All Day Bingo

The History of Bingo

Bingo has always been entertaining millions of people all over the world. It is a universal game that is both fun and profitable. But to most people, the origins of bingo may not be clear or not so important since they are too busy and engrossed in the game to think about it.

The bingo game is a derivative of lotto. Both games have the same concept, which is matching the numbers drawn from a bag to the numbers on the cards.

In December of 1929 a toy salesman by the name of Edwin S. Lowe dropped by at a local carnival near Jacksonville. There was only one booth left opened that night and people are still flocking it. There was someone who's reading the numbers aloud after drawing them from a bag, and players would check their cards for any match. A winner who first filled a vertical, diagonal or horizontal row on his card yelled BEANO, and the prize given is a kewpie doll.

Lowe saw the game's potential and as he went home he bought some cards and numbered rubber stamp, and started producing his own version of beano. Lowe experimented with the game through his friends and he saw that it was a hit. One of his friends won and yelled bingo instead.

Lowe gave the name bingo to this new game and he created 2 variations which are the 12-card set priced at $1 and a 24-card set at $2. In no time, the game became an instant success. Lowe couldn't patent his game and many imitations emerged. Lowe offered the imitators $1 if they use the name bingo while selling it into the market.

Months later, a priest approached Lowe and discussed with him that the parish used the Lowe's game for a fundraising project. However there were always more than six winners. Lowe realized yet another potential for the game and decided on expanding and using a larger number variation. He asked for the help of a mathematician from Columbia University, named Carl Leffler, to develop 6000 cards with non-repeating numbers. It took a while for the professor to complete the task and Lowe spent $100 per card. It was even rumored that the professor lost his mind doing what Lowe asked him to do.

In no time, bingo became popular in almost all parts of the U.S., and in North America it was, and still does, one of the favorite games. Many fundraising projects made use of bingo especially in the churches. And almost a decade ago, online bingo was created and many players have enjoyed the game since then.