Roulette is one of the most famous casino games out there, being instantly recognisable thanks to the presence of its unique wheel. The Roulette wheel sets this game apart from the other classic table games, which feature either cards or dice as their central game components.
Whether you play a game of online Roulette or a game in a land-based casino, the wheel is always at the centre of its presentation. As it goes, there is a fascinating story behind the design of the iconic Roulette wheel, which wasn’t originally intended to be part of any game.
The origins of the wheel
Obviously, the concept of the wheel predates Roulette by centuries. But we aren’t going to go into the depths of that history today, so we’ll skip ahead to 17th-century France and a physicist by the name of Blaise Pascal.
It was Pascal’s intention to create a perpetual motion machine, which would be able to turn indefinitely without the need for an external energy source. During the course of his experiments, he created a mechanical wheel that spun with impressive smoothness and efficiency – but its spin would always inevitably come to a stop.
This was a failure from Pascal’s point of view, and the French mathematician would ultimately never manage to invent the perpetual motion machine he aimed for. But he would still go down in history as a crucial element behind the creation of one of the most enduringly famous casino games of all time.
The creation of the game of Roulette
It wasn’t until the next century – the 18th – that the game of Roulette itself would start to take shape. Things were still very much a French affair, with brothers Francois and Louis Blanc widely credited with refining the design of the game and popularising it with a large audience.
The Blancs were responsible for taking Roulette to Monte Carlo, where it would form a centrepiece for the Monte Carlo Casino. This was after the brothers were forced to relocate from France, having stopped off in Germany along the way. Through them the concept of Roulette spread across Europe, becoming a staple of many fledging casinos.
Once Roulette made its way across the Atlantic, the game split into its more modern formats – American and European. US casinos opted to add a double zero pocket to the wheel’s design, increasing their house edge and setting their version apart from the European original.
The iconic design of the Roulette wheel
There’s no denying the sleek simplicity of the Roulette wheel’s design, which is part of what helped cement its place among the pantheon of casino games. The alternating pattern of red and black pockets around the rim of the wheel – along with the green zero pocket – create a distinct visual when spun.
While the arrangement of numbers around the wheel may seem random, they are actually laid out in such a way as to ensure that odd and even numbers are evenly distributed. You may notice that the numbers are laid out differently on American and European Roulette wheels, but they both follow the same principles of fair and balanced design.
The basis of the Roulette wheel came about by chance, a mere side product of Pascal’s experiments. But despite its almost accidental origins, the Roulette wheel remains an iconic and integral part of this classic game.
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