Stay Young- Play Bingo!

Exercise, intellectual stimulation, surgery, meditation or detox – you name it, we love it. Let’s face it, we live in a society obsessed with staying young. So, when you mention to someone that bingo may well be a key to youth, image of pensioners playing in a retirement home may well prompt them to ask a few questions. It’s not chess or bridge, but researchers insist that bingo can keep your mind trim and bring more to your youthfulness than just cash prizes and idle chitchat.

Bingo players who have been playing bingo for a sustained period of time have been found to have superior reflexes in many cases to non-bingo players. The speed and mental agility required to scan six bingo cards in time before next call is certainly better than stagnating in front of television and has been responsible for keeping minds of many people of different ages fit and healthy. As we get older, blood begins to run at a thinner rate to brain. Using our brains less can result in a decrease of mental agility and flexibility. Playing bingo is an enjoyable way to keep those attributes intact.

The competitive spirit of game is also something that helps to regenerate our bodies when we take ourselves out of workforce. The experience of retirement can very much and rightly so, equate to slowing things down. People take things at a far more leisurely pace. This is what is so attractive and something many look forward to after a fast-moving career. The only problem is that as we do that, so we lose a sense of invigoration that competitive energy used to spark. The great thing about playing bingo is that it is able to reignite that spark, depending on where you are playing. Certain bingo halls can be notoriously competitive. Players have developed ways of managing to cope with as many cards as possible by turning them upside down, paying for someone else to keep an eye on them and even continue other activities, such as knitting while game is in play. The callers can move relatively quickly and you have to stay on your toes in order not to miss a call or a number. To many, this competitive edge and speed aspect is so vital to maintenance of their energy and fighting spirit. It keeps all of senses in a sharp shape and forces player to sustain some of efficiency and rigour they may have been used to when working or even when their bodies may have had slightly more endurance than they do now. Players have to stretch themselves to limit and keep competitive flame burning by allure of large cash prizes.

Bingo – It’s birth and beginning

The true origin of bingo dates back as far as mid 16th century and is connected, strangely enough to unification of Italy in 1530. This unification saw introduction of a National lottery system, known as “Lo Giuoco del Lotto d’Italia” held each week. Interestingly, this lottery is today a major source of income to government, contributing over 75 million dollars each year to budget. It was French who developed a passion for “Le Lotto”, as it became known and they adapted their own version of game that strikes a strong resemblance with today’s version of bingo. Three horizontal and nine vertical rows formed basis of card and players would cover their numbers as they were drawn until an entire horizontal row was covered – hence winner. Lotto continued to flourish throughout Europe. It was used as an educational tool in Germany to teach children their multiplication tables and even formed basis of many other games and toys still noticeable in toy stores today. But where and when did Lotto somehow morph into Bingo? Well, answer lies in what could be described as a compromise – Beano! Picture scene. It’s 1929 and a weary and stressed toy salesman by name of Edwin S. Lowe is driving to Jacksonville, Georgia to prepare for some appointments. Soon after starting his own toy company a year earlier, market crashed and Mr Lowe’s prospects were looking very bleak indeed. Before arriving in Jacksonville, Lowe decided to cheer himself up by stopping off at a country carnival, being a night early for his appointments. Only one carnival booth was open and very crowded. The excitement seemed to be generated by a game that was a variation of Lotto, known as Beano. A horseshoe table was covered with numbered cards and beans. Every time a pitchman pulled a wooden disk from an old cigar box and called number on it, players reached for a bean and covered corresponding number on their card, if they had it. When they had totally covered a line, either diagonally, vertically or horizontally, they had to shout Beano! They then received a doll. Lowe wanted to play, but game was too popular and no seats were available. What he did notice though was that all players seemed to be addicted to game. The pitchman was not able to close and had to eventually chase players away at 3:00am. The pitchman had apparently picked game of Lotto in Germany and decided to adapt and bring it to United States and to rename it Beano. The success of game on carnival circuit proved to be highly lucrative.