Bingo, formerly beano, not just a party game

Especially in the Philippines, in the US and especially in the United Kingdom, the lottery game is played. The origin of the game goes back to the year 1929. The American Edwin Lowe led the game name bingo on. Originally named Beano, the game came from a group of Spanish players. Edwin had watched them cover up drawn numbers with a dried bean. Whoever won called Beano. The American hosted an event in New York where the game was played. In the course of the game was not a Beano, but a winner bingo called. So the new game name was introduced and used from now on. Incidentally, grains of corn are used to play in Peru. The game has made it to the living room and has become not only a lottery game, but also a popular social game in the family. In Turkey, it is traditionally played with the whole family on New Year’s Eve.

The gameplay

In the lottery game, participants can buy participation coupons, or lots, on which numbers are printed. In addition to the playing cards there are stamps, or game pieces. By coincidence, balls are pulled out of a drum, on which numbers are printed, by a confériecier. The number drawn is called out loud so that the players can see on their playing cards whether the number drawn on the card is present. If a player has the number drawn, he either places a token on it or stamps it off. The goal is to get 5 numbers of a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal row on a map. When a player has reached the goal, he calls out loud bingo and thus wins the game and receives a monetary or non-cash prize.

Different variants

Over the years many different variants of the game have developed. So it is valid in some variants as a victory, if the number in the middle and the numbers of the four corners were drawn. In a heavier variant all numbers of a card must have been drawn. This makes the game more interesting and ensures that it is not over so quickly. There are also game variants in which different figures, such as a triangle, a quadrangle, or others, lead to profit. In some parts of the Bergisch Land, sausages, during the kale season, in the case of sausage liquors, and eggs, during Easter, in the process of egg-letting, according to the rules of bingo raffled. There is also a cow dung bingo and a buzzword bingo.

Bingo on the field, at school, office and university

Buzzword Bingo is mainly played at universities. The difference to the normal bingo is that on the playing cards are not numbers, but keywords. The keywords are mostly contentless keywords that are used excessively. The words are deleted as soon as they are said in a lecture, in meetings, or in presentations. The rules for winning the game are the same as in conventional bingo. Whoever won the game calls loud bullshit. Another modified variant is the cow dung bingo. A meadow is divided into fields. A cow grazes in the field. All players can now place bets in which field the cow droppings. This gambling often takes place during a fair in rural areas. In Lenk im Simmental there is the cow patty bingo always at the end of the year. There is a similar variant in the USA, except that the game is played here with chickens.