TAMBOLA: Il Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia

 

Tambola, Housie or Bingo is an extremely popular party game.

The beauty of this game is that any number of people can play at the same time.

👪👫👬👭👯

• Each player buys a ticket which has 15  random numbers from 1 to 90.

🔢, 2 , 77 , 8З

In many social gatherings, the host gives the tickets to the players at no cost.

• Master/ Conductor  of the game randomly selects and calls out these numbers.
• If a player has any of these numbers on his tickets, then he strikes them out.
• As the game progresses, the players strike out numbers in specific pre decided patterns ( eg  King’s Corner, Bamboo, etc).
• Completion of each pattern is usually rewarded with a prize but it must be announced by a loud “YES” from the player who finishes.😆😃😄
• When all the numbers in a ticket are cancelled, then that is called a Full House , which is normally the highest prize.

In large gatherings, often , more than one person completes the pattern at the same time. In such cases, the prizes are equally distributed amongst the winners.

These prizes are mostly rewarded by the money that is collected through the sale of tickets.

 Different winning patterns can be set for different rounds.

 

History:

Tambola is played in different parts of the world under different names.

In India, Tambola is more popularly known as Housie . In some parts of the world, it is also known as Bingo.

Tambola has a long history stretching back a few centuries.

Although not much is known about the origins of this game, but it is widely believed to have originated in Italy around the 16^th century around the Naples region. It's origins are widely believed to be based on the lottery game commonly known as "Il Giuoco del Lotto d'Italia,"

Then, for many centuries, Tambola travelled the world and finally appeared in the US of A.🗽

A US toy manufacturer & seller, Mr Edwin S Lowe , saw a few people playing Tambola in a Carnival in Georgia, Atlanta. 

He so enjoyed the game that on reaching home, he invited a few friends over for a game of Tambola. On winning a handsome dividend, one of the participants joyously shrieked, “Bingo” . Soon , this name caught on in the Americas & Mr. Lowe’s company began manufacturing and marketing Tambola cards(Tickets), Tambola boards and counters under the name “BINGO”. 

A detailed account of the origin of Tambola in Naples, Italy , may be read by clicking on the link given below:

https://www.theflorentine.net/2017/11/30/tombola-italy-christmas-traditions/#:~:text=Legend%20has%20it%20that%20Neapolitan,and%20work%20with%20the%20poor

Some of the earliest Tambola tickets looked like the one shown below

So , essentially, there are 3 components to Tambola –

• 1.     The playing ticket(or card),
• 2.    Game master and his box of numbers
• 3.    The Dividends (or prizes). 

The development f each of these three components has been phenomenal and most interesting.

TICKETS

Each standard ticket is in the form of a grid, with 3 rows and 9 columns , making a total of 27 square places.

 

STANDARD TAMBOLA TICKET

People may play on a single such ticket but they usually opt for a set of three such tickets.

Interestingly, Tambola ticket designs have undergone a major transformation to cater to different cultural and social sensibilities. 

Tickets may have more visual representations which aims at incorporating different themes like Diwali, Valentine's day, 50th birthday, etc.

There are many companies which print these amazing tickets. One can contact them to customize the tickets as well , to suit the occassion.

One can contact  ticket manufacturers for procuring ready made themed  tickets or can get customised tickets made for specific occasions.

You may contact the following manufacturers for the same

1.   Mr A. Batra, 9910335637, www.tambolatickets.com    

Of course, there are many more such sites but I personally recommend these sites for their exceptional designs.

The Game Master and his box of numbers

The game master announces numbers in no particular order and places them a number board( for cross checking later).

 As the numbers are called out, people cancel those numbers in their tickets.

Prizes(better known as Dividends) are announced according to pre decided rules.

The announcer or the game master needs to announce the numbers from 1 to 90 , a task which tends to get pretty boring and repetitive, To make his task more interesting, over the years, some interesting methods have evolved.

To make it interesting, the game master announces the numbers in a typical fashion which may be simple rhymes or may reflect common  perceptions in popular cultures or certain historical events typical of the region/country where it is being played.

Number	Verbal  Cues/Call outs
1	Lonely lonesome, Always first, Lone ranger🌳
2	What baby’s do👥, one little duck 🦆
3	Happy Family👩👨👧
4	Cut for partner, Bridge partners, Murgi chor
5	Come for drive, Sher e Punjab, rivers of Punjab
6	Heavy bottom
7🌈	Lucky number, Colors of the rainbow
8	One fat major
9	Doctor’s order
10	Downing Street, Uncle Ben
11	Beautiful legs
12	A dozen
13	Unlucky for some, Baker’s dozen
14	Tender
15	Not so sweet
16	Sweet
17	Over sweet
18	Voting age
19	Last of the teens
20	One score
21	Watch your son, President’s gun salute
22	Two little ducks🦆🦆
23	You and me
24	Two dozen
25	A quarter
26	Republic
27	Indira’s nose
28	Still looking for date
29	Rare wine, Gin n wine
30	Flirty at 30, Flirty blind
31
32	Mouthful
33	Feathers
34
35	Pretty wives
36	Popular size
37	Flirty seven
38
39
40	Men get naughty at 4 ‘o’ 40
41	Naughty One
42	Quit India
43
44	Vicks Formula
45	Half way home
46
47	Independence
48
49
50	Half a century
51	Auspicious
52	A pack of cards
53	Joker 🃏
54	Bamboo door 🚪
55	Nagging wife
56	Pick up sticks
57
58
59
60	Retiring age
61
62	Chinese Aggression
63
64	Old rupee
65
66	Clickety Click
67
68	Mota Seth
69	Ulta pulta  As you like it
70	Lucky blind
71	Bangladesh liberation
72	Luck n duck
73	Lucky three
74	Still want more
75	Diamond jubilee
76
77	Hockey sticks 🏑🏑
78
79
80
81	The corner shot
82	Mamma n bachu
83	Grand Ma’s Age
84
85
86
87	Go to heaven
88	Two fat majors
89	Almost there
90	Top of the house

The Dividends (or prizes)

As the game progresses, the players strike out numbers in specific pre decided patterns ( eg  King’s Corner, Bamboo, etc).

Completion of each pattern is usually rewarded with a prize but it must be announced by a loud “YES” from the player who finishes.

When all the numbers in a ticket are cancelled, then that is called a Full House , which is normally the highest prize.

In large gatherings, often , more than one person completes the pattern at the same time. In such cases, the prizes are equally distributed amongst the winners.

These prizes are rewarded by the money that is collected through the sale of tickets.

 Different winning patterns can be set for different rounds.

Like the ticket designs and  number call outs, there are many many  kinds of dividends depending upon the occasion and cultural sensibilities. 

Some of the standard dividends are as follows:

1.   Zona

2.   Early 5

3.   Top line

4.   Middle line

5.   Bottom line

6.   Any line 3 times

7.   Any one of all 9 lines ( if the players are playing on a set of 3 tickets)

8.   Corners

9.   King’s Corner

10.Queen’s Corner

11. Bull’s eye

12.               Bamboo

13.               India- Pakistan

14.              Breakfast-lunch-dinner

15.                Full house

16.               Dog house/ second full house ( if the players are playing on a set of 3 tickets)

17.              Cat house/third full house ( if the players are playing on a set of 3 tickets)

 

So , enjoy the game and share your Tambola stories. 

 

Refrences:

https://www.theflorentine.net/

https://kittygroups.com/karva-chauth-theme-tambola-game/

https://www.tambolafungames.com/

https://tambolatickets.com/