BINGO FACTS

In the U.S., bingo was originally called "beano". It was a
country fair game where a dealer would select numbered
discs from a cigar box and players would mark their cards
with beans. They yelled "beano" if they won.

The game's history can be traced back to 1530, to an Italian
lottery called "Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Italia," which is
still played every Saturday in Italy. From Italy the game
was introduced to France in the late 1770s, where it was
called "Le Lotto", a game played among wealthy Frenchmen.

                           
The Germans also played a version of the game in the 1800s,
but they used it as a child's game to help students learn
math, spelling and history.


New York toy salesman Edwin S. Lowe renamed it "bingo"
after he overheard someone accidentally yell "bingo"
instead of "beano". He hired a Columbia University math
professor, Carl Leffler, to help him increase the number
of combinations in bingo cards. By 1930, Leffler had
invented 6,000 different bingo cards.