The Bingo Saga

Bingo has a rich and wonderful history. We can trace back the history of bingo since 14th century to the simple bean-placing game of the early 1900s. The evolution of UK Bingo from the past to what we have now is also interesting.

Bingo was originally called "Beano" because once a player won, he or she would yell "Beano"! It was usually played at county fairs with a caller drawing numbered discs from a cigar box, and players would mark their cards with beans to mark the numbers that were called out. If you win, just shout “Beano”!

A recorded history of the game of bingo dates back to 14th Century Italy. In 1530, there was an Italian lottery called "Lo Giuocu del Lotto D'Italia" it still exists up to now every Saturday. From Italy, the game travelled to France in the late 1770s, where it was called "Le Lotto", a game played amongst wealthy Frenchmen. Eventually Bingo reached Germany, ironically children there played it for educational purposes. It was mostly for the purpose of helping students learn math, spelling and history.

In 1929 game of bingo finally reached North America. This is the time that the game became popularly known as "Beano." It was first played at a carnival near Atlanta, Georgia. So where did the name "Bingo" came from? By accident, New York toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe renamed it so, after he overheard someone accidentally yell "Bingo!" instead of "Beano!" at a county fair. So, from Beano now it is known as Bingo.

Edwin Lowe together with Carl Leffler then did some changes and developed the game. They expanded the bingo game styles. Edwin hired Carl Leffler, a Columbia University Math professor, to help him increase the number of combinations in bingo cards. They had successfully diversified the game so that by 1930 there were over 6000 different bingo cards!

Bingo became a popular fundraising medium when a Catholic priest from Pennsylvania approached Lowe about using bingo as a means of raising church funds. Because of that it became more popular that by 1934, an estimated 10,000 bingo games were played weekly.

Today, after 70 years the game of bingo is more popular than ever and even transcended to Online Bingo.