Roulette History - Game Development

It was considered by historians for some time that Roulette was invented by Blaise Pascal in 1655. Others thought that Roulette originated among the Dominican monks of France in the 17th century as a source of entertainment in the monasteries. But, despite all these connections to the French mathematician and monks, games similar to Roulette that used spinning wheel have being played almost a century prior to the French Revolution's end in 1799. These earlier games included the Italian Hoca and English Even and Odd, also known as E-O.

Rules of Hoca

Hoca was a highly famous game in Europe. So much so that France's Chief Minister and Councilor Cardinal Mazarin ordered the construction of casinos playing Hoca in mid-17th century in order to raise funds for the French royal reserves. The table used to play the game consisted of 40 fixed cups. Ball was rolled into motion at the table's center and it moved around at the perimeter before failing into a cup. The bets were made on the cups. Among these cups, 3 were marked as house cups that won bets in favor of the house. These cups increased the house advantage to 7.5% on the players.

Rules of E-O

During Middle Age, E-O was quite popular in England. E-O was the major attraction at Bath Resort. The resort was famous for its boiling mineral springs. As per Hoyle's American Edition the rules of EO are:-

• The EO consists of one circular table having a general diameter of 4 feet, which can vary.
• The circumference of the table is like a depot or counter for placing the bets. It is marked with alphabets E and O and the bets are placed on these letters.
• The interior of the table comprises of a ball rolling space or gallery, which along with the depot, is fixed.
• The center of the table moves on a pivot or axis. It is turned using handles and the ball moves around in the gallery.
• The gallery is broken into 40 interstices with 20 being marked as E and the remaining as O. When the ball ends in an interstice, the bet is determined.
• There are 2 bar holes for a table that are owned by the house. The bets are taken for the letters E or O. In case the ball ends up on either bar hole, the house wins the wager on the other letter. There is no payment to the hole in which the ball falls. This gives the house an advantage of 2.5% against all the money that is wagered on the table.