Bingo History

Bingo history goes back to the 1530's, to an Italian lottery game called "Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia," a game which, by the way, still exists.
In the late 18th century the game reached France, and was known by the name "Le Lotto". Another version of the game was a German one, which was invented and played in the 19th century in order to help children and students learn the skills of history, spelling and math.

Bingo reached the U.S in 1929 and changed its name to "Beano". This game was a country fair game, which involved a dealer, numbered discs and a cigar box. The players marked their cards with beans – hence "Beano". Beano was first played in the U.S at a carnival, in the area of Atlanta, Georgia.

The name of Beano had changed to Bingo only when Edwin S. Lowe, a toy salesman from New York, named it so, after hearing someone shout "Bingo" instead of the traditional "Beano". Lowe and Carl Leffler, a math Professor from Columbia University, increased the number of possible combinations on the bingo cards, and by 1930 these two had 6,000 different and unique bingo cards. Leffler, so it is said, had gone clinically insane.

The 1930's were the breakthrough years of the bingo game, as a Catholic priest from the state of Pennsylvania asked Lowe for his permission to use the bingo game to raise funds for the church. This transmission of the bingo in church helped to boost the popularity of the game. By 1934, approximately 10,000 weekly bingo games took part in churches. These days, over $90M are spent each week in North America, on bingo alone!

Another version of the bingo game, which is played these days, is the online bingo. Many online bingo sites exist and keep popping out like mushrooms after a rainy day, and millions of people all over the world can't wait for their online bingo sessions.