TipTop Business Web Directories - Add your sites link starting at £1

If you can see this, your browser doesn't understand IFRAME. However, you can click <A HREF="http://www.tiptopweb.info/newsbar/news_bar.php">here</A> to see the news.

A European History of Bingo

By: Bill Weston

Most people are aware of the origins of bingo which is derived from the lottery in the 16th century in Italy called Lo Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia. This literally translates as "The Clearance of The Lot of Italy", and was first run to raise money for public projects. It has pretty much the same basis as bingo today, everyone is given a card with random numbers and they all must be marked off to win.

During the late 18th century the game then also grew in France and was very popular in particular amongst those in high society. This is quite the contrast from the working class origins that bingo has in Britain, however this has begun to change in recent years.

The 19th century saw the game evolve into a children's game and as a result the Germany toy market began to sell this as a learning game. Bingo games are still used in schools to help teach children languages, mathematics, music, science, and many more topics. You can use bingo with pretty much any theme and for any age which is why it is so popular with teachers.

By the 1920's the game had made its way across the Atlantic to America - at this point the game was called Beano, however a toy salesperson in New York was responsible for changing the name and it stuck ever since! The game was played with dried beans, a number stamp and some cardboard gaming cards. It was popular at country fairs across the US and was seen as a game for the whole family.

The game in America was also used to raise money, however the structure saw that it actually made a loss of money! Therefore a mathematician was brought in to try and solve this problem and a system was worked out which was better than the original. The game continually grew in popularity throughout the US and then also across Britain in Bingo halls.

Bingo has now become one of the most popular online activities in recent years, furthermore due to its availability online it has now reached a much wider audience of people and many younger people are playing it. It has also begun to expand further than just an audience of women to aklso become popular amongst men. There has even been a growth of what is called "Rebel Bingo" which is a popular game amongst students and young people, it involves bingo games combined with a club night-who knows what is next for the game of bingo!

Article Source: http://articles.tiptopweb.info

Bill Weston writes on a number of subjects including gambling and bingo. For more information on bingo games see www.galabingo.co.uk/bingogames.go

Please Rate this Article