Bingo is one of the most popular games on the planet. With roots in Europe, the game spread to North America thanks to the ingenuity of a German carnival crier and an American entrepreneur.
Bingo’s simple rules combined with the human species natural fixation on chance and luck make Bingo a worldwide winner in terms of popularity.
It is an easy game to pick up and play and its relatively inexpensive to play with high returns. Even so, avid Bingo players might not know these interesting facts about the game:
1.) Edwin S. Lowe, the pioneer of modern Bingo, demanded that game organizers pay him $1 a year to host his game. In addition, rumor has it that the mathematics professor who designed the Bingo cards for Lowe went insane after writing out all of the possible number combinations.
2.) There are 2.5 million active female Bingo players in the United States and possibly 13-20 million active female players worldwide.
3.) The original Bingo, the Lo Giuco del Lotto d’Italia, was devised originally as a scheme by a local merchant to make money off of other gullible traders in area. After the game spread through the communities of Italy, new rules were developed and it became a national phenomenon during Italy’s unification period.
4.) The largest recorded Bingo game in history was at the Teaneck Armoy, in which 60,000 players competed for prizes in the jam-packed building. There were so many seats filled that over 10,000 of the players who showed up to the game were turned away by the bouncers.
5.) Originally, the North American version of Bingo was called Beano after the dried beans used in place of markers. When an excited player stammered out the name Bingo, the name stuck with Edwin S. Lowe.
6.) 96% of casual and active Bingo players have won at least one Bingo game in their career.
7.) 8% of the EU’s entire population plays Bingo occasionally?, with 5% of the EU’s population of men and 10% of women playing regularly or occasionally.
8.) A US survey that sought to unmask the reason behind Bingos popularity made an interesting discovery. The most popular reason that people played Bingo was because they enjoyed it. Interestingly enough, winning money with Bingo was the fifth most popular reason in the poll.
9.) The average game of Bingo with North American rules takes between four and four and a half minutes to complete before a player calls a Bingo.
10.) America’s first Bingo game took place in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with the intent of raising money for a charity. The players loved the game so much that Bingo became a regular church activity. In the area, other churches caught on to the same idea and began to host Bingo nights during the weekdays or after Sunday service as an optional community event. Churches all over America and Canada continue to play Bingo regularly to raise charity money or as a social event to help encourage the values of community.
