What is Roulette?

Roulette is a game of chance played with chips on a table. You place bets until the dealer says no more bets. You can bet on individual numbers, or groups of numbers.

The roulette wheel has thirty-six red and black compartments, plus a green zero (or double zero on American tables). In the center is a dishlike device called a roullete.

Variations

Roulette is a game of chance that has many variations. These variations differ primarily in the number of pockets on the wheel and the distribution of numbers. European Roulette, for example, has 38 pockets and one zero. This makes the game simpler to play and has a lower house edge than other versions of the game.

In mathematics, a roulette is the curve described by a point (the generator) attached to a given curve as that curve rolls without slipping along a fixed curve. This type of curve generalizes cycloids, epicycloids, hypocycloids, trochoid, and involutes. A more precise description is that a roulette is the locus of the generator subjected to continuous congruence transformations.

Origins

The exact origins of roullete aren’t really clear, but it is generally believed that the game originated in France during the early 17th century. It’s derived from older games like portique, hoca, and bassette. It eventually evolved into a modern form of the game in the 19th century. The Blanc brothers got rid of the double zero on the roulette wheel and it became what we know as European or French roulette today.

It was also around this time that the game found its way to America, where it became very popular. Fanciful stories about its ancestors include that it was invented by 17th-century French mathematician Blaise Pascal while he was on the quest for a perpetual motion machine at a monastery, or by Dominican monks from China.