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Minnesota State Fair T-shirt bingo, 2016 edition

Four all-new bingo cards specially created to reflect this year’s T-shirt trends at the Fair.

Another year, another trip to the State Fair to gawk at the wide range of printed self-expression the people of Minnesota are wearing on their chests this year. As in past years, these four all-new bingo cards have been specially created to reflect this year’s T-shirt trends at the fair, based on careful and painstaking onsite research over several hours. The outline of the state of Minnesota now acts as a FREE space in the center of the card. You will see a T-shirt with the state of Minnesota on it within two minutes of stepping foot onto the fairgrounds.

A few quick notes: I saw much fewer presidential T-shirts than I'd anticipated. The athletic outfitter du jour of 2016 is, without a doubt, Under Armour. The recent performance by Metallica at US Bank Stadium seems to have created a glut of Metallica T-shirts on the local market, and the unusually large number of Pokémon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirts have imbued the youth of Minnesota with a distinctly mid-'90s vibe.

Print a card out and take it with you. Each category includes an illustrated example of a T-shirt that might fit in each, but your finds may look entirely different. There’s room for interpretation in some categories, but be honest with yourself. While either Tabasco or Sriracha fits in the “Hot Sauce” category, don't try to sneak an Elk River football T-shirt into the “Suburban Athletics” category. Elk River is not a suburb. It's an exurb. 

Good luck!