Game Histories

Blackjack:

The origin of Blackjack is somewhat unclear; however the generally accepted conception is that it evolved from French games, such as “Chemin de Fer” and “French Ferme”. Blackjack was first identified in French Casinos around the 1700s, where it was called “Vingt-et-Un” (Twenty-and-One); hence the game is often referred to as "21". Blackjack has been played in the United States since the 1800s.

The game gained its English name, “Blackjack”, due to the fact that a player, who was dealt an Ace of Spades (a black card) and Jack of Spades as their first two cards, would be paid out extra. The gambler’s well known penchant for easy rhymes took over (think "Chuck-a-luck", "Acey-duecy").

The object of the game is to achieve a higher point total than the dealer, without going over 21 (a "Bust").

Roulette:

Legend has it that Roman soldiers tipped their chariots over, to play games on the spinning wheels as a diversion between military campaigns. Another theory attributes the creation of Roulette to Blaise Pascal, a 17th Century French mathematician. Still, others tell of Dominican monks bringing a wheeled game back to Europe from China in the middle ages.

Whatever the case, the term "Roulette" comes from the French word meaning "small wheel". Roulette became widespread in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in France and Monte Carlo. The modern version of Roulette was created by Francois and Louis Blanc, two Frenchmen who invented the single '0' Roulette game in 1842. In America, the single '0' game was rejected and replaced with the '00' game, which gained immense popularity during the California Gold Rush. As a result, the two different wheels have been called the American Wheel and the French Wheel, and can still be found today in Casinos around the world.

Today, the Roulette wheel is perhaps the best internationally recognized icon symbolizing the glamour, excitement and prestige of high-class casino gaming.

Slot Machines:

The first actual Slot Machines were built by Charles Fay in 1887, in a small machine shop in San Francisco. He built nickel Slot Machines by hand and rented them to the local gambling halls. His first machine was not, as some believe, cruder and bulkier than modern Slot Machines. Nor did its reels carry the fruit symbols commonly used today. His original Slot Machine, called the Liberty Bell, was somewhat smaller than modern machines, and operated basically the same way.

Fay's slot machines were a huge success, and he couldn't build them fast enough in his small shop. Many larger gambling supply manufacturers tried to buy the manufacturing and distribution rights, but Fay refused to relinquish them. However, in 1907, Herbert Stephen Mills, a Chicago manufacturer of arcade-like machines, began production of a machine very similar to Fay's Liberty Bell. The machine Mills produced was called the Operator Bell. By 1910, Slot Machines could be found in every city and nearly every hamlet in the country.

Forces of morality, and then of law, opposed the operation of Slot Machines. Throughout the 1920s, Slot Machines gained in popularity throughout much of the United States, especially in resort areas. They continued to flourish, throughout the years of the 1930s Great Depression. In the late 40's, Bugsy Siegel added Slot Machines to his Flamingo Hilton hotel in Las Vegas. Originally, the Slot Machines were installed as a way to entertain the wives and girlfriends of high rollers, but revenue from the slot machines soon began supplanting that of the table games. In the mid 1980s, the popularity of Slot Machines and table games were on par with each other, but by the 1990s, Slot Machines had taken over and now account for over two-thirds of Casino revenue in the US.

Video Poker:

Virtually all card players have a theory as to the origins of Poker. Geographic suppositions range from China to India, from Persia to Egypt and thence across the Mediterranean to Europe. Regardless of its ancestral journey, there is strong evidence that the game came to America with the French settlers in New Orleans, who played a card game called Poque, which involves bluffing and rounds of betting. The Poque deck may have been the first to use suits of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs.

Poque migrated up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers by boat, where it met English-bred railroad men – who probably corrupted the name to Poker and carried it back to the eastern cities, during the US Civil War. Then, in the late 1860s and early 1870s, Civil War veterans brought Poker westward, over the Continental Divide, until it became a fixture in every hotel parlor and saloon in America's Wild West.

As a widely popularized game, Poker developed many variations, including Stud, Draw and Straight. The introduction of Wild Cards, around 1875, added another level of intrigue and excitement. Today, Poker is probably the most widely played card game in the world. It ranks as one of the top sporting events (in prize money, if not publicity), with many tournaments culminating in the grand stakes of the World Series of Poker.

With the advent of the computer chip in the 1970s, Video Poker came on the scene. It combines the elements of Draw Poker with the look-and-feel of Slot Machines. A key difference between Video Poker and regular Poker is that in Video Poker you're not playing against other players (so there is no need to bluff). Instead, you're trying to build the best hand you can, to win the highest odds. Because it's a fast-paced game, involving both skill and luck, Video Poker has millions of enthusiasts around the globe who enjoy this exciting, engaging pastime.