Bingo! The History of a Treasured Classic
A look into Bingo’s history will take you to 16th century Italy, where a lottery-style game called Il Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia was enjoyed by the majority of the population. Over time, the game made its way to France, and in 1778 the press described Le Lotto as a pastime enjoyed by the elite.
While travelling through Germany, an American carnival worker discovered the popular game and thought it would work well for travelling carnivals. He tweaked the game, called it Beano, and incorporated it into his circus. Americans instantly loved it and often played the game into after-hours.
A toy salesman by the name of Ed Lowe saw Beano players’ enthusiasm for the game at a carnival and turned it into the game we know today – Bingo. Read on for five interesting facts about the popular game.
- Bingo is the top choice for charity fundraisers around the world, with the first fundraising event taking place at the Wilkes-Barre church in Pennsylvania in 1930. The priest who thought of the idea realized that the original game produced too many winners to be able to raise funds for the church, so he contacted Ed Lowe to have him create 6,000 non-repeating cards for his event.
- Lowe contacted a University of Columbia mathematics professor by the name of Carl Leffler to create the 6,000 non-repeating cards for the church fundraiser. Leffler agreed and completed the task, but went crazy from the mental strain involved in creating so many unique cards.
- In 1994, a search for the best Bingo caller was held in Britain. The event turned into an annual National Bingo Caller of the Year competition and continued on for eight years. The winner would get £500 and the opportunity to call a Bingo game in Las Vegas.
- Numbers 1 to 90 have unique nicknames, commonly referred to as Bingo lingo. For example, No. 88 is “two fat ladies,” No. 17 is “Dancing Queen” and No. 21 is “Key of the Door” because it’s the age of majority in the US.
- The biggest Bingo game happened in Bogota, Colombia on December 2, 2006. A whopping 70,080 players took part in the event organized by the biggest retail company in South America – Almacenes Exito SA. There was more than $250,000 in prize money handed out, apartment giveaways and gift cards for use in their retail stores.