Bingo History

Bingo can be traced back to a lottery game called "Lo Giuoco Code Loto", played in Italy in 1530. By the 1700s you could find it maturing in France where they were using playing cards, tokens and added the reading out of numbers. The 1800s saw bingo widely used in Germany for educational purposes, to teach children spelling, animal names and multiplication tables.

At a travelling carnival near Atlanta in 1929, Beano was being played with dried beans, a rubber stamp and cardboard sheets. Edwin Lowe, was watching this game and noticed how engaged the players were. The Carnival worker had to kick the players out at 3 am. Lowe, took the idea with him to New York where he introduced the game to his friends. He conducted bingo games similar to the ones he had witnessed, using dried beans, a rubber numbering stamp and card board. His friends loved the game. It is said that one of his players made bingo history when he was so excited to have won that he yelled out “Bingo” instead of “Beano." The Lowe Bingo Game had two versions; the first a 12-card set for $1.00, the second a $2.00 set with 24 cards. Bingo was a wild success. By the 1940s Bingo games were all over the country. Lowe had many competitors and all he asked was that they pay $1.00 a year to conduct the games and of course to use the name Bingo.



Bingo Culture

Games often have multiple bingos — for example, the players may first play for a single line, then after that is called continue playing for a full card, then for a consolation full card.

Players often play multiple cards for each game; thirty is not an unusual number. Because of the large numbers of cards played by each player, most halls have the players sit at tables to which they often fasten their cards with adhesive tape. To mark cards faster the players usually use special markers called daubers. At commercial halls, after calling the number the caller then displays the next number on a television monitor; bingo cannot be called until that number is called aloud, however.

Bingo is often used as an instructional tool in American primary schools and in teaching English as a foreign language in many countries. Typically, the numbers are replaced with beginning reader words (such as those drawn from the Dolch word lists), pictures, or unsolved math problems. Recently many teachers have taken to using software to automate the creation of bingo cards, as it is slow and laborious to do it by hand for large numbers of cards.

Terminology: Being Ready – When someone only needs one number in order to complete the Bingo pattern, he/she is considered to “be ready”.

Breaking the Bubble – The bubble is the minimum number of balls required to complete the Bingo pattern. This is the earliest point anyone could have a valid bingo. Example: Winning pattern is 1 hard way bingo, a straight line without the free space. The minimum number of called numbers is 5 although it is not considered “Breaking the Bubble” until 1 number in each column or 5 numbers in a single column have been called.

Etiquette – It is considered rude to carry on conversations with others or on cell phones during an active game. Making excess noises with daubers or allowing your cell phone to ring is also considered rude.

Jumping the Gun – One who calls bingo before having a valid bingo. The most common situation is someone calling bingo using the next number in the screen before it has been called.

Wild numbers – Many bingo halls will have certain games with a wild number. Wild numbers allow bingo players to start with multiple called numbers. Typically the first ball drawn is the determining factor. Standard – All numbers ending with the second digit of the first number. Example: First ball is 22. All numbers ending in a 2 including B2 is considered a called number. Forwards/backwards – All numbers beginning or ending with the wild number. Example: First ball is 22. All numbers beginning or ending with a 2 is considered a called number. If the first ball ends with an 8, 9 or 0, another number may be drawn as there are no numbers starting with a 8 or 9 and only 9 numbers starting with a zero. Some halls will also redraw a number ending with a 7 as there are only 5 numbers beginning with a 7.

Orininal Article from: WikiPedia.org : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingo_%28U.S.%29

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