From the earliest days of society, people have been playing games.
Of course, the games we play today are often quite different from what they had centuries ago. They didn’t have the Internet or computer screens to play on, after all!
But whether you choose to play Slingo or Blackjack, there’s still a thread of history connecting them to older forms of games.
So, if you want to know more, let’s take a little look back on just some of the history that has brought us these games.
Rolling dice in Rome
While there’s evidence of gaming as far back as Ancient China, a lot of the details of how those early games worked is lost to time.
On the other hand, thanks to the writings of Greek philosophers, we know that rudimentary dice games were a popular pastime back in their days.
Obviously, these weren’t the most complicated games compared to what we have now, with the goal simply being to correctly guess the outcome of a roll.
You wouldn’t find a casino in Ancient Rome but that didn’t stop dice rolling from becoming a particular favourite of many citizens.
Comparing cards in Paris
Over the years people eventually progressed from dice to cards – although, of course, dice are still a big part of many games today.
Blackjack is possibly the most popular card game played in casinos around the world, stemming from the European game of Vingt-Et-Un.
With the goal of getting a hand as close to 21 as possible, without going over, players bet against the dealer and choose whether to risk taking extra cards to add to their initial two.
Other notable and storied card games include Baccarat – which was a particular favourite of James Bond in his classic era – and Poker.
Rise of the slot machines
After centuries spent at the casino tables, a new form of gaming was introduced to the world in the late 19th century – the slot machine.
Its initial designs didn’t fully resemble the slot machines we know today but the basic idea was there from the start.
Pull on the lever, watch the reels spin and see if you get a matching set of symbols – it’s as simple as that.
Over time, of course, Slots have evolved further from those physical machines to an online version, but you can still find plenty of in-person ones that incorporate a lot more bells and whistles than the original Liberty Bell machine.
From Bingo to Slingo
The basic setup of Bingo hasn’t really changed all that much over the decades, meanwhile.
Just like historical lotteries, the goal is still to match numbers on your ticket to the ones being randomly drawn by the bingo caller until you can complete a line. Bingo!
Thanks to its strong popularity, many variations of the classic Bingo formula have popped up recently, including the fusion game of Slingo.
Combining the premise of Bingo with the spins of Slots, Slingo offers a distinct but familiar experience to players looking to try something different.
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As you can see, gaming has come a long way over thousands of years and will continue to change, with its evolution is unlikely to stop any time soon.
Who knows what new games or variations on old classics we’ll be playing 2030?
