Medieval History of Roulette
Ancient history of roulette
Roulette is a very ancient game. The exact point in history where the game started is difficult to point out. Although the present form of roulette came into being much later, wheels were used as a means of playing games all over the world. Romans shot arrows into the gaps of the wheel and placed bets on which gap the arrow would land into. The Greeks made marking on the shield and rolled it on the ground. An arrow was placed beside it. Bets were made on the symbol which would stop in front of the wheel. The Chinese used the wheel game as a means of torture. It was the French who gave the name to the game. Roulette in French means "small wheel".
The roulette is thought to be an offset of two very popular games in the 17th century Europe. One of the two games was Hoka, which was played in the Italy. The game involved rolling a ball on a table containing 40 holes or cups, each cup marked with a number. A number was chosen and if the ball fell in the hole with the chosen number, the player won. There were three cups which had the number zero on them. If the ball fell in any of these three cups, then the game went to the house. The other game, which contributed to the formation of roulette was E - O, which was played in England. It stood for Even - Odd. The game was played on a circular table, with slots marked as even or odd. There were two slots meant for the house. The circular table consisted of 42 slots - 20 for even, 20 for odd and 2 for the house. These two games together gave rise to the modern day roulette.
The European roulette
The first roulette table was designed by the famous scientist and philosopher of the 1600s, Blaise Pascal. His love for gambling led him to the invention of the roulette wheel. As with most of the other kinds of gambling, roulette was considered the game of the nobles and was played by the nobility and the monasteries. The game took on a commercial version when two brothers Luis and Francois Blanc, in 1843, launched gambling dens in Germany. They brought in slight variations in the original wheel design and made space for a zero in the wheel. In the later part of the century, gambling was banned in Germany. This came as a blessing in disguise for the gambling industry as the Blanc brothers left Germany and started gambling dens in other parts of Europe.
The American Roulette
Roulette entered America in the 1800s. It gained immense popularity all over the continent and became a regular feature in the gambling circuits. The American made further changes in the wheel by adding another slot for double zero. Some versions of the game had the symbol of the American Eagle.
Modern roulette
Roulette has now entered the online gambling circuit and is gaining a huge following. For the first time, the game begun online in 1995-96. Since then, the game has developed and is a much loves feature in all gambling websites.
