Gambling cruise. Roulette

Have you already tasted the atmosphere of gambling America? Or have you collected a full house in one of its famous casinos? We hope so! Because now we’re going to the East, to meet dizzying adventures. And the next port on the way of our gambling cruise is Monaco. Yeah, right, we're heading into the very heart of gambling Europe – into Monte Carlo!

Here we’ll find out the gambling heritage, the socio-cultural artefact, which was presented to Monaco from the hands of its nearest neighbour and patron – from France.

Sure you know, the French are those still gamers and tricksters. Those are they who first came up with the playing cards, who first painted them, and even built a whole system of symbols and inverse images in far 1480. Thus, the card suits symbolised four social classes. The Spades were responsible for the luxuriant nobility; the Clubs stood for peasants; the Diamonds – for the merchants and the Hearts embodied the priesthood. The great and outstanding personalities were not remained without attention. Four card kings stand for the real archetypes. Carl Vienna from the Carolingian family became the King of Hearts; Alexander the Great became the King of Clubs; Roman emperor Julius Caesar stands for the King of Diamonds, and King David of Israel embodied the King of Spades.

The French never stopped their gambling fantasy. They mastered every card game and tried to bring to perfection all their skills. They heartily had fun while playing all interpretations and prototypes of modern card games. The nimblest players began recklessly practice cheating, which became the reason of law enforcement officers’ attention... Right here, in the 17th century, the history of the gambling artefact, due to which we have come such a long way, starts.

Roulette. Magic on the verge of a scientific breakthrough

There are many versions of the roulette creation. And the first one is originally created due to French law enforcement officers, who invented the funny wheel to divert the broad masses of people from illegal, but so popular at that time, – card cheating. The very version of events has many supporters, but is devoid of concrete evidences.

The first actual references to roulette appeared in 1655 and was connected directly with the name of famous scientist and mathematician, Blaise Pascal. He so desperately was looking for the ways to create a perpetual motion device that accidentally invented a new game – a small spinning wheel, which in French sounds like «Roulette».

More than 300 years of history considerably changed roulette and created a lot of game modifications. Still the peak of its popularity was in Monte Carlo, where roulette became a symbol of the national gambling culture.

So, in 1842, commissioned by the King of Monaco – Charles III there was built a roulette wheel. Еhe Blanc brothers decided to hit the ground running. Francois and Louis Blanc built a roulette wheel but improved it by adding a zero point (0). This greatly increases the chances of a royal casino to enlarge its profits. Now the odds are in favour of the gambling establishment with 2.56% domination, which is almost a win-win goal. This is the version of the game, which we now call European Roulette.

A bit later, when the popularity of roulette reached the United States (it happened in the 19th century), the game has also undergone some changes. Inspired by the European experience, the Americans decided to add to the roulette wheel a double zero point (00). Naturally, after such a metamorphosis of casino, the revenue rose at times, because the odds of casino winning had risen to 5.26%. This is the version of the game, which we know as modern American Roulette.

Now we understand why most experts prefer to play exclusively on European Roulette.

In addition, there is such a unique thing as French Roulette. This is certainly not the original version of the game, but it has more loyal rules for players. That is, if there on French Roulette falls zero, the players get half of their bets back. That’s why this kind of roulette is very rare in the real and virtual casinos.

The history of roulette, and the game itself, is surrounded by all sorts of legends and mysticism. And it’s not surprising at all, that some people believe roulette to be originally a Chinese entertainment. Proponents of this theory ignore the obvious French roots of the game name and argue that outlandish game was brought to Europe by Chinese monks who were trading with the Dominicans.

There also exists a theory that the Romans took some place in the roulette phenomenon creation. It’s known that they amused themselves by turning the wheels of the overturned chariots. Therefore, some researchers think the Romans could create roulette in the very way. But we realise that such an entertainment could obviously become a modern Wheel of Fortune, don’t we?!

So, our cruise ship docked and you have a whole week to enjoy the atmosphere of the European gambling capital and plenty of time to play on the roulette wheel. Sure, you’ll have time to walk along the narrow streets of Monte Carlo, among the high vintage houses and luxurious blossoming tangerine trees. While enjoying the beauty of an upscale city you can collect some local legends and stories. And if you find out even one unknown theory of the roulette game creation, please, feel free to share it with us and you’ll become the lucky one, who will twist our own Wheel of Fortune and select our next destination – the next gambling port for our cruise ship.