Bingo – It’s birth and beginning
By Online Bingo
Bingo – It’s birth and beginning
The true origin of bingo dates back as far as the mid 16th
century and is connected, strangely enough to the unification of
Italy in 1530. This unification saw the introduction of a
National lottery system, known as “Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia”
held each week. Interestingly, this lottery is today a major
source of income to the government, contributing over 75 million
dollars each year to the budget.
It was the French who developed a passion for “Le Lotto”,
as it became known and they adapted their own version of the game
that strikes a strong resemblance with today’s version of bingo.
Three horizontal and nine vertical rows formed the basis of the
card and players would cover their numbers as they were drawn
until an entire horizontal row was covered – hence the winner.
Lotto continued to flourish throughout Europe. It was used
as an educational tool in Germany to teach children their
multiplication tables and even formed the basis of many other
games and toys still noticeable in toy stores today. But where
and when did Lotto somehow morph into Bingo? Well, the answer
lies in what could be described as a compromise – Beano!
Picture the scene. It’s 1929 and a weary and stressed toy
salesman by the name of Edwin S. Lowe is driving to Jacksonville,
Georgia to prepare for some appointments. Soon after starting his
own toy company a year earlier, the market crashed and Mr Lowe’s
prospects were looking very bleak indeed.
Before arriving in Jacksonville, Lowe decided to cheer
himself up by stopping off at a country carnival, being a night
early for his appointments. Only one carnival booth was open and
very crowded. The excitement seemed to be generated by a game
that was a variation of Lotto, known as Beano. A horseshoe table
was covered with numbered cards and beans. Every time a pitchman
pulled a wooden disk from an old cigar box and called the number
on it, the players reached for a bean and covered the
corresponding number on their card, if they had it. When they had
totally covered a line, either diagonally, vertically or
horizontally, they had to shout Beano! They then received a doll.
Lowe wanted to play, but the game was too popular and no
seats were available. What he did notice though was that all the
players seemed to be addicted to the game. The pitchman was not
able to close and had to eventually chase the players away at
3:00am. The pitchman had apparently picked the game of Lotto in
Germany and decided to adapt and bring it to the United States
and to rename it Beano. The success of the game on the carnival
circuit proved to be highly lucrative.
Back in New York, Lowe invited some friends to his
apartment and introduced them to the game. The tension seemed
palpable. One time, a player became close to winning and was
getting more and more excited. When her final number was called
she jumped up in a fit of ecstasy and in all her excitement got
herself tongue-tied. Instead of shouting Beano she spat out
“Bingo!” Lowe would later describe the “sense of elation” he
experienced when he heard her cry. He knew from that moment he
was going to introduce this game to the public and name it
“Bingo”.
What a success it proved to be for Lowe and his company! As
the game came out of the public domain it was hard for it to be
trademarked. Entrepreneurs emerged from all sides and began their
own versions. Lowe graciously asked them to pay just one dollar a
year and call their games “Bingo” as well. To avoid litigation,
this seemed a small price to pay and hence the massive spread and
popular interest in bingo.
Lowe became aware of the fundraising possibilities of bingo
after he was approached by a parishioner who wanted to use the
game to raise funds. However, there seemed to be a problem when
he discovered that each game tended to produce at least a half a
dozen winners. Lowe knew that in order for bingo to succeed and a
larger scale he needed to develop a greater number of
combinations for his cards. So he approached a mathematics
professor at Columbia University by the name of Carl Leffler.
Lowe wanted 6,000 new cards with different combinations. The
professor agreed. What he may not have conceptualized was how
much harder each card became to develop than the card before. The
fee per card rose to $100 and the task was finally completed,
much to Lowe’s delight and at a cost to the professor of his
sanity! (Or so many people have speculated).
After that, bingo really began to take off. People started
to approach Lowe in droves, asking him to help them develop bingo
games. Newsletters and even a book were published. The stakes and
prizes got higher and pretty soon bingo took its place in popular
American culture along with sports and other forms of gambling
and general entertainment.
www.OnlineBingo.co.ukb
Online BingoYour bingo resource
Find More Sports Related Information:
Back to Index of All
Articles about Cards & Games
Back to Index of All Sports Articles
