Bingo History

The first version of the BINGO game can be traced back to Italy in c.1530, where it was known as "Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia" a state lottery game. By the eighteenth century the game spread all over Europe becoming much more similar to the game we know with playing cards, reading out the numbers and using tokens. In Germany the game was transformed from a lottery/entertainment game to a more educational game using it to teach spelling and math to children.

Once the game reached North America it was played in traveling carnivals known as a game called "beano", the game was played with cardboard sheets, dried beans and rubber stamps, The game was called Beano because players used dried beans to mark their cards as the numbers came up. There is an urban legend that the name of the game changed to Bingo by Edwin Lowe, a New York toy salesman, after one of the players was so excited to have won that he yelled out “Bingo” instead of “Beano."

A Columbia University math professor, Carl Leffler, was hired by Edwin Lowe to help him increase the number of combinations in bingo cards. By 1930, Leffler had invented 6,000 different bingo cards.

The bingo game became a known came all over in part because churches and social clubs quickly realized the fund-raising potential.

There is no stereotypical bingo player, most of the player are people who like to socialize and enjoy competitive group activities that combine fun and friends.

How to play

The bingo game rules are very simple to understand and follow.       

The host of the game is called "the bingo caller"; in order to begin the game each player gets one of the pre-made custom bingo cards with numbers, pictures or different words.The bingo caller pulls out an item from a per-made list and calls it out.The player that has the item should mark it by using coins, stickers or markers.

The winner is the first player that completes a 'Bingo' pattern, such as a line with five numbers in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row or if you decide to raise the game difficulty you can choose to play "black out" which means that the winner is the first player who covers all of the spots on the card.

With the bingo maker you will be able to upgrade the basic bingo cards with pictures,colors and wording for any purpose.

You can enjoy a bingo game with your family during the holidays, surprise the future bride with a special customed bingo card with her and her future husband picture or use the bingo fun advantage to encourage kids to learn.