"BEANO!" yelled the man when his beans were placed just so.
Beano is the first known name for Bingo, founded by the Italians in the 1500's. This lottery game is traced back to "Lo Giuocu del Lotto d'Italia" and is still played every Saturday in Italy.
Beano spread to France in 1778 where the wealthy took on the game. The French made a change to the game by creating tickets with three rows and five numbers on each row to be marked. The row contained the numbers 1- 90; hence, the creation of 90-Ball Bingo.
The rest of Europe wasn't far behind, as Beano quickly gained popularity. Germany actually used it for education purposes to help children learn math, spelling and history.
In 1929, Edwin S. Lowe brought BEANO to the USA as a carnival game. He intended to develop the game into a new toy using beans for markers for the cards. During a bingo game in the 1930s, one lady got so excited about her BEANO she accidentally yelled out BINGO! This term has remained and changed the likes of BEANO to BINGO to this day.
The game became so popular that Lowe needed to find a way to reduce the odds of winning. He approached Carl Leffler, a mathematics professor at Columbia University, to help him with this. The professor was asked to make unique bingo cards, and it is said that Leffler went insane during this task.
Lowe was approached by Catholics to use his game as a fundraiser for the Church. Once bingo was played in the churches, its popularity blossomed even more!
Two variations of bingo are commonly played:
75-Ball Bingo is popular in North America, but growing in popularity in the UK
90-Ball Bingo is most popular in Australia, Europe and United Kingdom.
Since the introduction of Bingo online, the game's popularity has skyrocketed!
Interesting Bingo Facts:
- Did you know that in 75-ball bingo there are 1,474,200 different card combinations?
- The ever popular Keno game is a derivative of bingo.
- During the depression they played "Screeno", a form of bingo, in movie theatres.
- Bingo was Bing Crosby's nickname as a kid.
- In Belgium, Bingo was voted their 2nd national pastime.
- On average, a professional bingo caller will call 23 Bingo numbers.
- Studies have proven that bingo helps keep the elderly fit, both mentally and socially.
Look at the health benefits for playing bingo:
- Stay mentally alert
- o Eye stimulation
- o Mental agility
- o Increased blood flow to the brain
- o Socialization
- o Relaxation
Another staggering fact:
- Each year in the UK, bingo players consume:
- 130,000 Breakfasts
- 15,000 tons of chips
- 4,000,000 pints of alcohol
- 10,000,000 tons of hot beverages
- And…………..
- 47 Miles of Jumbo Sausages!!