One of the oldest casino games around, the game of Baccarat remains one of the most famous games for people to play at casinos today. As one of the simplest and easiest casino games to play, it’s easy to see why everyone loves a good game of live baccarat. Unlike card games like Poker or Blackjack, there are no skills or complex strategies to master here, as it’s all about luck, which is one of the game’s biggest appeals.
There’s quite a lot of mystery surrounding the history of Baccarat and different theories surrounding its origins, but most historians agree that Baccarat was invented in the year 1400. From its debated origins to the game many players know and love today, Baccarat has changed in many ways to evolve into the modern-day version.
Curious to learn more about the fascinating history of this popular casino game? Keep reading to learn more about the origins of the game, the original version of Baccarat, and how Baccarat became one of the most popular card games played in casinos today.
The Italian & French Cousins of Baccarat
The origins of Baccarat can be traced back to 1400 Italy and the most common theory is that the game was invented by Felix Falguiere. The game was originally called ‘baccara’, which is Italian for ‘zero’. It’s believed that Falguiere named the game this way because both the ten and face cards have a value of zero, as they do in today’s version as well.
As the popularity of the game continued to grow, the game of Baccarat reached France which is where it got the French name ‘Baccarat’ that we know today. Baccarat become popular around the 1800s in France and a French version of the game was created, known as Chemin de Fer or Chemmy, as it’s more commonly known. The king of France at that time, King Charles VIII turned the game of Baccarat into a noble and aristocratic gambling game and as a result, the game was most played among the wealthiest, most noble people in France.
Chemmy is still played today, although it’s not very popular compared to the original version. In the French version, the bank is passed from player to player whereas in the British version that most players are familiar with, the house is the bank.
From Felix Falguiere to King Charles, Baccarat was then introduced in England. By the 19th century, Baccarat became quite popular all over Europe, with each country having its own preferred variation. In France, this was the Chemin de Fer or Chemmy version while in Italy it was the original Baccara game. In the UK, the most popular version of the game was Punto Banco, which is the variation that’s played across the UK and the United States nowadays.
Every version has slightly different rules, but the basic rules are always the same. At the heart, Baccarat is a prediction-based game where the player simply needs to guess the winning side between the player or the banker. What differs between the most common Baccarat variations is the way the cards are dealt and the bank.
The Original Version of Baccarat
The original Baccarat game was played a little bit differently than how it’s commonly played today. First of all, there were four dealers dealing the cards rather than one. Secondly, players took turns being the banker, whereas nowadays, the banker at a casino or online gambling site is usually the house. In the original version, players could also place bets against other players and against the house, whereas today, players can only place bets against the house in most variations, and there is only one dealer.
Baccarat’s Emigration Outside of Europe
Once Baccarat reached a certain popularity in France and England, the game soon emigrated outside of Europe and became popular across America in the late 1900s. The Punto Banco version was invented which became immensely popular in South America and the Caribbean. In this version, the main difference from the previously known Baccara and Punto Banco variations was that players now played against the house only rather than competing against each other.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, Baccarat started to become widely popular across casinos and gambling venues in the United States. It’s known that the game of Baccarat was brought to Las Vegas, Nevada, by Tommy Renzoni from South America where the game was already established and very popular. In the United States, the game of Baccarat didn’t quite catch on as other casino games like Roulette or Blackjack did, but it’s still widely available across US casinos.
