The History of Bingo From Beginning to End

I suppose a historian would split the evolution of bingo into the game that it is today into a series of eras, but I am no historian, not by a long shot. So here goes. Apparently the nearest approximation to the game of bingo we play today is a lottery game which started after the reunification of Italy in the 1530’s.

In order to fund the new Government, they needed to raise money, the best way to do this without people feeling they were being taxed even heavier was to start a lottery game, where people bought tickets and if they have the right numbers, they won money. Much like our lotteries do today. Even though a lottery is a license to dream, it is also a way of getting people to pay additional voluntary taxes, to my way of thinking. If you have a look at where lottery money goes, these areas really should be the responsibility of the Government coffers. However, my political stance erring on the side of the left a bit, have nothing to do with this article.

The Italian lottery is still played today, hundreds of years later, and apparently there was only once that it was not played on a Saturday, this was at the end of the Second World War. The popularity of the game spread through Europe, because it was so popular and soon French Noblemen were playing. German children were being taught basic mathematical and language skills by means for bingo type cards. And today, bingo type games are still used by educational facilities and toy manufacturers to teach basic and even higher skills to children. 

Eventually bingo was taken across the big pond to the US. It was played in county fairs and was called “beano”. A bean was placed over the number so the card could be used again. A toy salesman, Edwin Lowe, discovered it at a county fair and the rest as they say is history.

He took bingo and manufactured it for sale. Legend has it that when he tested the game on friends, someone got so excited when they won, that they forgot the word and jumped up shouting “BINGO”. The name stuck! Legend also has it that a Maths professor went nutty trying to think up as many number combinations for the cards as he could. How the game came to the UK is still under debate, but we have it and now we have it online too.