Bingo is believed to be one of the oldest form of gambling but making a complete account of bingo history is challenging. There are just too many inconsistent details and vague points. The biggest question that begs to be answered is the exact time bingo began.
In tracing bingo history, it was found it originally began from lottery. During the 16th century, lottery became popular throughout Europe. Lottery was solely a game of chance, the winner being dependent on the random numbers drawn. Over the years, it has slowly evolved to what we know bingo is today.
The First Known Bingo Game
In bingo history, John Stephens, an English archeologist, was the first to detail the game "La Lotteria." While he was in Mexico, he discovered that numbered balls are drawn by an announcer from a bag. He then announces each drawn number, and players placed grains of corn to cover the number in their sheet that was numbered from 1 to 90. The winner is the one who covers a whole row first.
The British Navy is believed to play this game at around this time, too. By the end of the 1800's up until the end of the Second World War, it had been very popular among the defense forces.
How Bingo Became To Be Called Bingo
The most accepted story of how bingo was named as such is that of Edwin S. Lowe. He was an American toy salesman that used the term bingo to sell his bingo tickets. But there have also been accounts of bingo being popular in the UK in 1928. However, these stories cannot be confirmed and could easily be mere hearsays.
The Introduction Of Bingo Calls
A new system to pick the random numbers was introduced in the late 1930's because there have been past instances when the announcer manipulated the event by calling a different number from the one he picked. This time, the players alternately took turns to toss a ball in a bottle that had 90 numbered sections. The players could now see the number that came up so it was impossible to cheat.
The exact origin of bingo is not yet established up to this date, but it is for certain that the bingo calls of the Army game of Housey-Housey in the 1930's is the same format of the bingo we know today.
Future Perspective
In recent years, due to the availability of web-based bingo, the game has been revitalized dramatically. Everybody now has access to online bingo through their mobile devices.
