Bingo Games
The game of Bingo has a rich tradition in many different cultures.
Bingo games date back in their earliest known form to Italy in the 16th century.
As you may expect, playing bingo games online is a relatively new phenomenon but the two are perfectly suited to each other. The very nature of bingo games mean they can be played online just a well as they can in your local bingo hall.
Originally known as Lotto, or Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia, it started as a national game of chance organised after the country was united in 1530.
The bingo game then moved slowly across Europe into France, with evidence of it being played by wealthy French people during the late 1770s.
The classic bingo game playing card consisted of three horizontal and nine vertical rows, each with five numbered and four blank squares. Each card was different and featured a series of randomly selected numbers between one and 90.
Bingo next moved into Germany and was used as an educational game for children for a while. By this stage, the adult bingo game had evolved its traditional caller, who selected wooden tokens from a cloth bag and read them aloud.
Immigrants to the United States took the game with them and the actual name ‘bingo’ is thought to have derived from the word beano, after a game played at county fairs in the United States during the 1920s.
The game of beano involved a caller drawing discs from a cigar box and players used beans to cover numbers on cards.
The original games required a horizontal row to be filled in for a win, but the bingo game has since evolved and numerous different patterns and arrangements of matrices are now used.
Legend has it that the game became bingo after a player became overexcited and shouted out “bingo” instead of “beano” by mistake when they won.
Two US entrepreneurs – Edwin Lowe and Carl Leffler – boosted the profile of bingo during the first half of the 20th century by turning it into a business and printing 6,000 different variations of bingo cards with non repeating number groups.
Charity groups and fund raising organisations in the United States helped to popularise the bingo game and Ed Lowe eventually produced an instructional manual and newsletter to accompany bingo.
Now available in a range of different forms and played extensively in the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America, bingo takes place in halls, purpose-built venues, bars, at charity events, casinos and online.
You can get a variety of games on the internet. At Bingo Boogie, you can play real 90-ball bingo, the very same bingo game as you would play down at your local bingo hall. Their chat bingo games are played alongside regular scheduled bingo games. They give players the chance to communicate with fellow players whilst playing the usual bingo games. Fun and flexible, players can request a favourite game to play from the chat bingo operators.
Modern Bingo Games
Modern bingo games tend to involve a caller who selects balls at random from a machine and reads out the numbers. Players purchase one or more cards, which they mark as the numbers are called out, shouting “House” or “Bingo” if they win.
Modern bingo game nicknames add yet another angle to the ever evolving world of online bingo games. A version of bingo calling that uses nicknames for many of the numbers developed in the North of England, where the game has proved particularly popular. For example, caller say “two little ducks” when calling 22, or “two fat ladies” for number 88.
The largest bingo game ever held took place in New York at the Teaneck Armory, where 60,000 people played against one another for cars.
Online bingo has taken off as a hobby in recent years, with scores of websites offering an array of different games. Bingo Boogie offers a variety of games to play and and chat rooms, where players can meet other fans of the game and hold web conversations as they play.
Remember to play responsibly and only over 18s can play online bingo.
