History of Games - Table Games

Table Games

With the possible exception of Carrom (a game whose origins are uncertain), the earliest table games appear to have been the Cue sports, which include Carom billiards, Pool, or Pocket billiards, and Snooker. The cue sports are generally regarded as having developed into indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn games (retroactively termed ground billiards), and as such to be related to trucco, croquet and golf, and more distantly to the stickless bocce and balls.

Roulette has been played in its present form since the late 18th century, and is generally understood to have been adapted from English wheel games such as Roly-Poly and E.O., with influences from the Italian board games Hoca and Biribi.

Fan-Tan was widely played throughout the 19th century, peaking in popularity during the last few decades prior to 1900, although it can still be found in many Macau casinos today.