Bingo also referred as ‘Beano’ during earlier times was named after the red dried beans. In earlier days, small red dried beans were used as a token. These red beans were used to cover the numbers on what we term as Bingo tickets nowadays. The gameBingo was originated during the early years of 1920′s or 1930′s. When the game was invented it was originally termed as Keno. The name Keno was much familiar and popular late 19th century. However, two illegal names were suggested to the lottery ‘keno’ operators. These ‘keno’ lottery operators used to fool the government authorities by making them realise that ‘keno’ was not a lottery but a non lottery game. Playing Bingo comes under legal gamming but playing the lottery was not considered to be legal.

The overall game of Keno was played by live number callers, tokens and playing cards. This game later on ended up with a name called Bingo. Games introduced in Bingo contain fictionalized horsesthat represent spots or numbers on a card. These fictionalized horses were marked and checked for the end result i.e. Keno. However, the game Keno was played long time before ‘beano’. Beano was popular in various parts of the world especially in the Western countries.

Origin of Bingo

Various experts or historiansof gambling would agree that Bingo has been derived from an Italian name. As per various historical records, during the late Renaissance maybe around 1530, the game was introduced for yet another game called as Lotto. The word Lotto is referred as destiny or fate. The first game of lotto was introduced during the time of botched and corrupt election. The city was in need of choosing a new leader, which is why the Lotto was introduced. Random numbers were chosen and whoever had that number was declared as a new leader. So the end result was entirely dependent to fate.

Getting Popularity and Fame

Gradually, the game got its fame and popularity and it got spread throughout the world.The earlier version of game is still played in some part of the world and it is very much same as that of today’s Bingo. Overall you require 3 things to play the game i.e. live called numbers, a playing card and tokens. The most popular form of Bingo is followed by the card division i.e. the card is divided into 100 squares having 9 vertical rows and 3 horizontal rows. The 3 rows contain 5 squares along with numbers and 4 blank ones.

The called numbers were kept on wooden chipsand then tossed in a bag. The main object behind this game was to complete the 1of the 3 horizontal rows by the wooden chips and the blank squares were considered as free squares.

Immigration of the Game

By the end of 1929, Beano was known by all. It was played with a rubber number stamp, cardboard and dried beans. And the players used to scream as Beano instead of Bingo! The license to the game was $1 a year.