Origins of Bingo

The origins and development of Bingo

There are in fact several different games of chance played throughout the world called Bingo.  Although sharing similarities, the Bingo played in America is different to the version of the game played in the U.K, New Zealand and Australia, and there is even a card game called Bingo.  The modern game continues to develop, and you’ll see many of these new versions of Bingo online at casino sites like 32Red.  Here we take a look back at where it all began.

The U.S. version of Bingo is in all probability a development of a game invented in 16th Century Italy.  The “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia,” was invented around 1530, and as such is the oldest known form of the game, still played in Italy to this day.  Sometime in the 1770’s the game was imported by French noblemen, and given the name ‘Le Lotto’.  The game spread to Germany in the nineteenth century, although in this incarnation Bingo was mostly used as an educational tool to improve numeracy and spelling of children.

The game of Bingo was introduced to the U.S.A. much later, in 1929, and was originally known as Beano, due to the dried beans used by players to mark card numbers.  The game was really popularised by a New York toy salesman called Edwin Lowe.  Lowe was intrigued how absorbed players became when engaged in a game of Beano, and after hearing one winning player mistakenly shout ‘Bingo’ instead of ‘Beano’, the popular name for the modern game was born.

Taking the starting point of the existing game of Beano, Lowe further developed Bingo with the help of a maths professor resident at Columbia University called Carl Leffler .  Leffler was hired to expand the possible number of Bingo card combinations, and subsequently produced 6000 different cards by 1930.  This newly expanded range of combinations widened the possible scope of the game.  Soon afterwards, Bingo was identified by the Catholic Church as a possible way of fund raising, and to this day you’ll still find many regular games of Bingo held in church halls across the world.

The origins of the British version of Bingo are unclear, but it is hard to imagine the game developing in isolation from the original Italian Lotto, and the French and German versions of the game that came afterwards.  The main difference between American Bingo, and the British game of Bingo –  formerly known as ‘House’ or Housie’ – is the size of the card grid containing the numbers.  In Britain and the Commonwealth, Bingo is usually played on a card or printed ticket containing fifteen numbers on three lines.  In the U.S, the normal formation is five by five, or in other words twenty five numbers arranged in five vertical columns of five numbers each.  The other significant difference in games occurring on different sides of the Atlantic is the way the numbers are called.  In British bingo, each number called has a nickname, perhaps the most famous being the ‘Two Fat Ladies’ evoked by the number 88.