While at a traveling carnival near Atlanta in December 1929, the toy merchandiser saw people eagerly playing a game called 'Beano,' following Ward's rules, with dried beans, a rubber stamp, and cardboard sheets. The game was further popularized by Edwin Lowe. He copyrighted it and published a rule book in 1933. Ward created and standardized the game at carnivals in and around Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania area. Five squares in each row had numbers ranging from 1 through 90, which led to the modern design. The French game Le Lotto appeared in 1778, featuring 27 squares in a layout of three rows and nine columns. In the nineteenth century, a game like this was widely played in Germany to teach children spelling, animal names, and multiplication tables. In the 18th century, a home version (called Tombola) was created in Naples with the addition of cards, tokens, and the calling out of numbers. History A bingo winner in Montreal, Quebec in 1941Ī game of chance named lotto was being played in Italy by about 1530. There are even games that award prizes to players for matching no numbers or achieving no pattern.

Some games require only one number to be matched, while cover-all games award the jackpot for covering an entire card. There are also nearly unlimited patterns that may be specified for play. Since its invention in 1929, modern bingo has evolved into multiple variations, with each jurisdiction's gambling laws regulating how the game is played. After a winner is declared, the players clear their number cards of the tiles and the game host begins a new round of play.Īlternative methods of play try to increase participation by creating excitement. Players compete against one another to be the first to have a winning arrangement for the prize or jackpot. When a player finds that the selected numbers are arranged on their card in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, they call out 'Bingo!' to alert all participants to a winning card, which prompts the game host (or an associate assisting the host) to examine the card for verification of the win. The game host (known as a caller) draws balls at random, marking the selected numbers with tiles. In the United States and Canada, bingo is a game of chance in which each player matches the numbers printed in different arrangements on cards.

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