The History of Bingo

Bingo history 101

It all started in Italy

The origins of Bingo in all countries where bingo is enjoyed today can be traced to a game called Lotto first played by Italians in the 1530’s. This game is still played every Saturday in Italy and is called Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia. Modern bingo is a direct descendant of Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia.

Bingo in the United States

When the game finally reached the new world in 1929 during the Great Depression, The game was first played at a carnival in Atlanta, Georgia and it was called Beano. Why Beano?… Because dried pinto or lima beans were used to mark the numbers on the card. The name was corrupted into Bean-go and finally its present form Bingo. The man credited with popularizing the game in the United States was Edwin S. Lowe. While Mr. Lowe talked with a carnival pitchman running the game near Jacksonville Georgia, the pitchman told Lowe that he found the game the previous year in Germany. He said that he made some changes in the rules and changed the name to Beano. The game was such a crowd pleaser that he returned to the United States and continued to run the game on the carnival circuit.

Lowe was so impressed that he decided to promote and market the game. So that the game could be played with a large number of people, he hired a Columbia University math professor, Carl Leffler, to increased the number of combinations in the bingo cards from 24 to 6,000. This was done to make it more difficult for anyone but a single player to win. With great sacrifice, Leffler finished the job but it is rumored that he went insane.

A Catholic priest from Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania was quick to see the potential of using bingo to raise funds for the church. It is estimated that by 1934, 10,000 bingo games were played weekly. Today ninety million dollars are spend playing bingo each week in North America.

Bingo in the United Kingdom

Bingo is fairly new in the UK and was not well known until 1960, when the Gaming Act was passed permitting bingo in members only establishments. Bingo in the UK was a commercial operation and developed quite distinctly from the bingo played across the Atlantic.

British bingo halls were more plush than the America counterparts. Theatrical methods and devices for producing random numbers were used. Because these methods were easy to rig, the widespread adoption of electronic random number generators were used during the next decade. In 1968 new gaming laws were passed which further raised the popularity of the game.

Bingo in France

From Italy Lotto was introduced to France in the 1770’s and is called Le Lotto and was loved by the French intelligentsia. The French game differed from bingo as we know it as chips instead of balls were used to cover rows instead of patterns used today.

Bingo in Germany

The Germans found a practical use for the game and used it in the 1800’s as a teaching tool to help students learn history, spelling and math skills. There were games such as Historical Lotto, Spelling Lotto and Animal Lotto. It was considered an educational tool until 1929 when it was then looked upon as a form of adult diversion.

Today bingo is enjoyed all around the world and it makes no difference if it is played in bingo halls, fire station garages, church basements or online because all bingo players have something in common… They all enjoy the friendly social quality that the game offers, in fact that may even be more important than winning.
Bingo´s Global Explosion

Bingo first started appearing on the web in the mid nineties and was immediate hit, allowing people to play from the comfort of their home whenever they want. There are now hundreds of online Bingo halls enabling people of all tastes and interests to enjoy the game any time, in any major language.

How to play Bingo

Bingo is one of the worlds favorite games, and is now one of the fastest growing. Originally played in halls, Bingo is experiencing a renaissance online as the web gives players new ways to play and chat with their friends. Bingo rules and payouts and play variations vary from place to place. Bingo brochures detailing particular games, rules and payouts are usually available at each respective location.

Basically, players buy cards with numbers on them in a 5 x 5 grid corresponding to the five letters in the word B-I-N-G-O. Numbers such as B-2 or 0-68 are then drawn at random (out of a possible 75 in American Bingo, and 90 in British and Australian Bingo) until one player completes a ‘Bingo‘ pattern, such as a line with five numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row on one of their cards and wins the prize. There are many possible patterns to play for.

A bingo Card contains 24 numbered spaces and one free space (blank), with which you play BINGO. The numbers are assigned at random on each card and are arranged in five columns of five numbers each by five rows (5 x 5 = 25 in total including the blank square).

The numbers in the B column are between 1 and 15, in the I column between 16 and 30, in the N column (containing four numbers and the free space) between 31 and 45, in the G column between 46 and 60, and in the O column between 61 and 75.
Bingo in the United Kingdom and Australia

In the U.K. Bingo is played mainly in large halls with cash prizes, the larger commercial concerns are linked up with other halls during one particular game in the evening and large cash sums can be won on these.

It is also played in nearly every seaside town in the U.K. on screens in front of the player who pulls a slide across to cover the number called, but, presumably because of our gambling laws, there are no cash prizes, just various items like cuddly toys.

The other times Bingo is played, again for prizes, not cash, is in a myriad of local halls or schools around the country, usually as a fund raiser for various concerns like an old people�s Day Centre. Here the prizes are donated by shopkeepers and businesses in the town and surrounding area and the atmosphere at these Bingo games is usually very relaxed and a fun evening out where everyone is welcome, even children.

The prizes vary for these games but on average a prize for any one line is worth about $1.00 – $2.50 (depending on who is organising the bingo evening), any 2 lines would be worth about $2 – $5 and a full house (all the numbers on a card) worth $5 – $10. They could be boxes of chocolates, bottles of wine, a grocery hamper, a voucher from a local butcher for meat or a cream tea for two at a local tea-shop or even 2 free passes to a swimming pool. Anything really.

U.K. (and Australian) bingo cards have three lines and nine columns (see picture above) and usually come in “Books”; single or multiple. A single book would contain ten 10 pages (10 cards) each of a different colour: Gold, Lime, Violet, Yellow, Pink, Grey, Orange, Blue, Red and White.

A multiple book has 6 single books. Each page in a multiple book has 6 cards of the same colour. The 6 cards on a page are joined with perforated edges and can be pulled apart. Experienced players will play all 6 books and inexperienced players or young children may only play 1 book, or even a single card.

As well as books, there are also single sheets of bingo cards sold with the 6 sections on (six cards) and these are called “Flyers”. Again you can buy just one section or 6 to suit your pocket or your experience. The flyers cost more per game than on the books but the prizes are usually worth a bit more.

In the large towns and cities Bingo is fairly “big business” and people play in deadly earnest, hoping to win that elusive jackpot. In small towns and villages its much more of a social occasion with amateur callers and a lot lighter atmosphere.

Australia uses the same bingo cards as in the U.K. In Sydney and Melbourne the callers are incredibly fast. In Perth they call a lot slower.

Number calling

The numbers are announced quickly by the Caller, so you must pay careful attention to the numbers that are called and mark them quickly and accurately on your card(s).

The caller keeps calling numbers until one or more players claim BINGO. Then the game stops and the numbers are verified. If there is a winner, the prize is awarded and a new bingo game begins with new cards. If there is more than one winner, the prize is split among all the winners.

In Las Vegas many variations including Letter X, Six Pack and Coverall Bingo are offered. Additionally, some places offer special progressive payouts as high as $10,000.

Online Bingo

When playing online, your bingo cards are randomly selected for you. Most online games give you 3 or 4 cards. Other games let you take more.

Every online bingo game has a caller or a display board for the bingo numbers. The game pattern is also displayed. Some games automatically mark the numbers on your card for you.