You might not think it but casino games have evolved a lot over time. Even if the basic concept of some games remained largely unchanged, other elements have changed significantly with the creation of new variations.
Casinos themselves have evolved with the times and new technologies, so now players can access classic casino games online. Today, we’re looking back at the evolution of these classics and how they developed from their basic origins to online formats like Mega Fire Blaze Roulette.
Blackjack and the Birth of Card Games
People have been playing games in one form or another for as long as they could invent them. But the creation of playing cards led to the establishment of a clear genre of card-based games.
The exact origin of playing cards is up for debate since it was so many centuries ago. Some suggest that early forms of playing cards were created as early as the 9th century in China, with India and the Middle East seen as other potential originators for the concept.
What we do know is that the modern playing card deck has its roots in 14th century Europe. Those first cards didn’t feature the same four suits that we recognise today but from this point games based around playing cards began to spring up across the European continent.
Blackjack is actually descended from a game played in the 15th century known as Thirty-One. This evolved over time to become the French Vingt-et-Un, with players aiming for a hand total of 21 rather than 31.
Once Vingt-et-Un was exported to North America, it dropped that name in favour of Blackjack, a name inspired by the ore deposits found near gold during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s.
Roulette and the Search for Perpetual Motion
Unlike playing cards, the Roulette wheel was not originally conceived as part of a game. French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal was attempting to create a perpetual motion machine – a wheel that would keep spinning indefinitely.
Pascal was not able to produce perpetual motion, instead giving us the basis for the modern Roulette wheel. So, his experiments did work out in one way!
Taking the Roulette wheel as its base, the game of the same name became popular throughout France in the 18th century. Brothers Francois and Louis Blanc were responsible for popularising the game in first Germany and then Morocco, using it as the centrepiece for the Monte Carlo Casino.
European and French Roulette still look much the same as they did in the days of the Blancs, but American Roulette also emerged as a unique format.
When European Roulette arrived on the shores of America, it wasn’t long before US casinos decided to tweak the format. By adding in the green double zero pocket, they increased the house edge from 2.7% to 5.26%.
These days, players can find games of all three major Roulette varieties online, as well as newer formats that put their own spin on the game’s central concept.
Casino games have evolved to keep up with the times and new technologies, with classics like Blackjack and Roulette available to play online in a wide variety of formats.
