500% Bingo Deposit Bonus At Bet365 Bingo!

Origins of Bingo

December 15, 2009

Origins of Bingo

Edwin S. Lowe is the father of modern bingo: a toy salesman whose business was teetering on the brink when he stumbled across a country carnival in Georgia and discovered a game called Beano.

It was 1929, American was still in depression. Times were hard and a disgruntled, impoverished, public sought solace wherever they could find it.

What Lowe discovered would change gaming history forever and make his fortune. If he had known how his encounter with the game would pan out, he would have screamed bingo himself. The game that came from humble beginnings has spread around the globe. Online bingo and free bingo are emerging as one of the most lucrative areas of commerce on the internet.

Picture the scene. It’s the carnival. There is a flat table covered with numbered cards. The pitchman pulls a wooden disk from a bag and calls out the respective number. A bean is then used to cover the corresponding number ion the printed card.

If the player completes a horizontal, diagonal, or vertical line, they have to shout ‘Beano’. They then get awarded their prize.

Lowe realised how popular the game was from the hypnotised crowd that surrounded the table. He stored the idea in his head, returned to his apartment, and invited a group of friends round to try the game themselves.

It was an exciting evening. So exciting, in fact, that one winning player shouted out ‘Bingo’ instead of ‘Beano’ and the modern game was born. There are also rumours that Lowe was concerned about copyright issues with regard to Beano.

Bingo gained immense popularity very quickly. Lowe’s business started booming and many rival entrepreneurs started making their own version of the game. Lowe maintained his patent by asking for just a dollar – and requesting that they call the game Bingo.

Several church officials and representatives approached Lowe, and asked him to allow them to use his game to raise funds for good causes and charity. Lowe quickly realised that Bingo could actually benefit the community and serve a charitable purpose.

One of Lowe’s early problems was the limit number of cards available which nearly always resulted in multiple bingo winners. Lowe wanted to develop Bingo on a bigger scale. He needed more combinations.

Lowe asked Columbia University professor Carl Leffler to help him and the mathematics expert created 6,000 new cards – a process which rumour has it – drove him insane.

So the next time you are enjoying a game of bingo, remember the Lowe down: the American pioneer who knew a winner the second he saw it.

Written by · Filed Under Bingo Blog