| Bingo originated in Italy
around the 16th century. The game arose as a result
of the Italian lottery, Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia.
The Italian national lottery commenced during the unification
of Italy in 1530 and still continues to this day. It
is estimated that the Italian lottery brings in $75
million a year and is a very important part of the Italian
Government's budget.
Eventually, the game of Bingo became
well known in France. In 1778 the French had established
their own lottery called Le Lotto, which led to the
progress of the traditional game of the lottery. The
game of Bingo consists of cards divided into three horizontal
and roughly nine vertical rows. The three horizontal
rows have five numbered squares and four clear squares
which have been arranged at random. The vertical numbers
are numbered from 1 to 90, assembled on the separate
rows of each card. The cards are all exclusive. There
are also certain chips numbered from 1 to 90. Each player
receives one or more cards, then an announcer will all
out a number. If the number appears on the player’s
card, then they cover it. Once the player covers all
numbers in a horizontal row, he/she declares “BINGO”
and therefore becomes the winner.
Lotto games were largely used as educational
purposes during the 17th century. In 1850 Germany designed
a certain lotto game that taught children multiplication
tables. These games were known as Animal Lotto, Spelling
Lotto and Historical Lotto.
The rise of the game, Beano occurred
in Germany in 1929. This was different to the classic
Lotto. An announcer would call out a number inscribed
on a wooden disc from a box. A bean would then be placed
on the number called. Once a player covered a horizontal,
vertical or diagonal row, they would shout "Beano"
and claim the prize. Ed Lowe, a New York toy salesman,
discovered the game at a fair in Germany, eventually
introduced the game to America.
Ed however changed the game slightly.
He invited friends to play “Beano” at his apartment.
After a woman shouted "Bingo" instead of "Beano",
he renamed the game and it led it to immediate success.
There were many imitators after the release of Bingo.
Lowe saw this as an opportunity and asked competitors
to pay him a dollar a year to rename their imitations.
Later on, a priest originating from
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania experienced financial problems
and decided to use bingo as a form of fundraising. The
priest purchased many of Lowe's bingo games, but found
it frustrating when there were numerous winners. This
problem could only be solved if there were more combinations
of numbers. Lowe then asked a Columbian university mathematics
professor, Carl Leffler, to work out more combinations
for the game. He successfully created 6000 new bingo
cards without repetition. After much difficulty the
task was completed and the professor was paid $100 per
card.
The large success of the priest's
fund-raiser led to the publishing of “Bingo's Instructional
Manual” and later on, a monthly newsletter known as
Blotter. At the moment entire floors of New York office
space are trying to keep up with the rising demand.
This thanks to Ed Lowe, who introduced Bingo to America
and the rest of the world.
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