Games Of Chance During The Ancient Civilizations
A lot of people these days consider betting as an entertaining way to pass the time. The thrill and excitement of winning or losing a bet provide an experience one cannot forget. Participating in betting games induces emotions you cannot have during your daily chores. Games of chance have been existing for thousands of years already. People back then do not have online websites, like TS911, where they can place wagers. Still, these games played a significant role in almost all civilizations. A lot of people regard the games as a hobby today, but that was not the case before. In the old days, the games were an integral part of some religious and cultural traditions.
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
When one says ancient civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt are the oldest. Humans decided to leave their nomadic life behind to settle down in Mesopotamia. There are early pieces of evidence of luck games found there, but there is little information about them. One of the earliest gaming artefacts recovered composed of animal talus bones. It was the four-sided Astragali or the knucklebones. Later on, people recreated those with various metals. They used wood, metal, and stone, among others. The item was a more primitive version of dice.
Ancient Egyptians used both knucklebones and dice. They used them to communicate with the gods. Throwing a dice decides their fate sometimes. They believe that the result of a dice throw could reveal the answer of the celestials. In 2012, a discovery proved that early settlers also used a 20-sided die.
The Egyptians started using dice in various games, like the board game Senet. The name translates to “the game of passing.” A lot argue over the rules, so they reconstructed the regulations of the Royal Game of Ur. The game made it to Egypt under the name Asseb.
Ancient China
China bans games of chance for prolonged periods. Despite that, it still became a mecca for those looking to place their bets. A lot of historians believe that the origin of betting started in Ancient China. Betting existed as early as the Xia dynasty’s reign in 1900-1600 BC. Most of the rulers knew that there were significant risks if someone got obsessed with it. So, games of chance were under rigorous control or outright banned. People did not care about its banning and continued to enjoy it as their pastime. The government legalized it because of significant financial benefits for them. They realized it was an excellent way of getting money from ordinary people. It was way less complicated than enforcing more taxes.
Ancient Americas
There is very little information on ancient games of chance in the Americas. But, dice games were famous there in the early times. An archaeologist discovered an antique scoreboard in 2010 and determined it to be about five thousand years old. People believed it was for a dice game of some sort.