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Bingo is Born- Bingo history can trace its roots back to 16^th century Italy. It originates from an Italian lottery game named Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia. The lottery game ultimately gained so much importance that today, the game of lotto makes up an essential part of the Italian government’s financial resources, providing profits of not less than seventy five million dollars-a-year.

Bingo History and the French- Some time later , the game gained popularity in France as well. The French invented their particular kind of a lotto version, known as Le Lotto, in 1778. The Le Lotto cards were divided into about twenty seven squares (three horizontal and nine vertical). Horizontal rows had only five numbered squares and the vertical columns included numbers from 1 to 90. Le Lotto was also played with chips, numbered from 1-90, in order to cover the squares. Every player was given one card and after numbers were announced, players would place chips on the relevant numbers. In order to win, players were required to entirely cover a horizontal row with chips. The first one to totally cover a row was proclaimed the victor.

Bingo Education- Later on, throughout the 19^th century, the game of lotto was adopted for educational purposes. For example, in Germany, educators used lotto in order to teach children to spell, multiply and etc.

Beano, It's Almost Bingo- In 1929, another version of Lotto was adopted in Germany, Bingo history can be traced back to a game called Beano. This time the players covered the squares not with chips but with beans. Regardless of whether a horizontal, vertical or diagonal row had been covered, the first player to complete the mission would announce “Beano!” and be named the winner. Shortly thereafter, Beano was introduced in America by a traveler named Ed Lowe, who picked up the game on a visit to Germany during that period.

Bingo's Lucky Little Mistake- Lowe slightly modified the original version of Beano when he came back to the States. The game received its new name, "Bingo," just because of one player who accidentally shouted “Bingo” instead of “Beano”.

Everyone's Playing Bingo! Well, it turns out that the name "Bingo" stuck, as you already know, and this is how. There were many who copied Lowe’s successful idea, which wasn't a problem for Lowe. The BingoDimes.com bingo history overview claims that these copycat competitors got away with a bargain. Lowe's only demand was that his competitors offer him compensation of a dollar per year, and call the game “Bingo”.

Bingo Numbers as We Know Them- A Pennsylvanian pastor, trying to find ways to resolve his parish's financial troubles, came up with the idea of taking advantage of bingo's popularity in order to raise funds. The pastor purchased several bingo sets, but after launching the bingo games, came across a major dilemma— there were just too many winners. In order to solve the problem, the pastor enlisted the help of Carl Leffler, a professor of mathematics at Columbia University, who added new bingo number combinations, making it much more difficult to win. This solution helped rescue the pastor's parish from its financial woes. The Bingo game became so popular that an Instructional Manual was even published. We are grateful to Ed Lowe for introducing such an entertaining game to America and the world. Long Live Bingo!!!

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