Roots of Bingo
Everybody loves a game of bingo. It is a game that has always been popular, since it was invented way back as far as 1530. The basics of the game have remained the same, but it has been modernized to a certain extent. It was not initially called bingo, but rather Lo Giuocco del Lotto D’Italia since the creator behind the game – more of an Italian lottery – was himself Italian. Today the game is still played in the romantic country on Saturdays.
Bingo Moves around Europe
But this version of bingo wasn’t too remain solely in Italy forever. In the late 1770s the game moved its way to France (known as Le Lotto) and was extremely popular amongst the upper class in the country. Of course once it was already doing the rounds, a not too dissimilar version made its way to Germany in the 1800s but it was more of a children’s game and it was used to help students with their studies.
Bingo Reaches America
Of course, the Americans weren’t a nation to be left out of a fun game. But it took a while. Legend has it that in 1929 Beano arrived in North America. It was initially played at a carnival near Atlanta, Georgia and became known as bingo after Edwin S Lowe (a New York toy salesman) heard a player incorrectly yell out bingo instead of beano. Lowe got a math professor on board (Carl Leffer from Columbia) to help him increase his chances by working out how to make more combinations in bingo cards. It took the professor less than a year to invent 6,000 different bingo cards (and allegedly, after that, the guy lost his mind).
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