Bingo: How the Game was Created
Bingo was started as a game in Italy soon after its reunification. The government sponsored the game which had the popular name Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia. It was played by most Italians even with the strict opposition by the Catholic Church.
The game was brought to France in the late 1700s and was greeted with the same open acceptance by the masses as well as the same level of opposition by the French Catholic Church. The game was especially loved by the French elite, and this was the reason why the rest of the French population followed suit.
The French played the version of the game that most cloesly resembles the modern bingo today.Players held cards with 3 rows and 9 columns containing numbers, which were marked by the players if the corresponding number was drawn out from a cloth bag. Just like the game played today, each card was unique; no two cards were alike.
The game was equally favored in Germany. It was used by German parents to teach their children the basic of math and counting.
It was in Germany where an American carnival pitchman first saw the game being played, and thought that th game would be a great addition to his list of games. He quickly sought out the game's operator and asked how the game was played. Upon his return to the States he already had a game ready to be played in his carnival which stood near Atlanta, Georgia. He called the game 'beano' since the game was played with beans. Each player held cards marked with numbers arranged in rows and columns and as a caller drew out a numbered wooden chip from a cigar box, the players would mark the numbers on their cards with beans. The first one to complete a line with his marked numbers would shout 'beano', and was usually given a Kewpie doll as a reward.
By chance, a traveling salesman was stopping by the carnival one night, and saw the game being played. He asked the operator how the game was played, and as soon as he reached home he created his own beano set. The salesman, Edmund Lowe, introduced the game to his friends, who soon started to play the game avidly with him.The name 'bingo' first cam into use when a female friend mistakenly shouted 'BIngo' instead of beano in all her excitement. Lowe, always on the look-out for a lucrative enterprise, quickly saw the marketing potential of the game. He created his own bingo cards and sold them for 1 or 2 dollars each. People snatched his cards so fast that the game rose to popularity in no time.
Churches saw it as a good way to raise funds, but the game was not without it share of problems. One priest from Pennsylvania approached Lowe with the suggestion that more cards with non-repeating numbers be created since more players were winning with each game, not a good turn-out if the aim was to raise funds for the church.
To do this Lowe asked Carl Leffler, a math prof, for help. Leffler created around 6000 number combinations in cards, but not without losing his sanity, which was attributed to Lowe's persistent proddings that he finish the task as soon as possible.
Bingo is now a popular game played by even the smallest child, and the fascination with the game will definitely remain many, many years from now.