Initially the game wasn't just a simple and elegant pastime activity as today. Throughout its history, it experienced a lot of changes, both name and gameplay wise. If you want to learn more about the origins of bingo, then read this article.
Origins of Bingo
Bingo was invented sometimes during the 16th century and became known under the name "Lotto", which in Italian means fate, or chance. Initially being only played in Italy, a few centuries later it became popular in France, as well. This is the time when the nine column and three row bingo card was introduced.
During a bingo game - or lotto, as it was still called back then - a person acted as a caller and drew out 90 numbered wooden chips from a bag, one after another. The first person to cover an entire row was the winner of the game.
On the other hand, the bingo we play today was developed in America, based on the Italian Lotto game. Once a toy salesman and entrepreneur named Edwin S. Lowe saw a game of Beano in at a carnival in Atlanta and immediately recognized that the game had enormous potential.
The game he saw was called Beano, because people used beans to mark the called numbers on their cards. After one of the players completed an entire row, he or she had to scream "Beano!" in order to claim the winning.
Lowe after returning back to the East Coast introduced the game to his friends. During a game, he observed that a player instead of yelling "Beano!" to claim the prize screamed "Bingo!", after which Lowe promoted the game under this new name. It didn't take long until the new game spread across America.
Bingo experienced a large boom in the early 20th century when churches started to adopt this practice to raise charity funds. During this period, special bingo rooms were created where bingo lowers had the chance to go and besides playing bingo socialize with fellow players and friends.
Online Bingo
It was just a natural process that after the internet became popular bingo would also become available online. Online bingo was based on a totally new concept, namely that gamers had the chance to play their favorite game right from their homes, without being required to visit a bingo room.
Online bingo games also offered high-quality graphics and sophisticated animations, something a paper card could never provide. It didn't take long until bingo conquered the internet and nowadays it's believed that there are several hundred online bingo rooms available.
Bingo is also known to be a chat game because bingo players usually enjoy delightful conversations with their peer while the numbers are called out or between rounds. Online bingo room operators had to think of a solution to provide this element, as well. It didn't take long, and after internet technology progressed even further online bingo sites began to offer live chat bingo games.
Playing bingo online is not only just fun, it may also reward you with incredibly enormous sums. Online bingo jackpots are not uncommon, in fact, nowadays every serious bingo room needs to offer jackpot games.
If you want to learn more about bingo, then read our other articles, as well. They will teach you how to play efficiently and what to do in order to have chances to win a large bingo jackpot.