Bingo has quickly become one of the world’s favorite pastimes over time, evolving from its early beginnings as a lottery-type game in Italy to what you play today – here’s a brief history of this beloved pastime game!
Edwin Lowe discovered Beano at a carnival in Georgia and saw its potential. Bringing the game back to New York, he changed its name to bingo.
Origins
Edwin Lowe created the modern game of bingo. After first encountering it at a traveling carnival near Atlanta in 1929, he brought back home to New York and played it with friends. Over time he developed standardised rules as well as a kit containing cards, numbered discs, and rubber stamps for play with others. Bingo became so popular that halls opened across the nation for this social experience for players.
Bingo may trace its roots back to Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia, an Italian lottery founded in 1530. Over time, bingo quickly spread into France among aristocracy as an form of gambling entertainment.
Popularity for this classic game skyrocketed during the 1950s and 60s in Europe, spreading quickly across continents like Britain. At that time, many nicknames for the game emerged during its popularity surge: including “housey-housey,” an allusion to its widespread usage by servicemen during World War II. Over time, its popularity has continued to expand with new trends and platforms becoming available; becoming a mainstay of gaming culture worldwide.
Rules
Bingo is played with a standard bingo card consisting of 25 squares arranged in five vertical columns and five side-to-side rows, printed with numbers or patterns in every square except the center square which remains free. A player wins when any combination of numbers or patterns appears across any three rows, columns, diagonals. Its name comes from when players used beans to mark their cards when winning; later Edwin Lowe of New York Toy Sales changed it to Bingo when recreating and bringing the game into America.
Bingo’s rules are relatively straightforward, though variations may exist depending on where it’s being played. Players draw numbers from a drawing and mark them off on their cards as they are called out – when a winning pattern has been completed they shout “bingo!” to notify the caller. Bingo has become a widely played pastime around the world with each country adding their own flavor to it.
Variations
As Bingo spread across Europe it took on various forms. In France it became Le Lotto while German educationalists used it to teach children math and spelling. When the game reached America it began resembling more closely what we know today as Bingo; Edwin Lowe from New York came upon it at carnivals and fairs in 1929 and noticed players marking numbers on cards with beans before shouting ‘beano!’ when completing lines; an accidental slip-of-tongue by one of Edwin Lowe’s friends resulted in shouts of ‘bingo!’ and that became its moniker!
Bingo’s popularity has skyrocketed over time. People can now be found enjoying it both physically in gaming halls and charity gaming centers as well as from home via internet-enabled bingo apps and sites. Traditional games have increasingly made this transition onto digital platforms; Bingo being no different.
Prizes
Bingo quickly developed as it spread around the globe, beginning as an Italian lottery-type game called Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia before spreading to France via Le Lotto and Germany as a tombola variant. Each new country added their own unique flair, showing its adaptability and popularity.
Edwin Lowe revolutionized bingo during the 1930s by increasing combinations on cards and decreasing chances of multiple winners. He worked with professors from Columbia University to develop unique bingo faces.
Lowe’s innovations transformed bingo into a social event, drawing players together at local bingo clubs to meet friends and enjoy drinks while having the chance to win big prizes throughout the night. Bingo soon became a favorite pastime among all classes; even UK troops used it as a means of keeping their spirits up during World War One by playing bingo on ships or camp grounds!