The Roots of Bingo...
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by: Stebee
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Word Count: 436
Bingo's roots can be traced back to an Italian lottery known as Ecco! More than 470 years ago, the Italian government crafted something not to dissimilar to the Bingo we know today. It was a lottery created in order to raise funds needed to stabilize the economy. Two hundred and fifty years later, the French developed their version which is known as Voila!. Almost a quarter of a century later, German students struggling with multiplication found instruction in the form of a numbers game which followed a similar format to the bingo game we know today.
Bingo came on the American scene at a Georgian Carnival in the early 1920's. Numbered cardboard game pieces were covered with dry beans. The first player to cover a line in any direction called out "Beano." Edwin Lowe saw the game being played and introduced it in his home state of New York. While playing the game at his home, one of his guests mispronounced it "Bingo." It stuck, and has been known as Bingo ever since. Lowe was responsible for introducing the game of Bingo to the American nation. It soon became a hugely popular game and helped charities and churches raise funds for needy causes.
The only problem with the game was that several players would win at the calling of the same number. Lowe needed help to eliminate this frequent occurrence if his game was to remain successful. Bingo cards each featured 24 numbers and one free space with numbers ranging from 1 to 75. Lowe could not maneuver the manufacturing of enough variant cards on his own. He searched for a mathematician and employed one Carl Leffler from Columbia University. He asked Carl to create 6000 cards which each had different succession of numbers. The fee for this endeavour was nominal initially, but as the task grew in difficulty so did the fee. The last of the 6000 cards were produced at a cost of $100 each. Carl's life ended in insanity. Many have theorised that this was as a result of creating the 6000 variant cards still used today.
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In today's world of technological wonders, people need not go crazy trying to create 6000 variants of 24 numbers to make suitable bingo cards. Online bingo sites use random number generation technology to ensure that there is only one winner for every game of bingo played online.
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