Bingo history

It all started with an Italian lottery

In 1530 in Italy there was a lottery game called "Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia". And this game was held every Saturday ever since in was created. In 1778 news of this game reached France and the French we're simply amazed by it. As a matter of fact it is in this period that the popular version of the lottery was created.

The cards had three horizontal rows and nine vertical columns. Each horizontal row contained a total of nine squares, five with numbers and four blank squares. All of them were arranged randomly in the row. The vertical columns contained ten numbers each:

• numbers 1 to 1o in the first column;
• numbers 11 to 20 in the second column;
• numbers 21 to 30 in the third column;
• numbers 32 to 40 in the forth column;
• numbers 41 to 50 in the fifth column;
• numbers 51 to 60 in the sixth column;
• numbers 61 to 70 in the seventh column;
• numbers 71 to 80 in the eight column;
• numbers 81 to 90 in the ninth column.

All the numbers would be drawn on wooden chips and then placed in a bag. Then someone would draw them from the bag, one at a time. The players would get cards with unique number combinations on them. If the number drawn corresponded with the number on your card you could mark it off. The winner was the first person to cover a horizontal row.

In the 1800's lottery games became very popular throughout Europe. Lottery variations were even used in educating children. Such education variations we're used to help children in learning their multiplication tables, spelling and even history.

We all could be yelling "Beano" instead of "Bingo"

The Italian lottery eventually reached America thanks to a carnival pitchman that was touring Germany. While he was touring Germany he came across the game and realized it's potential. He revised the game and introduced it as a carnival tent game. The modifications made to the game allowed the player to complete vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines in order to win. He then called the game "Beano".

In 1929, in December, near Atlanta, Georgia, a traveling toy salesman named Edwin S. Lowe happened to come across the carnival. As luck would have it the only tent open was the "Beano" tent. But that did not help him as the tent was so crowded that he did not get to play. Instead he decided to hang around and observe the game. He noticed than when a player would get a number he would use a bean to cover it on the card. All the players we're captivated by the game. The tension in the tent was broken only by the occasional "Beano" call. Even when the pitchman wanted to close the tent the players insisted he continued. The game finally ended and the tent was closed at 3:00 A.M.

"Bingo" thanks to a slip of the tongue

The pitchman may have seen the game's carnival potential, but Lowe saw its mass market potential. Lowe returned to New York and developed his own version of "Beano". All he needed was some beans, cardboard and a rubber number stamp. He then invited some friends over to give the game a shot. Surely enough all his friends were captivated by the game. And as one oh his friends got a "Beano", due to all the excitement she yelled out "B-b-bingo!"

"I cannot describe the strange sense of elation which that girl's cry brought to me. All I could think of was that I was going to come out with this game, and it was going to be called Bingo!" Lowe said at the time.

Lowe offered two variations on his game:

• A 12-card set that you could purchase for a dollar.
• A 24-card set that you could purchase for two dollars.

Lowe never trade marketed the name "Bingo". This is because the game came out of public domain and would never be trade marl protected. Bingo quickly caught on, and as is the case with every profitable idea, imitators were quick to show up. Lowe did not mind, but he did ask his competitors to pay him a dollar a year to call their games "Bingo". And so the name "Bingo" became generic instead of "Beano" or any other name.

Bingo every Wednesday at 8:00 P.M.

A priest from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania was the one to combine church and bingo. This was a great idea as the church was in great need of funds. Unfortunately they only had 24 unique cards to use. This meant that for every game there were 12 winners. So he contacted Lowe and asked him if he could provide additional unique number combination cards. Lowe I turn contacted Carl Leffler, professor of mathematics at Columbia University, and asked him if he was up to the challenge.

Leffler accepted the task of producing 6,000 new bingo cards. He requested that he be paid on a per card basis, as the more cards he created the more difficult it was to come up with unique combinations. As he approached the 6,000 marker he was even paid $100 per card. Leffler eventually completed the task, but it is said that he then went insane.

Now that there were 6,000 unique number combination cards, the church could offer bingo games and use the profits. Churches all over the world used Bingo as a good way of raising funds.