In 1951, Leo S. Bingo and his wife, Dorothy, opened the first beach blanket bingo game in the state of California. The game quickly became popular and spread to other states. Beach blanket bingo is now offered at more than 2,000 locations worldwide. The game is played on a large rectangular table with a number of columns and rows. Players place their bingo cards face down in one of the columns or rows and then call out the number of the column or row they are in.
As players call out numbers, other players place their bingo cards over the top of the player’s card. When all of the cards in a column or row have been called, that column or row is complete and players can start calling out numbers in the next column or row. If a player calls out a number that is already being called, they can either forfeit their turn or replace their card with another one from their hand. The first player to call all of the numbers in a row or column wins the game.
