The History of Bingo
Like many popular games, the true origins of Bingo are somewhat unknown but probably dates back to around 1530 and an Italian lottery game called 'Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia'.
It didn't take long for the game to find it's way across Europe and by the eighteenth century, French aristocrats were playing a version of the game that included the card format and reading out of numbers that we are so familiar with today (including Bingo Online).
The game finally developed into the pastime we currently recognise when Edwin Lowe witnessed the game of 'Beano' being played at a travelling carnival near Atlanta in 1929 using dried beans, cardboard sheets with numbers and a rubber stamp. Lowe was fascinated by the mathematical possibilities of the game and the gripping effect it seemed to have on those playing it. It is allegedly here that he saw one of the players become so excited with the game that he shouted out 'Bingo' instead of 'Beano', and Lowe adopted the name immediately.
He returned to New York and hired the services of a mathematician from Columbia University to increase the number of permutations on the cards. The expert eventually discovered over 6000 different cards, although the work involved in doing so eventually drove him to madness.
Lowe ultimately released two versions of the game in 12 and 24 card formats and the game was an overwhelming success.
A catholic priest in Pennsylvania also saw how popular the game had become, and approached Lowe with a view to playing the game as a means of raising funds. Bingo was soon being played in churches all over the United States as a forerunner to the Bingo halls of today, where more than $90 million is spent every week just in North America.
Global popularity continues to increase with the introduction of the online version of Bingo with players of all ages flocking to play the game on an ever-increasing number of sites. (For ex bingo bonbon)
