiece or keychain.
• Baraat Full House: a shagun envelope (a gift of money for good luck) or a larger hamper.

Seating and customs

Arrange seats in two long lines like a procession, with the caller at the head as the “band master”. Let the groom or his younger brother call the first ten numbers. Many families have a dhol player at the wedding anyway; ask him for a short drum roll each time a prize is claimed. Keep spare dabbers handy, because excited dancers lose pens quickly.

Play Band Baaja Baraat online

Destination wedding with relatives watching from home? Run the game live in the browser. Once guests tap the link on their phones, the game calls each number at a steady pace, with an optional voice, ticks it off their tickets for them, and lets the host screen confirm every Bingo before the dhol plays. Put the TV view on the banquet hall screen; its QR code lets anyone nearby jump straight in.

Twist: the baraat chase

Split the room into the band, the dancers and the groom’s party, using the five pictures as a guide. Whenever a number from Dhol or Band is called, the band group must clap a beat. When a Dance Floor number comes, the dancers stand up for a quick bhangra step. It is silly, loud and very much in the spirit of the procession. The host keeps it fair and calls the next number only when the room settles.

For printing, color makes the safa and band uniforms pop. Pick A4 or Letter, and choose two tickets per page if you want them big enough to hold while dancing. Add the couple’s names in the title and the wedding date for a souvenir.

Planning for both families? Try the two-design Ladke Wale vs Ladki Wale tambola, where the team score is counted for you on every screen. The Sangeet Spotlight tambola suits the music night, and our wedding bingo cards make a lighter game for the reception. There are more designs to browse on our theme tambola hub too.

Baraat theme tambola: why this theme works

The baraat is the groom’s procession, usually with a mare, a drum player and a band, and it is one of the most photographed parts of an Indian wedding. A tambola ticket that carries the same pictures gives guests a game to play while the procession gathers, while the family waits for the muhurat or while the bride’s side prepares the welcome.

The prizes borrow the language of the procession: Baraat Ready, Band Baaja, Naagin Dance and Ghodi Chadhi. They give the caller a chance to shout as loudly as the dhol.

Here is how baraat theme tambola fits a wedding function: the pictures need no explanation, the prizes give the host lines to announce, and the whole game fits comfortably around the other events of the day.

How to play band baaja baraat tambola step by step

The rules of band baaja baraat tambola are the rules of ordinary tambola, with pictures instead of rows. Here is the whole game in six steps, using the prize names printed on the sheet:

1. Hand out the tickets. Give each player one ticket and read the prize list aloud, starting with Baraat Five and ending with Baraat Full House.
2. Call the numbers. The host calls numbers from 1 to 90 in random order, or lets the online game call them.
3. Mark your pictures. Each player strikes off the numbers on their ticket, and each picture holds three of them.
4. Claim a prize. The first player to complete a pattern shouts the prize name, such as “Baraat Ready!”, before the next number is called.
5. Check the claim. The host reads the numbers back against the caller sheet. A wrong claim loses that ticket the prize.
6. Finish with the full house. The game ends when a player marks all fifteen numbers and wins Baraat Full House.

New players learn band baaja baraat tambola in about two minutes, because the pictures show them what to look for. If the group has never played tambola, our guide on how to play tambola explains the classic version.

Band baaja baraat tambola: the prize ladder in numbers

Every prize in band baaja baraat tambola needs a different number of marked numbers, so the prizes arrive in a predictable order. We simulated 3,000 games with 90 tickets, which is 15 sets of six, and recorded the call on which each prize was first completed. The table shows the median, with the middle half of games alongside:

With 90 tickets the first five arrives on about call 10, and the full house on about call 68, so the whole ladder runs over 58 calls, or about 10 minutes at 10 seconds a call. A one-picture prize arrives around call 19, and a two-picture prize around call 42, so most of the excitement happens in the middle of the game. When you plan band baaja baraat tambola, announce the prizes in the order they are likely to be won, and keep the biggest for last.

Wedding tambola tickets: how many to print and how long a game lasts

This planner answers the question behind wedding tambola tickets: how many to print and how long the game lasts. For a wedding function, the right number of tickets depends on how many guests want to play. This planner rounds up to whole sets of six and uses the same simulation as above for each size of group. One ticket for each player is the usual choice, and you can print a few spares for latecomers:

For 40 guests, print 48 tickets (8 sets of six) and expect the full house around call 70, which is about 11.7 minutes of calling. For 150 guests you need 150 tickets and the full house arrives around call 66.

The bigger the group, the earlier each prize is won, because more tickets are in play: the first five comes on call 11 with 40 guests but on call 9 with 150. That is why band baaja baraat tambola stays quick even at a large wedding function, and why it suits a short slot in the program.

What one ticket looks like during band baaja baraat tambola

A ticket holds 15 of the 90 numbers, which is one sixth of them, so on average it has one sixth of the numbers called so far marked. By call 30 a typical ticket has 5 of its 15 numbers marked:

That is the average ticket, though. With 90 tickets in play, the best ticket reaches five marked numbers on call 10, and the best ticket completes all fifteen on call 68, long before an average ticket does. This gap between the average and the best ticket explains why the prizes in band baaja baraat tambola are won so much earlier than the table above suggests.

A ready-made run sheet for band baaja baraat tambola

Here is a run sheet for band baaja baraat tambola that fits 70 minutes. The times are suggestions; stretch the snack break or shorten a round to suit your wedding function.

The tambola rounds take 45 of the 70 minutes, which leaves room for food, photos and conversation. If you only have half the time, play one round and keep band baaja baraat tambola for the full house, since the biggest prize makes the best ending.

Prize ideas for band baaja baraat tambola: a gift for every pattern

Match the gift to the pattern: small gifts for the quick prizes and the best gift for the full house. These ideas fit a wedding function:

Decor and dress ideas to go with the prizes:

• A decorated ghodi cutout at the entrance
• Safas in the family colors for the men
• Dhol beats playing on a speaker
• Flower garlands on the prize table

Keep the prizes simple, wrap them in the theme colors and put them on a table where everyone can see them before the first call. A prize table in view keeps interest high all through band baaja baraat tambola.

Three twists to try with band baaja baraat tambola

A small twist makes the game feel planned. Pick one, or use all three across the rounds of band baaja baraat tambola, and band baaja baraat tambola stays quick whichever you choose.

Naagin dance-off

The winner of Naagin Dance leads a thirty-second dance, and the room joins in.

Dhol rhythm

Between calls, a dhol player beats the number as a rhythm, and guests clap along.

Ghodi photo

The winner of Ghodi Chadhi poses on a cutout horse for a photo.

If you like band baaja baraat tambola, you may also enjoy Ladke Wale vs Ladki Wale Tambola, Shaadi Ki Rasmein Tambola, Haldi Hai Tambola, or browse the whole theme tambola collection.