Slot-Cards and Black Jack- Fun Facts
The joy of hitting the jackpot on a slot machine, the thrill of beating the dealer in blackjack, the winning stories of your favourite games and the burst of fun and laughter. This is passion of gaming. But do you know some interesting tales behind these.
The invention of slot machine came in the 19th century. Prior to these, machines represented only drums holding a total of fifty card faces based on poker
The early machines did not have any direct payout mechanism thus a bartender would reward winning players with prizes like cigars and beer.
The first true slot machine was invented by a car mechanic in 1887.
To keep his customers busy till he repaired their vehicles Charles Fey invented a machine with three spinning reels containing five symbols; horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts, and a Liberty Bell, which also gave the machine its name.
By reducing the symbols from fifty cards to five symbols, Fey simplified the machine enough to allow an automatic payout system. The three bells in a row produced the biggest payoff.
The fruit symbols like cherries, melons, and lemons commonly seen on slot machines today come from early versions of the game.
The Bell-Fruit Gum Company began manufacturing a slot machine with disguised as candy or gum dispensers to appear legal. As a result, modern slots still contain the same fruit symbols and the BAR symbol, which stood for the Bell-Fruit Gum Company’s early logo.
As gambling was illegal in many states players would often swallow the dice to hide any evidence in the event of a police raid. This originated the phase in the early 20th century ‘no dice’ mean no conviction.
The Blanc family in 1860 established a gambling mecca for European elite at the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco with roulette as the most popular game.
The casino’s operator, François Blanc aka “The Magician of Monte Carlo” made a deal with the devil to obtain the secrets of roulette. It is said that, for this reason, the sum of all numbers on the roulette wheel (1 to 36) adds up to 666, the Number of the Beast. It therefore, has received the nickname of The Devil’s Game.
The oldest game found at any casino is Keno over 2000 years in China
A man named Cheung Leung invented Keno to raise money during the Han Dynasty of 205-187 BC to fund army in war.
The original version is similar to today’s Keno. In that it had 80 choices to pick and today there are 80 numbers to choose from.
The game was sometimes referred to as the White Pigeon Game, because carrier pigeons would send results from village to village, since roads at the time were scarce or poorly routed.
Credit for devising the four suits and design seen in modern playing cards goes to French people. The four suits in playing cards reflect different classes in French society.
The clubs represent the peasantry and achievement through hard labor while the diamonds refer to the merchant class and striving toward the creation of wealth.
The hearts stands for the clergy and their goal toward inner peace with God.
The spades, formerly the French piqué or pike, reflect royalty and the long pointed weapons used to keep order within a factitious society.
The game of blackjack originated from the French card game “Vingt-et-Un”, meaning 21.
Napoleon Bonaparte loved played blackjack regularly, particularly after his exile to the island of Elba, where the former French Emperor would pass the time by playing the game for hours.
Any other interesting facts?
