You may have at one point in your life played bingo, either just for fun or with a prize involved. In truth, bingo is one of the most popular games anywhere in the world today. You may have played it, but do you know how and where bingo started? Take a look at how the game was invented, and what it is today; a global game played in bingo halls and on the Internet. You may be shocked to learn that it is not a newly invented game or only decades old – it is actually centuries old!
Lottery Game
The game, before it was called bingo, was called Il Gioco del LotodÍtalia. From the name itself you can guess that it originated from Italy. It was considered a lottery game, hence the name. The mechanics of the game involved 27 squares with 9 columns and 3 rows whose numbers ranged from 1 to 90. These numbers were placed randomly on each of the 27 boxes and there was a wooden box where tiles numbered 1 to 90 were drawn from. A caller would draw a number and call it out loud so that the players could mark their cards if they had the number. Anyone who completed a horizontal line of called out numbers was the winner, and a new game would then be started.
From Italy to France to the Whole World
Bingo history did not start and end in Italy. Over the course of several decades, Il Gioco del LotodÍtalia gained popularity; France picked it up and called the game Le Lotto. The same principles of the game applied and at first it was only the rich Frenchmen who would play the game, but as more and more people learned about it, they started playing the game too. Fast forward to the 20thcentury and the game travelled all the way to America and was called Beano. It was later named Bingo.
Online Bingo
Bingo continued online, when the Internet was introduced in the late 1990s. Apart from being a traditional game where people would gather in a social hall to play, people developed online bingo games and now it is one of the most popular online games all over the world. It has made playing the game a lot easier and more convenient and people get to play with and against other people of different nationalities. Online bingo is now a billion dollar industry, and continues to grow and flourish over time.
More and more young people get hooked on online bingo. It is no longer considered an old man’s game. As long as you have an electronic gadget such as a smartphone, laptop, tablet or desktop computer, you can play bingo anytime, anywhere.
Image via freedigitalphotos.net (anankkml)
