By Emily Rinaman, Technical Services Librarian
There’s one word that’s fun to say, but not fun to hear, and no, I don’t mean a cuss word. Or the word ‘no’. It’s BINGO!
Even after the invention of Nintendos and smart phones, the simple game of BINGO has stood the test of time.
Since it’s evolution in the late 1920s and early 1930s, there are have been all kinds of creative versions of BINGO. Some versions replace the letter and numbers with pictures. In Travel Bingo kids watch for their designated features like squirrels and red cars and yell “BINGO” every 20 minutes instead of “Are we there yet?” every 2 minutes. Bakery bingos remain popular because the prizes are delicious desserts.
The calling of numbers is also a form of bingo. Keno, present in many sports bars across the U.S., is a modern form of this type—participants must predict the numbers that will get drawn before the round starts.
A picnic program for employees of the former Hanson Clutch & Machinery Co. in Tiffin.
A loose version of this is recorded having been played in West Lodi, Ohio. For their 1988 sesquicentennial celebration, residents organized a cow chip bingo. According to an article on the Modern Farmer website, this is how cow chip bingo works:
“A grid is set up, typically on an outdoor field, comprised of numbered, one-yard squares. Spectators buy tickets that stake out a specific square. If ‘Bessie’ chooses your real estate to do her business, then shazaam: You’re a winner! Typically only one cow takes the field, but flashier fundraisers release up to four. In multi-cow play, the first dookie earns a grand prize, with lesser awards for second and third poopers.”
Just like the Tesla-Edison debate on which one discovered electricity, critics are divided on who “invented” modern bingo cards first—Edmund Lowe or Hugh J. Ward. Like many other inventions, it basically boils down to who secured the “patent” first. But let’s face it, true Bingo players don’t care who invented the cards; they just want as many cards as they can handle managing at one time. If you’ve ever tried enjoying a game of Bingo with 3 young children by yourself, all of whom are having trouble reading their cards, and succeeded, please tell me your secret!
Bingo has become so intense, you can even go on the World Championship Gaming and Bingo Cruise in November 2020.
In the 1950s and 1960s it even intensified the rift between Catholics and Protestants because Protestants saw the game being played at Catholic church festivals as “gambling” (whether that happened here in Tiffin during the St. Joseph festivals is unknown). Believe it or not there are actually some strict laws on Bingo. The World Casino Directory points out that “most local bingo halls support a charity of some sort and as a matter of fact, in most areas, casino’s aside, this is required by state law. In fact, charging for bingo isn’t even legal in the state of Utah; however some savvy bingo diner owners have found a way around this law, by charging for dinner, and offering bingo for free”.
Works cited:
“Bingo, Beano, Lotto” The Big Game Hunter. https://thebiggamehunter.com/games-one-by-one/bingo/
“Bingo Around the United States”. World Casino Directory. https://www.worldcasinodirectory.com/united-states/bingo
Hanson Clutch & Machinery Co., 1956. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/37511/rec/1
Lands in Lodi. West Lodi Historical Society, 2007. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27/id/44538/rec/2
“Turn Cow Poop into $10,000? Bingo!” Modern Farmer. https://modernfarmer.com/2013/08/cow-poop-for-cash-and-prizes/
Seneca County Digital Library, Ohio Memory Project, https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p15005coll27