BUDGET DAY used to be a happier prospect. It wasn’t so long ago that a bonnie Charlie McCreevy would bounce up the steps of Leinster House, briefcase and shiny CD-ROM in hand, ready to announced giveaway after giveaway, tax cut after tax cut, until we all had our fill.

Sadly, it’s never quite so happy any more. Since Brian Cowen ascended to the role of Taoiseach and Brian Lenihan took his place, we’ve had three austerity budgets – each more gruelling than the last – and today we mark our fourth, with a massive €6bn in adjustments on the way.

So, while we all wait to see just how much Budget 2011 is going to cost us, and watch yet more grim sleet and snow pound the windows of our homes and offices, we at TheJournal.ie thought we could help to make the financial torture a little more bearable: by turning it into a game.

Here we present our exclusive Budget Bingo. The rules are, as you might suspect, particularly simple: your Bingo card has 25 spaces, arranged into five lines of five squares each. The goal is simply to keep your ears and eyes peeled over the course of the day, waiting to see if any politicians or analysts mutter any of the words on your card, and try to complete a full line of five squares.

To make it interesting, we’ve thrown in a few possibly unlikely scenarios too – so, for example, you might struggle to fill your line if you’re waiting on Brian Lenihan to break into a fit of giggles, though you might be in luck if you want to see John Gormley looking a bit depressed.

There’s four bingo cards in each PDF, so be sure to share them around with others in your home or office, and turn the dreary death toll of our country’s finances into something a little more bearable. (Sadly, we’re not in a position to offer immunity from the Budget’s measures as a prize.)

Click here to download your Budget Bingo cards >

Remember you can follow everything that’s happening in today’s Budget on our Live Blog, which kicks off at 2:30pm today, and at our Twitter page – http://twitter.com/thejournal_ie – where we’ll be carrying the day’s events from lunchtime ’til late.