The game of bingo has been around for a very long time. From being an Italian lottery game in the past to being the sleek, electronic game of the present times, the journey has been fraught with many adventures. The secret behind bingo’s long run is its ability to tweak and change itself every time a major change comes along.
Very few games in the world can boast of a history as momentous and long-standing as bingo does. From being a 16th century state-run lottery game that Italians indulged in on Saturdays to being called “Le Lotto” by the French lovers of the game in the 1700s to being the electronic mass entertainer of the present times, the game has evolved with every century to reach the stage it is in now. From being the game that needed beans and wooden planks to be played with to being the hero of the digital gaming era, bingo has undergone some dramatic makeovers with grace and yet, has held on to the characteristics that make it an entertainer of this magnitude.
Though bingo is played in many countries today, it traces its roots to balmy Italy wherein it was born during the 1530s. As a weekly game, bingo or ‘Lo Giuoco del D’Italia’ is as popular there today as it was then. By the end of the century, this form of lottery game – the ancestor of current day bingo – had not only become a rage; it had also crossed borders to reach France wherein it was welcomed with arms wide open. The journey that the game had embarked on did not end with France. Crossing borders once again, it reached Germany as a carnival game that held the power to captivate. It is from Germany that the game reached American soil in the year 1929 where it was renamed Beano. It was here that the true potential of the game was realised and tapped. New York based salesman Edwin S Lowe was responsible for rechristening the game once again and calling it bingo when he heard someone accidently call ‘beano’ as ‘bingo.’ This is how the game came to be known by the name that we are all so familiar with today. Lowe is also credited for turning the fortunes of the game for good as he, along with Columbia University professor Carl Leffler, invented 6000 different variations of bingo cards and gave wings to the popularity of the game. First as hall bingo and now as the online variant, the game has given communal gaming a whole new dimension. Also, it seems poised to maintain its dominance for a long time to come.
The evolution of bingo has not come to a halt after its move into the electronic medium. Even in its online form, the game has continued to go from strength to strength. There is a lot of difference between online bingo then and now; the most significant among them being the stability of the sites. In the earlier days, due to inferior quality of the software used, there have been instances of sites collapsing mid-game. However, with advanced technology being employed by sites to power their games, online bingo has come a long way. The bingo promotions and the jackpots offered too have taken a sharp turn for betterment in the last few years, going from decent to extremely handsome. Now, it isn’t strange to find jackpot prizes hovering around (sometimes even above) the million mark. New bingo sites today are also socially more active, allowing communication among players as well as between players and the chat hosts to flow more smoothly. And now with live streaming becoming a reality for new bingo sites, things have considerably brightened for them as they have moved on from being regular bingo sites of the past to the special bingo sites of the present times.
Author of the article is associated with OnlineBingoLounge. Visit the site for the latest online bingo promotions and free bingo offered by the top UK bingo sites.
