The world has a new pastime. And it goes something like this. You have a few numbers written on cards (Bingo cards
to use the jargon) in your hand. There is another person who will rattle off numbers arbitrarily and you have to tick off the corresponding numbers in your numbered cards. You do this till you have marked numbers in a particular order and then you say “Bingo”. You win. Bingo. Yes
this is the name of the game that has taken the world by storm.
Bingo has quite an ancient lineage. Its predecessor is the Lotto
or “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia”
a game that originated in Italy in 1530. From Italy
this game spread further to France in the late 1770s
where it caught the fancy of the wealthy class.
The Germans practiced a different form of the game. For them
more than a pastime
Lotto was an educational tool
designed to impart training mathematics
history and spelling to kids.
The modern form of Bingo had its moorings in North America in 1929 and was then known as “beano”. It was re-christened “Bingo” by a New York-based toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe
who then solicited the help of Columbia University mathematics professor
Carl Leffler to increase the number of combinations in the bingo cards. That is
Leffler introduced greater degrees of complexities to the game
much to the delight of the Bingo enthusiasts.
A very easy game to play
Bingo has quite an eclectic clientele. In fact
unknown to many
Bingo was actually popularized by the church
where the game brought in funds by the bagful. The game is played in the casinos
but unlike its casino counterparts
there are no bets on the game.
Bingo happens to be one of the most popular games on the Internet
with dedicated and ever-increasing Bingo gaming communities regularly pitting against each other and taking part in jackpot contests by the droves. In fact
the Internet is swarming with Bingo web sites
both free and paid.
And outside the virtual world
there are Bingo societies that organize free games within and between various communities. Once relegated as a game of old maids
Bingo now enjoys soaring popularity and to quote statistics
there are an estimated 60-million Bingo players all around the world today.
The roulette
the lottery and the poker share a few gaming similarities with Bingo. But the legions of Bingo devotees are just making sure that the game rises head and shoulders above the field in terms of popularity.
