 | History of Bingo |
Well it seems we have to thank the Italians for Bingo as we know it today ,both land based bingo & Online bingo versions are derived from Italy’s Lottery ,Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia formulated in the 16th Century and still going strong today filling the state coffers in excess of 75 million Euros .
Bingo made its way around Europe with the French Aristocracy adding a bit of their own “jeune ce quoi” in the 18th Century by adding playing cards& tokens and also the reading-out or ‘calling’, as we know it today of bingo numbers.
By the 19th Century the practical Germans had developed different forms of Bingo for Educational Purposes to aid children in Spelling, Multiplication Tables as well as Animal Names and History.
So the online Bingo you’re playing today has actually had a long, rich and diverse history which has been around for 5 centuries, being both a leisure activity as well as stimulating those ‘little grey cells’.
Lotto fever had spread throughout Europe and was a popular game at County Fairs and Carnivals, where the game was called Beano,a game whereby a “pitchman” or “caller”, pulled small numbered wooden discs from a cigar box, and players would use Beans to cover their numbers when called if they matched the number called. If a player managed to cover a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line on their card, they would shout out “Beano” to claim their prize.
People in traditional Bingo halls call out “House” when full lines of their numbers are called.
But as with most things….leave it to the Americans to see potential and Bingo, as we know it today has a lot of credit due to a Mr. Edwin Lowe. A traveling toy salesman who was in Jacksonville on a business trip and happened upon a traveling carnival where he observed the “Beano” game for the first time & how mesmerized & engaged the players were, so much so that he never got a chance to play himself and the “pitchman” had to throw people-out at 3am!
In conversation with the pitchman, he learned that the man had seen Beano being played in Germany the previous year, and noticing what a crowd-pleaser it was, decided to introduce it to carnival goers in America.
Mr. Lowe, a New Yorker, saw the potential of the game and decided to introduce his friends to the game. He bought some dried beans, a rubber numbering stamp and some cardboard. He assumed the “caller” duty and soon his friends were playing with such fervent excitement as he’d observed at the carnival. One such woman was tongue-tied in her elation to yell out “Beano”, she mistakenly cried out “BINGO” and as they say….”the rest is HISTORY” !!
The earliest Lowe Bingo game came in 2 variations -a 12 card set which cost a dollar & a 24 card set for two dollars. His success with the game brought out many imitators, but having come out of public domain, had little chance of being protected. Lowe dealt with the issue graciously and asked his competitors to pay him a dollar a year and to call their games BINGO too.
That resulted in BINGO becoming the generic name for all variations that we know today, including online bingo. In 2003 the UK sites introduced the very first online bingo sites and the games popularity since is growing at an astounding pace….
That can only mean one thing and that is that the future of Bingo is safe for a further 5 centuries
Written By Anthea for Eyesdownbingo.com - Your Bingo UK Portal
Tags: beano, bingo, Edwin Lowe, history of Bingo, Italian Bingo
