Bingo is fun and very customizable. It is a favorite for family game nights, for creating a custom drinking party game to play with your friends, and also to earn serious money. In this post, we’ll answer some common questions, like when was bingo invented or who invented it, talk about the rules on how to play bingo, and also show you how to make a bingo game for free.
- When Was Bingo Invented: The Background
- How to Play Bingo: Basic Rules
- How to Make a Bingo Game: Thinking Outside the Numbers
- How Does Bingo Work and FAQs
When Was Bingo Invented: The Background
The history of bingo goes almost 500 hundred years back. Who invented bingo? It was a lottery that was played by Italians in the 16th century. The game was so popular that travelers from France noticed it and started playing it too. Their love for Le Lotto was huge, and it was even more popular than roulette. A bit later, the game traveled to Great Britain, until it finally reached the United States in the 18th century.
The rules of how to play bingo game haven’t changed much since the French started playing it. It is also when the bingo scorecard, as we now know it, was designed. However, the game differs depending on its versions, for example, concerning how many numbers in bingo cards are offered.
As for the name, no one actually shouted “Bingo!” before the late 1920s. A toymaker from New Your, Edwin S. Lowe, was the first to patent the game under this name. The legend says it was after a particularly exciting game with his friends when the word “bingo” was used to celebrate the victory.
How to Play Bingo: Basic Rules
First, you need to make sure you have the game paraphernalia:
- Scorecards (a grid of 25 cells with random numbers and “B-I-N-G-O” in the first row, and an empty bonus cell in the middle).
- Bingo balls with letters and numbers on them. They can be substituted by slips of paper, which you can put in a bag (there is no need to look for where to buy bingo bags – just use a hat or a pillowcase).
- A set of chips to cover numbers on your scorecards.
Now, the game can begin. Players cover the bonus cells with chips. A caller reaches into the bag, draws a ball and announces the letter-number combination. The players examine their scorecards and cover the number in the column that starts with the letter called. When a row of five numbers is covered, the player to do it first should shout “Bingo!”.
When playing online, the rules are the same, and players have a chance to win a jackpot.
How to Make a Bingo Game: Thinking Outside the Numbers
With all the technologies available to us now, no one is going to bother about where to buy bingo cards anymore. You can learn how to make bingo cards in just a few no-fuss steps.
First, try a simple search for a bingo scorecard generator, and you will find dozens of websites providing this service for free. Some of them will create just classic cards with numbers while others give you more options for customization. You can create cards with words or pictures (perfect if you want to play with smaller children), or even text.
Let’s think outside the box and create a bingo card you can use to watch any action movie of your choice.
|A car chase||A kiss||A fight||Somebody shoots at the main character||A large sum of money|
|A window breaks||A car crash||Dramatic music||Somebody dies||The main character shoots at somebody|
|Sad music||Dancing||Running||A plane|
|Somebody drinks alcohol||A restaurant||Somebody talks about their family||Somebody tries to hack a computer||A hospital|
|A bank||Somebody cries||Somebody screams||Something is stolen||Somebody smokes|
Distribute cards like this among your friends, agree on a prize and enjoy the film! Alternatively, you can take a shot whenever something on the card happens.