A history of bingo

The origins of the modern game of bingo can be traced back to 16th century Italy. An Italian lottery called ‘Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia’ was played every Saturday, a tradition which continues to this very day. This was the first state lottery to be played in Italy and despite the church’s disapproval the popularity of this game of chance spread across the border to France where it was introduced as ‘Le Lotto’. Hugely popular amongst wealthy Frenchmen from the late 1770s onwards, Le Lotto involved the use of wooden numbered discs which have developed over the centuries into the bingo balls used today.

The bingo bug had hit the continent and it was soon being played throughout many European countries, reaching Germany in the 1800s. The German version of the game had a slightly different purpose as it was used to help teach children mathematics and proved an effective yet fun way of learning multiplication tables.

Bingo’s introduction into predominantly English speaking countries was down to the fate of one man — Edwin S. Lowe. Lowe was a toy salesman who lived and worked in New York and stumbled across a game being played at a carnival near Atlanta in Georgia. The game was called ‘Beano‘, as each player was equipped with a handful of dried beans and a card with numbered squares. The games dealer selected numbered wooden discs at random and called out the number to the eagerly awaiting players. Each time a number was called out which was on the player’s card it was marked off using a dried bean and the first player with a straight line of numbers had to call out ‘beano’ and was declared winner of the game

Sensing the excitement surrounding the game Lowe spotted potential at this early stage and introduced it to his friends in New York. Lowe’s friends were equally captivated and during one game a female player was so excited by winning she called out ‘bingo’ instead of beano’ and this is how the game was named.

Lowe quickly realised if the game were to be played by more people the number of combinations on the players cards needed to be increased. Wasting no time he enlisted the help of a Columbia University maths professor named Carl Leffler and by 1930 six thousand different combinations had been created. A bingo craze swept the United States and the game has since gone from strength to strength ever since, spreading to all corners of the universe.

The popularity of this game in modern society knows no bounds and it has even moved with changing technology as the availability of online bingo proves. Thousands of people nationwide are playing the game without even being in the same room, meaning the game’s popularity is likely to continue in the 21st century.

Paul McIndoe writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.