History of mankind has many attributes that are relevant for its entire course. For example, games of chance. Even B.C. people found ways to test their luck while competing with other players. And nowadays, the tradition is continued in modern venues such as gambling at online casino UK sites. Let’s dive into the history of chance games of three ancient civilizations thus learning more about game traditions of times long gone.
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
Although scientists suspect that even primitive human tribes had some kind of gambling systems, first dependable evidence goes back to Egypt and Mesopotamia. There, one of the ancient dice sets was found: so-called Astragali. These were made of animal bones and had four sides. Each side represented a certain number of points; the goal of the game was to get the highest number of points; however, betting was also prevalent. When betting, people had to put their money on the number of points and were considered winners if the bet was accurate. Pretty similar to our modern games, aren’t they?
Ancient China
The position of the Far East ancient gambling capital is rightfully occupied by China. Despite having strict regulations on games of chance, it was China who spawned many of them. Actually, first cards originate from China, so without this large and beautiful country there would be no poker, no blackjack, and the whole gambling culture would look completely different. Tile games were also created in China, the fact that should be known to all domino players.
Ancient Europe
Europe was not an exception to the rule. Both Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome had gambling ingrained in their culture. Just take a look at myths of Ancient Greece: according to one of them, the world itself was divided into influence areas by a game of dice. The Hades was the unluckiest from the Olympians and thus was tasked with keeping the world of the dead. The ancient Greeks themselves, nonetheless, considered games of chance unethical, which doesn’t mean that playing was not popular back then. Ancient Rome at some points of time had gambling legally banned, which, once again, didn’t stop enthusiasts from participating. One of the most popular Roman games was called Par Impar. It evolved into what we know today as Odds or Evens. One player clenched in the fist a certain number of pebbles or small rocks; the task of the other was to guess, if this number was odd or even.
Modern State
It is amazing how current state of the trade could be traced to hundreds and even thousands of years ago. People used to come up with simple and complex instruments to test their luck, and seeing how these tools, rules and traditions influenced the current landscape is truly astonishing.
Today, many players prefer to access games via Internet; it is very easy, fast, and it allows playing at home without even the need to physically attend establishments. Online casinos truly changed the game providing both gambles of long history and culture (as poker) and new entertainments (as slots). People can decide for themselves, what they want to play at the moment.
