The Humble Beginnings of Bingo
by: Stebee
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Word Count: 445
The game of bingo has been with us in some form or other since 1530 where it was played in Italy. The original version of bingo was a state run lottery in Italy, which interestingly enough, is still played by Italians every Saturday. The games infectious and contagious nature saw it quickly spread to France during the 1770’s and then quickly onto Germany 1880’s. By the time the game reached the states, in the late 1920’s, it was commonly known as ‘beano’ and it was played at the smaller carnivals using beans and a cigar box.
From these humble beginnings, the game of Bingo has had a long and mottled development. When the game was taken to Germany, it was used to help the children learn their lessons at school. Today, it is still used in the lower grades over in America to help the students learn in a way that is both fun and educational.
The man credited for establishing the game with Americans is a man called Edwin Lowe, who infamously renamed the game, opting for bingo instead of beano. This came about after an over-excited friend of his accidentally shouted out Bingo, instead of Beano, following her unexpected win.
A Catholic priest from Pennsylvania approached Lowe about using bingo as a means of raising much needed church funds, however, there was a slight problem because of the way Bingo first set up. Put simply, there were to many winners at each game. Mr. Lowe soon solved this problem with the help of a good friend of his, Carl Leffler, a professor of mathematics at Columbia University. Professor Leffler devised 6,000 new non-repeating Bingo cards so that, unless more than 6,000 players were present at one game, there could only be one winner! Today, new combinations of (non-repeating) Bingo cards are still being developed and the number which now exists is close to 10 to the power 26!
Ultimately, Bingo is a game of chance. It was, and still is, used in the churches to bring in revenue and develop a sense of fellowship and community within the area. Today the game is played worldwide and under different rules in every state. Unfortunately for some, the game is illegal because it is a form of gambling. In the United States, Commercial bingo games are mostly played in traditional bingo halls and its legality is still questioned by many Americans following the UIGA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Act), 2006. The game has spread worldwide and this is largely down to the internet. There are no doubts that the game of Bingo has came a long way.
About the Author
Today you can enjoy a game of bingo in a traditional (no-smoking) bingo hall, or for the technologically savvy, you can log on and play online bingo on the internet which means the game is now available to people from every part of the world.
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