Everyone knows Roulette. It is one of the four most widely recognized casino games in existence. The tetrad is composed of Slot Machines, Blackjack, Craps, and Roulette. These are the symbols of casino games, and Roulette is among these four, the one most often seen in advertisements, movies, and the media. Maybe it is due to the fast paced interactive nature of the game, or maybe it is because the wheel itself is such an exemplary model of beauty and elegance. Whatever the reason, the game is immediately associated with wealth, sophistication, and high class society.
The word “Roulette” comes from French, and means, literally, “small wheel”. The game is quite simple to figure out. Players place wagers on specific numbers printed in an array on the table, and the croupier spins the wheel. Wherever the ball lands, that’s where the payout will be. It is a game of pure, dumb luck. And it is incredibly enjoyable.
Many casino games have very ancient pedigrees. Roulette, has perhaps the most refined history of them all. The game was invented by none other than Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician, philosopher, and scientist, who is widely known as the father of probability theory, and for whom a programming language was named. He was working on the perpetual motion problem (which has never been solved) and invented the roulette wheel in one of his physics experiments. By the 1800s the wheel had been adopted into the game of chance we know today.
There were several iterations of the Roulette wheel throughout its history. Early wheels consisted of 36 numbers on the wheel plus the “0” and “00” slots. These are the ones that survived to this day, and are still in play at casinos worldwide. In the late 1800s, Hoyle gaming had a wheel that only had 28 numbers plus the “0” and “00” and one additional slot that depicted an eagle. Needless to say, the novelty Roulette wheels of the 1800s did not catch on, and only the more traditional versions survived. The double “0” wheel thrives In the US, while in Europe, the more favorable single “0” is the mainstay. Besides this one difference the games are identical.
Modern Roulette tables are laid out with the wheel at the head of the table, manned by the croupier and an array of red and black boxes down the length of the table, each bearing one particular number. These boxes are grouped in segments: 1 to 12, 13 to 24, and 25 to 36. There are also the green “0” and “00” boxes (depending on the version) at the top end of the boxes. Each of these groupings is divided into a variety of betting boxes. There are the 1st 12 bet, 2nd 12, and 3rd 12 boxes, which allows players to bet on an entire third of the table. A similar betting box is along the bottom, which takes a full third of the table down a row. Additional bets are 1 to 18 and 19 to 36, which cover half the table with the variations of even/odd and red/black bets.
Inside bets include: Straight Up Bets, which are wagers on specific numbers; Split Bets, which are when the chip is placed on two numbers, along their dividing line; Street Bets, which are wagers on three numbers in a row, horizontally—the chip is set along the edge; Corner Bet, which selects four numbers by placing the chip on a four-way intersection; Double Street Bet, which covers two horizontal lines; Trio Bet, selects the 0, 1, and 2 or 0, 2, and 3, depending on the version played; Basket Bet, which selects either the 0, 1,2, and 3 in European and the 0, 1, 2 or 00, 2, 3 in American; Top Line, which is only available in American Roulette, which selects the 0s and the top street [Read more…] about All you need to know about Roulette