The history of bingo is not easy to detail with confidence. It is littered with vague accounts and inconsistencies. And then there is the question of when bingo actually began. It didn't just start up one day. Gambling has been a leisure past time for thousands of years. All these ‘games of chance' have developed over time. And this is possibly more true with the history of bingo than other gambling games.
The game of bingo originated from lottery games which spread throughout Europe in the 16th century. These games were based purely on chance – dependant upon the drawing of random numbers. They then altered over the centuries to become the game we know today. But this was a very gradual process.
'Bingo' originated with aircraft carrier operations. 'Bingo' actually means to divert. The official US Navy definition of 'BINGO' is: 'An order to proceed and land at the field specified, utilizing a bingo profile. Aircraft is considered to be in an emergency/fuel critical situation. Bingo History For the last few hundred years, the game of bingo has worked its way into the culture of multiple European countries and eventually found its way into the United States. Despite the time and distance, the game has traveled, players are still enjoying the game almost the same way it's been played since day one. Bingo originated in Italy in 1530 as the state-run lottery, Lo Gioco del Lotto d'Italia. As an interesting side note, you can still play this lottery every Saturday in Italy. Onwards to France and the rest of Europe. The origin of the word 'bingo' seems to pose a classic chicken-or-egg question: is the game called 'Bingo' because game winners shout it, or do folks shout 'bingo!' as an interjection in other situations (expressing, as the American Heritage Dictionary puts it, 'the sudden completion of an event, occurrence of an idea, or confirmation of a guess') in imitation of winning the game Bingo? Bingo's origins are believed to be in Italy, where it is said the game began life as a lottery called ‘Il Gioco del Lotto d'Italia', in 1530. From there you can trace its path roughly as a favorite.
History of Bingo – when was the first recognisable game?
The English archaeologist John Stephens was travelling in Mexico in around 1838. He described in detail the game of ‘La Lotteria'. A caller drew numbered balls from a bag and called each in turn. Players used a large sheet of numbers from 1 – 90 lined up in rows of five. As a number was called they used grains of corn to cover that number. Whoever was first to cover a whole row won the purse.
Of course this is simply the first recorded instance. It is thought that the British Navy began to play around this time. There was a large garrison stationed in Malta from 1814. And it was quite possibly from the Maltese that they learnt to play.
It was definitely being played in the forces by the end of the 1800's. The Army called it ‘Housey-Housey' and the Navy ‘Tombola'. But there is no record as to how either of these names came about. The game continued to be extremely popular in the forces up to – and during – the Second World War.
History of Bingo – when did it get called ‘Bingo'?
It was definitely being played in the forces by the end of the 1800's. The Army called it ‘Housey-Housey' and the Navy ‘Tombola'. But there is no record as to how either of these names came about. The game continued to be extremely popular in the forces up to – and during – the Second World War.
History of Bingo – when did it get called ‘Bingo'?
This is also very difficult to answer. The accepted story is that the name ‘bingo' was coined by an American toy salesman named Edwin S. Lowe. He definitely used the term when he sold his commercially produced bingo tickets. But why did he use this phrase?
It's said that he was watching a game during a country fair in Georgia in 1929. This was basically the game described previously. But beans were used to cover the numbers instead of corn. Due to the excitement of winning a lady accidently shouted ‘Bingo!‘ instead of ‘Beano!' Lowe liked the name and used it for his product.
However, there are accounts of the game being known as ‘Bingo' in the UK from 1928. But these are reminiscences only and they could easily be mistaken. But there are official reports of the name being used by the mid thirties in the UK. This is a very short time for the term to cross to this country and become widely used. Unlikely – but not impossible.
History of Bingo – when were bingo calls introduced?
Bingo History Of The Game
Again – it's very hard to say. By the late 1930's there was a new process to choose the random numbers. There had been previous instances of the bingo caller fixing the game and calling incorrect numbers. So now the players took turns to throw a ball into a container with 90 numbered compartments. The player could see which number ‘came up' and so all was considered fair. But this process took time. It is known that the bingo calls we now know were being used to cover this extra gap between calls. But that's not to suggest that they started then.
In fact we know for sure – because it was recorded – that Army games of Housey-Housey in the 1930's were using the exact same bingo calls we still recognise. Which of course explains why so many calls have a military origin.
But why? And how did they start? We still don't know………
Bingo Original Song
The Future of Bingo.
There has been a revival in recent years due to the advent of online bingo. Rather than create problems for the traditional bingo halls it instead seams to have increased awareness. We can now play electronic bingo in the bingo halls and mobile bingo on our phones.
Bingo Originally Called
Let's hope it carries on this way!
