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BingoB-I-N-G-O. We all know the song, an elementary school staple. We have all played Bingo as kids. Lots of people still play Bingo today. The number of Bingo parlors is amazing. Even casinos in Las Vegas have Bingo parlors. It is really a very popular game. It is even found in schools.
In the states it has always been marketed as a family game. Did you know Bingo started in Europe in Italy as Lotto in the sixteenth century? It then moved into France and finally the United States in the early twentieth century. When it was played at first it was called Beano. It was played basically the same way as today. The few differences are only seventy five numbers not ninety and now they have rows with letters. They complete a sequence or pattern of numbers that are called out and prefixed by a letter, B-I-N-G-O. Players use cards with numbers printed randomly on them and had to complete a preprinted sequence. The person who achieved this first was the winner. They jump up and yell BINGO. There is a jackpot for the winners. If you stop and think about it as adults we may not play bingo, but we do play a kind of backward Bingo if we play the lottery. In Bingo you have a card or cards; someone calls numbers you hope you can match. In the lotteries you pick numbers you hope will match the ones to be picked. Backwards Bingo! And people are serious about this game. They have the big maker, tons of cards. How do they keep track of them all? They keep special good luck charms around them and don’t make any noise. They do not like distractions.
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