Despite the many variations of this casino game, roulette’s rules are relatively straightforward: A small ball is spun around a numbered wheel and then thrown against it while it’s still in motion. If the ball lands on a number that you’ve bet on (or its color, whether it’s red or black), or one of two value ranges in which it sits, you win. The odds of hitting a particular number depend on the specific bet and the table layout.
Most believe that roulette was invented by French physicist Blaise Pascal as a way of testing his theory of perpetual motion, but this is unproven. It’s more likely that the game was derived from an English rotatable board called Roly-Poly, also known as E.O, which had a similar principle and was played by monks in the 1600s.
A standard European-style roulette wheel consists of a round, slightly convex wooden disk with 37 compartments painted alternately black and red (and sometimes green) and numbered nonconsecutively from 1 to 36. A central segmented ridge has metal pockets (called “canoes” by roulette croupiers) where the balls rest after each spin. On American-style wheels a 38th compartment painted green carries the numbers 0 and 00.
The table layout determines the types of bets you can make. These include straight bets – which cover a single number or a grouping of numbers, and outside bets – which encompass a larger area of the table by covering several adjacent numbers. The payouts for each type of bet vary according to the rules of the game, with outside bets paying out more than inside bets.
In addition to the traditional bets, there are a few other variations that affect the house edge. One is the en prison rule, which means that even-odds bets that lose to a zero aren’t automatically lost, and instead remain in place for another round. This can decrease the house edge considerably, though it’s not foolproof.
The game’s popularity among gamblers has led to the development of numerous systems that claim to beat the house edge. A simple search for “roulette system” will return countless results, some easy to understand, others more complicated and well-described. However, mathematicians have determined that no betting system can convert a subfair game into a profitable enterprise.
Organizing a coffee or lunch roulette at work fosters human relationships within your organization, and breaks down silo mentalities and hierarchical boundaries that inhibit communication. It also helps people to build stronger and more sustainable definitions of success, which enables them to thrive in a fast-paced work environment. To organize a Roulette at your company, simply click on the Builder tab in the top menu bar on Zavvy, and follow the steps to create an event. You can customize the list of topics that participants can talk about to spur meaningful conversations. You can also ask for feedback on your Roulette to gain valuable insight into the impact it’s having on your workforce.