BINGO!

  SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1., 2018
                     BINGO!

  The beginning of December has most
people focused on the countdown to
Christmas. Things get so busy it's easy
to forget some of the other special
occasions that show up in the weeks
and days leading to the 25th.
   For instance, December is "Bingo
Birthday Month.:
   That designation had me just a little
confused. My first thought was we were
celebrating that Farmer's dog all the kds
sign about. You know."BINGO was his
name oh."
     Not!
     December is considered the birth
month of the game BINGO!
     I'm surprised but I really shouldn't
be. There's so little I really knew about
the game.
     As a kid growing up in Hazleton I
always assumed BINGO was invented
by the Catholic church and that you had
to be 65-years-old or older to play.
      Now I come to find out BINGO has
been around for a very long time! It was
started in Italy in 1530. It was called
"LoGiucoc del Lotto D'Italia." That
must have been a very large BINGO
card!
      It's still a very big game in Italy
played almost every Sunday.
      The game showed up in the U.S.
in 1929 and was originally called
BEANO! I wonder if there's any
connection with the Stock Market Crash
that year!
       I got pulled into a game in Florida
during our visit last year. That's sort
of the "Big Leagues for BINGO down
there. I saw women playing ten cards
at one time and holding "lucky charms"
as they played!
        Anyway it's an appropriate day to
play a game or two and I understand
there's still a lot of places, including
churches, where this popular form of
gambling is readily available!
         Hope you're a winner and that
all your NEWS is good!