Bingo History & Rules

Bingo History

Like many of the casino games today, bingo's history can be traced back to Europe.
Italy, specifically, has recorded the game's origins in the 1500's.
The French added a deck of cards in the late 1700's and the name lotto.
British military bestowed the name house or housy-housy on this form of gambling in the 19th century.
At about the same time, a form of bingo called kino or keno was making its way into the American culture.
The Great Depression saw a surge in the game of bingo or screeno as it was known when played in movie houses.
Moviegoers received bingo cards for the price of admission vying for cash prizes.
Of course, the game of keno has evolved today as a popular casino game and is played much the same as bingo.
Other variations of the American game are fortune, lucky, radio and beano.
Beano appeared destined to be the name that stuck, but in 1929, a salesman from New York observed the game at a local carnival. While playing with his friends, a slip of the tongue from a startled winner resulted in the name BINGO.

There are 1,474,200 Bingo card possibilities.
Cards resemble a 5 X 5 grid with 25 corresponding numbers labeled left to right under the five letters spelling B-I-N-G-O.
The middle space is marked FREE in most games under the letter N.
Numbers on bingo cards are selected and printed from 1-75.
British Bingo cards are selected and printed with 90 numbers.
Each number will appear only once on any bingo card.

There are 15 number possibilities for each letter of the word BINGO as below:

Bingo Callers randomly select numbers from a central location that contains and 'tumbles' all 75 numbers individually marked (e.g., B9).
Bingo Players then check and mark their cards if the number called is the same as on their selected bingo cards.
The Caller will continue to select and 'tumble' numbers until the winning sound blast of BINGO is heard and the card is verified.
Once the winner has been established after verification, a prize is awarded.
There may be more than one winner at which time, the prize is split.
A winning BINGO could be one line vertical, horizontal, diagonal or a pattern as instructed at the beginning of each game.
Coverall or Blackout is a winning BINGO that covers all numbers on that particular card.
Pattern Bingo is a specified pattern on the bingo card. For example, the letters X, T or H.
Jackpot: the prize for a line, pattern or coverall that could be right in front of your eyes!

As a gaming writer, I recommend this low-cost form of gambling as a good bet. In addition, the fun of playing the game is built in. Let's BINGO!

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