Roulette—literally “the little wheel”—is among the most enduring institutions of gambling and a touchstone for debates about chance, probability, and risk. Its history is not a single invention story but a convergence of wheel-based and number-betting games across the 17th and 18th centuries, consolidated into the numbered wheel and table layout that spread from late-18th-century …
Have you ever wondered where Roulette, the iconic game with the spinning wheel, actually comes from? Its roots delve deep into Roman antiquity, to a game known as Rota Fortunae – the Wheel of Fate or Wheel of Fortune. This simple yet ingenious game is considered the earliest direct ancestor of today’s casino Roulette and …
Rota Fortunae: How the Roman Wheel of Fortune Became the Ancestor of Roulette Read More »
Before the existence of online sportsbooks, point spreads, and fantasy leagues, there was the roar of 250,000 fanatics, the thunder of hooves, and the thrill of a life-changing wager. The venue was the Circus Maximus in Rome, and the sport was chariot racing. This ancient spectacle was more than just entertainment; it was the birthplace …
Circus Maximus: The Roman Origin of Modern Sports Betting Read More »
While the concept of a spinning wheel of fortune is ancient, the direct, modern form of Roulette has a much clearer family tree. Before the game was perfected in the salons of 18th-century France, its essential components were being tested and popularized in the lively gambling houses of Italy. Two games, Biribi and Hoca, stand …
Biribi and Hoca: The Italian Games That Created the Blueprint for Roulette Read More »
Every single casino game has a story, but few have a lineage as clear and direct as Blackjack. Before it was known by its modern name, it was played in the parlors and courts of 18th-century France under a simple, descriptive title: Vingt-et-Un, which translates to “Twenty-One.” This game is not just a relative of …
Vingt-et-Un: The Original French Card Game That Became Blackjack Read More »
Baccarat is often seen as a game of sophistication and complexity, played in high-limit rooms with intricate rituals. Yet, at its very core, the game’s primary wager boils down to a simple, near 50/50 choice. This fundamental concept of a binary bet has an ancestor that is as simple as it gets: a Roman coin …
Navia aut Caput: The Roman Coin Toss That Became Baccarat’s Core Bet Read More »
The unmistakable sound of dice tumbling across a felt table is a cornerstone of the modern casino experience. But this thrilling game of chance has roots that stretch back over two millennia, to the taverns, military camps, and villas of ancient Rome. The Romans were fanatical gamblers, and their favorite games, played with Tesserae (dice) …
Tesserae and Tali: How Roman Dice Games Became the Ancestor of Craps Read More »
When you think of the origins of the slot machine, you might picture the dusty saloons of the American Old West. But the fundamental mechanical principle that makes every slot machine work is far older, originating not in a saloon but in a sacred temple in 1st-century Roman Egypt. The inventor was the brilliant Greek …
Hero’s Vending Machine: The Ancient Greek Device That Inspired the Slot Machine Read More »
Keno, with its grid of numbers and lottery-style gameplay, is a fixture in casinos worldwide. Its origins, however, are not found in Europe or America, but in ancient China, where it was created for a purpose far grander than entertainment: to fund an empire. This ancient lottery, known as báigē piào (白鴿票), or the “White …
The White Pigeon Game: How an Ancient Chinese Lottery Became Keno Read More »
Picture a roaring crowd, a heavy rubber ball moving with deadly speed, and two teams competing on a stone court where the stakes were often far higher than simple victory or defeat. This was Ōllamaliztli, the ancient Mesoamerican ball game. Played for over 3,000 years by great civilizations including the Olmecs, Maya, and Aztecs, this …
Life and Death on the Court: The Mesoamerican Ball Game Read More »
While the civilizations of the Near East were creating the foundational race games of the West, an entirely different and equally profound gaming culture was flourishing in Ancient Asia. China, a cradle of immense innovation, gave rise to two of the world’s most enduring and respected strategy board games: Go and Xiangqi. Though both are …
The Strategic Giants: An Introduction to Go and Xiangqi Read More »
You can know the rules to a dozen ancient games, but knowing how to win them is another matter entirely. Beyond the movement of the pieces and the layout of the board lies the true heart of a game: its strategy. The great games of history are not just pastimes; they are training grounds for …
The Art of Ancient Strategy: Thinking Like a Master Gamer Read More »
The Royal Game of Ur is a Sumerian board game that belongs to the broader family of ancient Middle Eastern games commonly known as the Game of Twenty Squares. This particular version was unearthed by Sir Leonard Woolley during his 1926–1927 excavations of the Royal Tombs of Ur in modern-day Iraq. It dates back to …
The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, Go, Chess – these are the titans of ancient gaming, monumental artifacts of human intellect and culture. But what about the other games? The games played not just by kings and emperors, but by merchants, herders, and children in villages from Africa to India? For every famous game, a …
Beyond the Pharaohs: Unearthing the Lost Games of Civilization Read More »
When we think of ancient Egyptian games, our minds often drift to the grand, spiritual journeys of Senet or Aseb, games found resting beside pharaohs. But the everyday people of Egypt played games too, often with nothing more than a stone and a patch of earth. One such game was Seega, a contest of pure …
Hidden in the tombs of pharaohs and the settlements of ancient Egypt lies a game that was as strategic as it was fascinating: Aseb, often called the Game of 20 Squares. Much like its more famous relative, Senet, Aseb was more than just a pastime. It was a reflection of life, death, and the soul’s …
Gambling, a pastime as old as civilization itself, has been a part of human culture for thousands of years. While the concept of money as we know it today did not always exist, ancient people found other valuable items to wager. Gambling in Ancient Egypt was more than a pastime; it was an integral part …
Senet is an Egyptian game, and is one of the oldest games in the world, with records dating back to the 1st Dynasty, around 3100 BCE. Many Senet game boards have been found in various Egyptian tombs, including in the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Senet has not only been played in Egypt, but also in other …
Hnefatafl, meaning King’s Table (or literally, Fist Board Game) in Old Norse, is an asymmetric game of pure strategy played by the Vikings and neighboring people with many variations. Its origins are unclear, but it seems that it has appeared during the Viking period, in the 7th or 8th century CE, in Scandinavia and other …
In the past week there has been a lot of buzz on the internet about the Poprad Game Board, which was found in Poprad, Slovakia, back in 2006, in a tomb of a Germanic chieftain, who served in the Roman army as a mercenary, called foederatus, and dated to 375 CE. The reason for the buzz …
Origin and Discovery Rota, a game from ancient Rome, is often found carved into stones along Roman roads and buildings throughout the vast Roman Empire. The original Roman name of the game remains unknown. The name “Rota,” meaning “wheel” in Latin, was given by Elmer Truesdell Merrill in his 1916 article, where he first introduced …
Origin and Discovery Nine Men’s Morris is a historic game that was widely enjoyed in Ancient Rome and throughout the medieval period. The precise origins of the game are unclear, but the oldest known board is carved into an Egyptian temple at Kurna, dating to around 1400 BCE. However, the exact timing of the carving …
Nard (نرد), originally called Nardashir (نردشیر), is a Persian game, which is played on a backgammon board. The modern backgammon and its variations originated with the Persian Nard. The earliest source to mention the game, Nardashir, by name, is the Babylonian Talmud (Ketubot 61b), in an anonymous statement, which is dated to the latest stratum …
Origin and Discovery The game of Hounds and Jackals dates back to Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, specifically during the 12th Dynasty under the reign of Amenemhat IV, approximately between 1814 and 1805 BCE. This ancient game, which is a part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection in New York (Accession Number 26.7.128), was discovered in …
