What is Bingo and where did it come from?
Bingo is a game which is played with bingo cards which contain letters and numbers. Each letter and number has a corresponding ball. The bingo balls are chosen at random and called out by a caller. The letters on the bingo cards spell out B-I-N-G-O and are located at the top of the card going across. Numbers are under each of the letters, there are 25 number squares in all. There are 75 letter/number possibilities. There is also a free space located in the center of the card. Every player gets to claim this free space when they are playing.
The object of the game is to make a predetermined pattern on your card before another player does. The first person to accomplish this pattern will be deemed the winner of the game. The caller will call out a letter and number, the players will check to see if they have the match on their cards. If a player does have it, then they will mark it on their card. This is generally done with a dauber. A dauber is a special marker made specifically for bingo. Once a player has achieved a pattern they will shout out “Bingo”. Once the win has been verified, they will be deemed as the winner of that game.
Bingo can be traced back as far as to the year 1530; it is thought to have originally been an Italian lottery game. This original game is still played in Italy. When the game of bingo reached America, it was referred to as “Beano”. The first noted appearance of the game was at a carnival which was held near Atlanta, Georgia. This game received its new name after a New York toy salesman by the name of Edwin Lowe witnessed it being played and mistook the word “beano” for the word “bingo”.
After seeing the game, Lowe decided to hire a math professor by the name of Carl Leffler to help him change the game so that it held more winning combination’s. By the year 1930, Professor Leffler had invented more than 6,000 bingo cards. It has been noted that Leffler began losing his mind by this time.
A priest for the Catholic Church approached Lowe and asked him about the possibility of using bingo as a church fundraiser. This idea took off and bingo began becoming more and more popular when it came to church fundraisers. The more people that played in the games, the more popular the game of bingo became. By the year 1934, it is estimated that more than 10,000 bingo games were being played on a weekly basis.
Today, bingo halls can be seen throughout the United States in just about any neighborhood. Many people gather at these bingo halls on specified days at a certain time to enjoy playing bingo with one another. It is still used as a fundraiser by many organizations. Also, the presence of bingo is strong on the Internet with more and more online bingo sites popping up each day.
