When you’re playing any of the gambling games, you don’t really think about their history or for how long they existed. If you turn to historians though, you will quickly learn that Roulette is one of the oldest games in the modern casinos.
From China to the USA
Roulette is one of the most prominent games in all the casinos — Moreover, it became a symbol for gambling. If you take a look at the logos of most casinos, you will probably find a roulette wheel somewhere. Considering how important this game is nowadays, it makes one want to find out where exactly did it come from?
Many theorists believe it originated from France, but some of them brought valid evidence that it emerged long before that.
It Can Be Traced Back to China
Some historians think that roulette originated from China, and it wasn’t a wheel at all. It was actually a square board game that had 37 animals painted on it. The animals were in a square, and each one had a number to go with it. Here’s the weird part — Although one could barely see any connection to a square board game and a wheel game, both of the games’ numbers equal 666 in total. Dominican monks imported it to Europe, but apparently, it didn’t live too long.
Greeks and Romans Gambled Too
Greek and Roman soldiers also played a game that worked on the same principle as Roulette. If you thought your job was stressful, try joining a legion instead. All jokes aside, Greek and Roman soldiers were quite depressed and stressed. This is only natural as seeing so much misery and your friends dying can really mess with your mind. To try and raise the morale of men, commanders of the armies would let their soldiers gamble. Most of these games would involve a chariot wheel or a shield that would turn around and point at a particular award.
Greeks did almost the same thing; however, their version was a lot more similar to the modern roulette. They would also spin their shields, but first, they would draw symbols on the inside of it. Next to the shield, they would put an arrow and then bet on these symbols. Whichever symbol stopped by the arrow would signify the winner of the game.
Vive La France
Yes, the origin of roulette is quite mysterious and difficult to trace, but what we do know for sure is that the latest version came from France. During the 1500s, a physician named Blaise Pascal wanted to invent the perpetual motion machine. It’s a machine that never stops spinning and uses the energy created from its motion to keep moving. Unfortunately, Blaise didn’t succeed — But you know how they say, one door closes and another opens. His experiment helped others create the modern roulette wheel.
The game became popular in the 17th century, and the Europeans called it Roly-Poly. Most of the European nations back then banned gambling, but Prince Charles of Monaco decided to allow it, and so he imported roulette wheels into his casinos. Soon enough, the elite of Europe played this game with a lot of enthusiasm.
How Did It Come to the USA?
In the 19th century, the first settlers in Louisiana brought roulette with them and introduced it to others. Roulette wheel and ball became a favorite game to play for many Americans. To win at roulette meant to win big, and many gamblers even tried to beat roulette systems without much success. Either way, playing roulette is a lot of fun — And now that you know exactly where it came from, playing it can only be even more amusing. Best of luck out there!