It is number 113 from a series called Scenes Enfantines (French for Childhood Scenes) and was published around 1870*, or possibly earlier, by Adolphe Block, a prolific producer of stereophonic images.

The scene title is Jeu de loto, which translates to the Loto game in English. In France at the time, bingo was called Loto.

Stereoviews were the Instagram of the day; they depicted everyday scenes, disasters, famous monuments and landscapes. Looking at them through a special viewer creates a 3D effect.

Jeu de loto from Scenes Enfantines (The Loto Game from Childhood Scenes) was published around 1870, making it possibly the oldest photo of a game of Bingo. I have darkened this image a bit to give it better contrast so you can see it a bit clearer.

Block was a studio photographer, but from 1863 onwards, he became primarily a publisher of stereoscopic views, which he signed with the letters “B.K.” He was a prolific publisher, distributing stereoscopics in large quantities, selling both those he created himself and others for which he negotiated reproduction rights.

His stereoscopic photographs were in 3.5 x 1/2 x 7-inch cards with a die-cut open back and a stereo photograph of ornate tableaux and were very often offered as coloured transparent views, also known as ‘French tissue’ or, in France, as ‘illuminated’ (vues illuminées) or ‘panoptic’ (panoptiques) views.

The themes he reproduced were varied: countries, sites, landscapes, monuments, events, theatrical compositions, genre scenes, devilry, theatrical celebrities. He is best known for his ‘Diableries’, which depict an imaginary, satirical underworld of devils, satyrs, and skeletons.

Through his company, Propriété Paris BK, Block was the biggest producer of French tissue. French tissue is an early form of colourising a black-and-white image.

Tissues are black-and-white photos copied onto very thin albumen paper. They appear almost transparent. The colourisation is done by applying pigment with a brush onto the back of these thin photos. When viewed against a light source, the photo looks coloured. A protective tissue is added to the back.

*There does not seem to be a recorded date for when this set was produced, but I will keep researching to see if we can find it.

The Big Gluttom (Gros Gourmandi), number 101 in the same series as the Jeu de loto stereo. The boy is the same in both photos: Left, the black-and-white photo; Middle, the hand-painted, colourised back; Right, the photo as it looks when illuminated.

Special thanks to Toby Liberson, who provided invaluable help in researching this article.

Sources: https://imagestereoscopiques.com/stereopedia/les-editeurs/block-adolphe/

https://x.com/RealPreCinema/status/2072028961618501722

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Block