What game is bringing in $90 million a week in America?

Bingo! After decades of being in the United States, the game continues to grow in popularity. Not only is bingo a fun and exciting game, but it’s also great for your health. The game requires you to concentrate, helps improve your memory skills and playing is a great way to make new friends.

Bingo first became popular in America through churches and retirement homes. However, today people of all ages are enjoying playing the centuries-old game. Celebrities like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Courtney Cox and Russell Crowe are avid bingo players. Mick Jagger loves the game as well and throws large bingo parties at his mansion in Richmond, England.

Are you thinking about playing your first game? Or maybe you already play but want to know about the game’s rich history? Read on to learn 5 incredible bingo game fun facts.

1. Bingo Game History

You can trace the history of the bingo game back to the early 1500’s. In Italy, during the year 1530, there was a lottery everyone would play on Saturday nights. The name of the game was “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D’Italia” and they still play it on Saturdays in Italy.

During the late 1770’s the French began playing their own version of the game. In France players would call the game “Le Lotto” and only the wealthiest Frenchmen could join in to play.

Around the 1800’s the Germans began playing their own version of the game to help school children learn. Can you imagine, learning to write using bingo facts? You can still find different versions of bingo in German and American schools that are helping kids learn numbers and vocabulary.

2. Beano Was His Name Oh?

Finally, the game came to the United States in the early 1920’s as a carnival game. Hugh J. Ward was a carnival worker who made the game popular. While he was working in western Pennslyvania and Pittsburgh he copyrighted the game and wrote a rulebook. In a way, Hugh J. Ward is the bingo creator for the United States.

What was the game bingo originally called? Beano! Hugh J. Ward had players use dried beans as counters, hence the name beano. Around 1929 a toy merchandiser, Edward Lowe, found out about the game.

Intrigued, he took the game back with him to New York to show his friends. While playing, Lowe had one friend accidentally cry out, “Bingo” instead of “beano” in a moment of excitement. Hearing the word bingo for the first time, Lowe knew it was the perfect title for the game. After seeing how much his friends loved playing the game, Lowe decided he should mass produce it.

3. Crazy Math on Bingo Cards

At first, the game had too many winners for every session. Lowe knew he needed to help the game by adding more squares. To assist him with the mathematics, Lowe sought out math professor, Carl Leffler.

Leffler was teaching school at the University of Columbia and was happy to help Lowe with his plan. After a few days of calculating the mathematical possibilities, he came up with 6,000 different bingo cards for mass production. There’s a rumor that after creating the bingo card calculations Leffler went completely insane.

4. Bingo Loving Places

After releasing the new cards, a Catholic priest came to Lowe asking for a favor. The priest wanted to use the game in different churches as a way to raise money. Lowe was happy to help introduce the game to churches across America. People were having so much fun playing bingo at church they began playing it at home too. Bingo quickly became mainstream after growing in popularity.

During 1934, people were playing around 10,000 bingo games every single week! By the 1940’s almost everyone in America was having fun playing Bingo. Today you have a lot of different choices for where or how you want to play the game.

Fun places to play bingo:

• Casino
• No deposit bingo sites
• Local bar

When you frequently play at the same location you’ll be able to make new bingo friends. Having a game night to look forward to can help you stay motivated at work. Next, we’ll explore some of the silly bingo superstitions that just might help you take home the jackpot.

5. Superstitions Surrounding the Game

Many gamblers share one thing in common, believing in luck. Playing bingo may be for fun but that doesn’t mean winning isn’t a big part of the equation. Here are some fun bingo superstitions that can’t hurt to try:

Lucky Chair

Is your seat lucky or jinxed? Many bingo players will sit in the same chair every single night they play. They believe that sitting in the same chair, at the same table, can somehow increase the chance that they’ll win. Certain players will even go as far as to walk around their chair 3 times before sitting down.

Lucky Numbers

Depending on where you play the game the number 13 could be your friend or foe. If you’re playing in a casino the number 13 is typically thought of as unlucky. If you ever go to Las Vegas you’ll find that none of the rooms or floors will have the number 13 or 4. In Japan, the number 4 is unlucky since its name “shi” is the same word for death.

Lucky Charms

When you go to play your first game of bingo you might notice other players taking out their lucky charms. No, we don’t mean the tasty kids cereal but instead actual charms like horseshoes or pressed 4 leaf clovers.

You will also find people with sentimental items such as photographs, dolls, dice, coins and more. The players will display their charms on their table in front of them before they begin to play.

Life’s Full of Interesting Surprises

Knowing about the history will help you enjoy your next bingo game even more.

Lateet loves telling you about the interesting things in life. We have articles to help you with having the best first date, fashion advice, traveling updates and more.

Whatever you want to learn, we’ve got you covered. You can take a vacation from work by reading about a snake island in Brazil or enjoy learning what tarot cards are all about.

Would you like to make more money without doing any extra work? Check out our latest article about how to make money while you sleep!