Millions of Players
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by: stickystebee
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| Bingo is a popular ‘game of chance’ that draws millions of players into traditional bingo halls and virtual games on the internet every year. It is a type of gambling where social interaction is popular and the game appeals to players of every age, race, and gender. The rules of Bingo are simple. Players get a card with twenty-five squares arranged with five rows and five columns. Each column has a letter at the top: B, I, N, G, or O, thus “Bingo.” A randomly-generated number is called and must match a number is the lettered column. If the number does match a number on the player’s card, that number is covered, usually with a small round token. Once a line is complete, usually horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, the player yells “Bingo!” and has won the game. The game’s history goes back a long way. The original game can be dated back to 1530 in Italy, where a similar game was played on Saturdays (and continues to this day). Soon the game moved to France and Germany. Bingo’s history in America began in 1929 as a game titled “beano.” The play and rules were very similar with cardboard game boards, a rubber stamp and dried beans. The numbers that were called out were covered by the dried beans. Edwin S. Lowe discovered the game being played at a country carnival a few miles outside of Jacksonville, Georgia. The players were so enamoured with the game, he decided to take the game to New York. During one session, a player was so excited she got tongued-tied and yelled “bingo!” instead. Thus – “Bingo” was born. Lowe never tried to copyright the game because of its roots in the public domain, so there were many spin-offs and bingo halls. Soon bingo was played throughout the country and had a popular following in churches. Churches began using bingo to raise funds for the church. The amount of bingo being played weekly reached 10,000 by 1934 and by 2008 over $90 million dollars is being spent weekly on bingo in North America. |
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