Sunday, September 29, 2019

A Brief History of Bingo

Bingo is a very popular game which has been providing players with a lot of entertainment and a great social environment for many years now. The game is thought to have originated back in the 1530's. It was originally a lottery game in Italy. The game eventually made its way to France and became a popular game with the wealthy and elite. Bingo made its way to the United States during the 1920's and was a game played at a county fair in Atlanta. By this time the game had been named "Beano" due to the fact that it was played with beans.
A toy sales man whose name was Edwin Lowe was at the county fair one day when he first witnessed the game being played. Lowe stopped to watch the game and took note of how involved the players were. Lowe returned to New York where he lived and introduced his friends to the game. One day a player happened to yell out "Beano" and Lowe had thought he heard "Bingo". This is how bingo got its name.
It didn't take long at all for the game to catch on and soon a Catholic priest who had a need to raise funds for his church purchased some of the bingo games from Lowe as a way to raise funds for the financially suffering church. The game of bingo would allow the priest to get the members and other people in the community excited about playing the game and serve as a great way to bring in some extra much needed money.
There were some problems with this original version of the game that needed to be worked out and Lowe knew this. He hired Carl Leffler, who was a math professor, to make 6,000 cards which would all have different number combinations. The professor did his job and provided Lowe with the cards. Then, during the 1930's bingo saw rapid growth and made its way through the states. Bingo started being played in churches, schools, and other buildings after closing. The game became a favorite pastime with many people. They would gather together at a certain time on a specific day and play bingo.
Today, there are more bingo halls than ever and the game is still extremely popular. Also, the Internet has made it possible for bingo players to enjoy the game online. There are hundreds of online bingo sites players can go to whenever they want to play bingo and get in on plenty of exciting games.