» Keno Origins

The game of keno, which has the features of Bingo and any lottery, is nowadays popular all over the world. Keno appeared in China in 187 BC. Still the origins of the game are really a bit of a mystery. Several different versions exist.
The generally accepted theory is that the game was invented during some war in China when the army needed money badly. The city residents didn't want to give their money to support the unworthy aim of the emperor. Cheung had nothing else to do but to develop some new way of taking money out of the people. Cheung found an excellent solution to this problem: he created a very popular game - keno. The game was a success and it is cited as a major reason for the victory of Cheung's forces. It also contributed resources to building the Great Wall! Keno was later given a different name - the White Pigeon game. That was not for nothing: carrier pigeons informed the surrounding towns and villages of the winning numbers.
The keno board didn't always look the same way. The Chinese classic characters were used instead of numbers. The total of 120 characters was used in the game but the number reduced to 80 in the long run.
In the middle of the 19th keno was brought to the US. Although initially outlawed, Keno continued to be played in secrecy by these new immigrants. It continued to use Chinese characters and thus obviously didn't enter popular mainstream American culture until it was modified to include the numerical system.