Bingo History

There is no place for confusion regarding the history of a Bingo game. It changed very little over the course of history. Its origins are exceptionally clear.

The story of the game of Bingo begins with a game that was initially played in Italy in the 16th century, called Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia”. In the next century, the game spread to France and Germany. While the Germans used the game for educational purposes, in Italy and France people played the game for real money.

After several centuries, during which the game kept a low profile, it finally reached the United States of America. The game was first introduced to Americans during a festival taking place near Atlanta. The game was then called “Beano”. Although “Beano” was not identical to the game of “Bingo” as we know today, , it also consisted of players whose goal was to cover cards with numbered squares. The numbers were announced by a caller, just like nowadays.

The game was later on introduced in New York by Edwin S. Lowe , a toy salesman. Lowe played the game with his friends so as to test their reaction to it. The excitement of the participants was even greater than he could ever imagine. One of them got so excited that she yelled “Bingo!” instead of “Beano!” when she won. From that point on the game was called “Bingo” forever. Aside from the name change Mr. Lowe also introduced about 6000 completely different bingo cards so there would be little chance of multiple winners in the same game.

The history of bingo has been one of growth and progress that continues till this very day. Bingo has gone from numbers drawn from a box to mechanized ball shufflers and from beans to cover numbers to ink dabbers. In latest years bingo has continued to advance by making the leap from the bingo hall to the internet with online bingo.