During the seventies, Doyne Farmer, who was a graduate student then, and some of his colleagues, made an attempt to create computers that could foresee the winning number on the roulette wheel. There’s even a book, The Newtonian Casino, that tells the story of this project, which turned out to be very challenging and full of technical issues. Long story short, they never actually found a dependable method to predict the game of roulette.
The very beginning of the roulette wheel has roots in science. It is believed Blaise Pascal discovered it while trying to build the perpetuum mobile machine. According to the laws of physics, a machine of that type is impossible, but as an inventor, Pascal wanted to try anyway. He failed obviously, but the process resulted in one of the most popular casino games ever.
Newton’s Laws of Motion and What They Have to Do With Roulette
The game of roulette is rather simple. The croupier spins the wheel, players choose between some numbers and colors, and place bets. Here’s where Newton’s laws of motion come into place. We clearly understand the movement of a ball and wheel, and their relation to each other. Once the ball starts slowing down, gravity takes over causing it to fall into any numbered pocket. It can even be determined when the ball leaves the edge. But after that happens, what path it will follow towards a numbered hole becomes less predictable.
So how is randomness achieved? Each roulette wheel is different. The atmosphere changes continuously and the wheel itself has elements that promote chance, like the size of the frets between numbers and diamond-shaped obstructions that intercept a falling ball. Consequently, it’s impossible to predict the exact number on which the ball will land. However, if you know roughly where it will fall in relation to the sectors it is divided into, then your odds could theoretically improve.
How Online Casinos Approach Roulette Wheel Design
The roulette wheel started out as a physical, analogue device. There are 38 possible places for the ball to land on the wheel (depending on the variant of the game), and all of them have the same odds. In this way, a roulette wheel is basically a random number generator. So how do live roulette games at Casino Days or other online casinos approach this? Live casino games are slightly different, as they are played in front of the live dealer, so it’s essentially a physical roulette wheel, spun by a human croupier. But what about completely digital versions of the game? The solution is straightforward. They use the digital version of a random number generator. It’s a complex algorithm, but the outcome is almost the same as if you would spin the wheel by hand.
The Design of the Roulette Wheel is Genius
The roulette wheel isn’t just one design. It comes in different styles, coming mostly from historical contexts. You could say there are three main versions of the game. European, American and French. Each has slightly different rules, but the basic design is the same. And that design is a genius in disguise. It’s a perfect mix of simplicity and unpredictability. On the surface, the wheel seems to be nothing more than a simple circle divided into numbered and colored sections. However, behind this seemingly uncomplicated design lies an intricate mechanism which has fascinated players for decades.
Another vital thing for the game’s betting system are alternating colors. You can make various bets starting from simple ones like a number or color to more complicated combinations. Besides that, putting a green zero (or double zero in American roulette) is also important in the design of the wheel. Although it may seem unimportant, this part changes the odds dramatically. Additionally, zeros are placed strategically on wheels so as to break up symmetry between blacks and reds, which makes them even more unpredictable.
Until the mid-19th century, there was no zero on the Roulette wheel. Pascal’s invention of the Roulette wheel had stayed unchanged for many years. But everything changed in 1842 when Francois and Lois Blanc created a Roulette wheel that featured one zero, at the request of King Charles III of Monaco, whose kingdom got into financial trouble. The wheel was introduced to gamblers and became very popular.
