Bingo
Beginnings
A
History of Bingo
Bingo
is an enjoyable game, and it has been played in homes,
clubs, holiday centres and other recreational places
for many years. This game belongs to all sections of
a society.
It
is a very simple and easy game. It has also made the
transition to online
bingo where it is emerging as one of the most popular
online games available. Bingo is a game frequently played
with a huge number of people in halls or other venues.
People are either given these cards, or they buy them;
these cards are of 5 X 5 grids that have 25 numbers
on them. Each grid section has a number that is normally
paired with letters that run across the top of the grid.
A
caller draws out cards or uses bingo balls to call out
each number. All the players mark their spaces, if they
have the letter/number combination on their bingo grid
card. The objective of bingo is to be the first to get
five numbers in a row, horizontally, diagonally or vertically.
When a person obtains these five numbers, he or she
shouts out "BINGO"; he/she may want to be rewarded with
awards or money, or simply leave with the satisfaction
of winning.
Bingo
was invented in Italy, with the name of Lotto, in the
sixteenth century. It is the direct successor of Lo
Giuoco del Lotto d-Italia. In 1530, when Italy was united,
the Italian National Lottery Lo Giuoco del Lotto d-Italia
was organised, and has been being held at weekly intervals
to date.
Today,
the Italian State lottery is essential to the budget
of the government, with a yearly contribution of more
than 75 million dollars. It came to the French court
in the eighteenth century. In 1778, it was reported
in the French press that Le Lotto had arrested the fancy
of the intelligentsia.
Bingo
stepped inside America in the early twentieth century.
The Germans also enjoyed a version of the game in the
1800s, but they used it only as a game to help students
for the purpose of learning mathematics, spellings and
history. There were some other educational Lotto games
such as "Spelling Lotto", "Animal Lotto," and "Historical
Lotto". When the game reached North America in 1929,
it was known as "beano". It was first played at a carnival
near Atlanta, Georgia. A toy salesman of New York, Edwin
S. Lowe, renamed it as "bingo", after he overheard a
lady accidentally yell "bingo" instead of "beano".
He
hired the services of a mathematics professor from Columbia
University, Mr Carl Leffler, to help him enlarge the
number of combinations in bingo cards. By the end of
1930, Leffler had invented 6,000 different bingo cards.
Soon after, bingo became a popular game all over the
country. Many churches and social communities used bingo
to generate funds for their activities. Lowe received
thousands of letters, asking for help with setting up
bingo games, so he published the first Instructional
Manual for Bingo. This effort was followed by a monthly
newsletter called "The Blotter", which was distributed
to 37,000 subscribers.
By
the end of 1934, there were an estimated 10,000 bingo
games a week, and the firm of Ed Lowe had a thousand
employees, dedicatedly trying to keep up with demand.
According to Lowe, the largest bingo game of history
was played at Teaneck Armoury, in New York, where 60,000
players took part in the game, with another 10,000 being
turned away at the door.
Bingo
has taken numerous educational forms. European countries
are using it as a teaching aid for preschool children.
It creates an interesting tool for teaching mathematics
to young children. It exists in a number of variations
for spelling and teaching history. Bingo has many forms,
both online and offline. However, the basic rules of
the game remain the same for all variations.
It
is an easy game that gives the players great excitement
and enjoyment at a nominal cost. This is one of the
important reasons for the popularity
and success of bingo. The future is expected to
show us some more exciting and thrilling changes in
bingo.