Bingo balls
Although the game can be considered as a relatively new one for the US, as it became popular only in the XX century. The Bingo History originates from Italian lottery 'Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia', that was the first state lottery played despite the church’s disapproval.
Bingo History continues in the beginning of the XVIII century the lottery appeared in France under the name Le Lotto, where it became very popular as well, and met the reaction of the church similar to that in Italy. Perhaps, the combination of the game excitement and the fact that it is forbidden by church heated up the interest for the game and made it spread so quickly around all Europe. This period of Bingo History brought the classic version of the game with a playing card divided into 27 squares (3 horizontal and 9 vertical columns). Each row (as it reminds the 90-ball Bingo) had 4 blank and 5 filled with random numbers squares. Each card was unique as it contained random numbers in each column ranging from 1-10 in the first column, 11-20 in the second column and so on till the last column of numbers between 81-90.
Edwin Lowe and the “Beano” Bingo History game.
A century has passed and the game reached the shores of the US in 1920 with the help of Edwin Lowe who saw the game in a small country carnival near Atlanta, Georgia and was stunned by its power. It was a late evening already as he was crossing the fair and the only opened tent was overcrowded by excited players that didn’t allow the owner to close it. The players beans to mark the numbers and when the pattern was created, they should cry “Beano”.
Edwin saw the game potential and brought it home to US. When he gathered his friends for the game, they took the game with pleasure, and when one of his friends realized she won eventually she cried out “BINGO!” instead of the accepted cry. This was a fateful for the Bingo History cry that gave Lowe a wonderfull marketing opportunity, and he started introducing the game in the US.
The popularity of the game increased very quickly. When Edwin Lowe discovered that the bingo was the game that could help to get the church out of its scrutiny, he searched for help of someone who could create different cards to decrease the number of winners.
A mathematics professor, Carl Leffler was the one who brought a new idea to the Bingo History and helped Lowe to create up to 6,000 random cards instead of the original 24. Unfortunately, the “brain” of the co-creator’s team succumbed to the mental effort and constant pressure and gone insane.
After people heard of the success of the priest’s game, Lowe started receiving requests for helping to organize the game of Bingo. That was when he decided to publish the Instruction Manual, an after the monthly newsletter The Blotter. In 1934 at the Bingo History there were estimated to be 10,000 Bingo games a week within the US.
Bingo History Today
Today, the Bingo game is played worldwide and is more popular than ever. Starting from schools and church parishes to enormous online tournaments, Bingo has erased all the borders. The revenues of the game can be counted in $ 10,000,000 as it has become available online too. The prizes have become much more impressive providing the chance to play for anyone who wants.