Archive for the ‘Game Info’ Category

Origins of Online Bingo

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Considered to be one of the most entertaining games, Bingo has been around in the popular circle since the 15th century when its Italian form known as Lotto was doing the rounds all over Europe. The beauty of this game is that it has traversed through centuries undergoing various transformations and variations. Starting from Italy, the game soon spread to Germany and other European nations with each of them making slight alterations to the game. Thus evolved, the game of Bingo which has now set the online gaming world on fire.

The Lotto transformed into Beano, which was played in a carnival in Georgia. The name Beano was from the fact that, a bean was used to cover the numbers that were announced and the player who gets the sequence of numbers covered horizontally, vertically or diagonally emerges the winner. During the 1930’s when an American man Ed Lowe visited the carnival, he was fascinated by this game’s popularity and wanted to try this game back in America. It is said that the game became Bingo here when one of his guests at the party where he introduced this game, shouted Bingo accidentally instead of Beano. There is no looking back since then. The game has traversed a long way commercially in various forms and variation of rules.

With the increase in popularity of the game, it was made part of the UK Gaming Act in 1968. During the time that Lowe introduced this game in America, there were many problems with the randomization of number placement in the cards. He had to approach a mathematics professor Carl Leffler to aid in the task of deciding the placement of numbers and it was done. Bingo! We got the first official commercially released version of the game.

With the advent of the Internet era, online gaming fever was fast catching on, with Bingo as no exception. Bingo going online is considered as a major breakthrough in the history of the game. 2003 was a landmark year in that the first online bingo game sites based in UK sprung up. The game is most popular in the UK than anywhere else. This could partly be due to the fact that online version was introduced in the UK which increased the popularity of the game. Today, there are more than 2 million players hooked to the Internet playing this game online. It is easier and more fun this way.

The number of sites offering the game online has also increased multifold with years. Above all, it is a very lucrative venture because the money offered for winnings has increased with the growth of online games. The online Bingo fever spread from the UK to the US after it became popular in the UK. Although the number of sites based in UK is the highest, it is fast catching up in other countries as well with additional offers and extra features.

The origin and the path traveled by this game are very unique because, there is no standard way in which it is played. There are numerous versions and modifications to this game that is being played and yet the basic flavor has been retained and it has not diminished in the years. In fact, online bingo industry should be credited for this increase in popularity.

The Future of Bingo Games

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

The Bingo community has a reason to rejoice as they mull over the major revivals happened in the past as well as the revolutions coming in the future years. From the initial online Bingo games that are not limited to the halls, it has expanded its way to include the masses all over the world, thereby, claiming the lion’s portion of the annual stake. This sounds good news for the big companies as well as the Bingo players especially when the former group decisively invests heavily for the rejuvenation of the breath-taking amusement of modern times to make it a big business.

Playing online Bingo means excitement, especially for the weaker sex when they are absolutely liberated from the threatening environment offered by the real Bingo halls. Certainly, one can hardly expect that the new revolution overlooks the soar in the number of female participants. Due to the same reason, a few magnetizing add-ons focusing them can be well expected in the future.

Better games emerging on a day to day basis, any enhancements to the online Bingo game could be deemed as a demand rather than request by the game buffs. Anticipation of the future trends of Bingo itself is a hot topic in the game world. People are left to speculate with all their might considering the endless possibilities and limited certainty. The authority of social media in a short span of time may be the rationale for the fervent conjecture that online Bingo is going to amalgamate the concepts of social-media applications without delay.

The ideas of organized tournaments are shaping up, which gives way to the theory of some world championships where the participants represent their nation. Game enthusiasts will be more than thrilled to vie for the trophy and international honor that ensue. But several questions need to be answered prior to the instigation of any such attempts. Will there be an organizing body to control the event? Will it be separate for men and women? A governing body to resolve various issues and improve the facets of Bingo games is the perfect way out for the zealous lovers of the game.

One of the novel and ground-breaking Bingo game designs that will soon capture the attention of the public is mobile Bingo. The major advantage of mobile Bingo is that players can access the portal through their mobile phones. This does mean that the players can virtually carry the game wherever they go. This in fact overhauls the whole concept of sitting in front of some stationary media to avail the exhilaration. Still, many things need to be closely considered like the distractions that are likely to be faced in the middle of the game due to an urgent call.

The sky is not the limit as far as the renovation of Bingo games is concerned. With more and more innovations and a huge crowd yearning for miscellany, we can shortly see the online Bingo games breaking many barriers to reach new dimensions.

The History of Bingo

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

Bingo is a simple game of chance that dates back to its Italian and French origins. It used to be a form of the game ‘Lotto’ which was later modified to bingo. The basic principle of the game is still the same and in fact, the original that used to be played back in the 16th century is still played in some places of France to this day. The popularity of the game spread like wildfire through out the European countries and as people migrated to the United States of America, the game was also brought along with them. The game became well known and played by many in the US in the last century before the advent of computers and other distractions at home.

In the US, a man named Edwin S. Lowe, a salesman and an entrepreneur, is well known as being the man who initiated the Bingo craze. He himself was a huge fan and noticing how people were being drawn in by the droves to this game, he decided to go with the flow and popularized it in many states across the US. Initially, the name that used to be yelled out was ‘Beano’ but by accident, someone yelled out ‘Bingo’ instead and the name struck a cord with people and it came to be the acceptable term after that.

In a game of bingo, the person who calls out the number at random from a bag of numbers ranging form 1 through 90 is known as the caller and the player has a card with random numbers in rows and columns. You circle of numbers as they are called and if you are able to cross off all the numbers on your in a row or column, you get to yell ‘Bingo’ and of course, you win.

Once the game gained popularity in local towns and became a commonly accepted past time, many churches and community centers jumped in to organize these games in the name of raising funds for charity and this measure was a hit with many people. Many local folks were drawn to the idea of raising fund as well as getting to play bingo at the same time. These events were able to raise a lot of money in a short period of time. Bingo can be played by a few people in a church community hall setting or at a center with hundreds of people.

Since, the legalization of gambling, bingo has also grown although not at the same rate as gambling of course. These days bingo has also gone high tech with many online gaming facilities offering bingo. You can either play just for fun or play for money if you like. Sometimes, the jackpot can run into thousands and thousand of dollars. Considering the time that bingo has been around, it is indeed one classic game that has not been traded in with the changing of times but rather has gained popularity.