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The History of Bingo

History of Bingo – Origins of the Name

The name Bingo is widely believed to come from a mispronunciation of beano, which was the name of the same game played in the United States in the 1920s. It had been called Beano because the numbers on the cards were covered with beans when they were called out. When a player had covered all the called-out numbers in a horizontal line the player would then cry out ‘Beano!' to alert the caller and other players of their win.

The game was made popular by a New York toy salesman called Edwin S. Lowe who, by chance, saw a Beano game being played at a market festival to much excitement of the players. Once back home he tried it out on his friends, one of whom mispronounced beano as bingo. Lowe saw the commercial value of the game and designed a basic version of it, which was launched by his toy company.

Bingo soon became a very popular game and was often used for fundraising purposes such as churches in financial troubles.

History of Bingo - Early Bingo Games

The game itself however, is a direct descendant of the Italian national state lottery that was started in 1530 and is still running to this day. In 1778, it was reported in France that a game called ‘Lotto' was the new trend among the country's elite.

During this period the game, which was similar to the Bingo we have today, developed. The cards used in the game, which was still called Lotto at that time, were divided into three horizontal rows and nine vertical columns. Each horizontal row had five numbered and four blank squares in a random arrangement. The vertical rows contained numbers from 1 to 10 in the first row, 11 to 20 in the second row and so on up to 90. No Lotto cards were alike. Tokens numbered from 1 to 90 completed the playing equipment.

Players were dealt a single card and a caller would hold a cloth bag containing the numbered tokens from which he would take them out one by one at random calling out their number. The players would cover the number if it appeared on their card and the first player to cover a horizontal row was the winner.

Educational Lotto became popular in the 1800s when a German Lotto game was designed to teach children their multiplication tables. Other educational Lotto games were used for spelling, as well as to learn about animals and history. Even today, educational lotto games for children are made.

History of Modern Bingo

For many years, Bingo gained a reputation in the United Kingdom for being a game purely played by pensioners, and was often mocked by younger generations. However, in recent years bingo has undergone an image change, and the number of bingo halls in the United Kingdom has grown dramatically due to its increasing popularity with younger players.

The development of online bingo has made the game even more popular as you can now play bingo, for free or for cash prizes, without having to leave your home and you can play at any time of the day or night.

If you want to know more about how Bingo is played today, have a look at our How to Play Bingo page.

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