How European Entertainment Evolved toReach New Audiences Across the Planet

The role that Europe has played in defining various types of entertainment shouldn’t be
underestimated. While these ways of being entertained are now very different across the
world, a look at their roots lets us see how they started in Europe before moving elsewhere.

Gambling games like blackjack and baccarat began life in Europe before becoming globally popular. Roulette is another good example of how these games evolved as the first major change to occur away from Europe was the use of a double zero wheel in the US. Although the original version created by Frenchman Blaise Pascal didn’t have a zero, this had been added when King Charles III of Monaco requested a way of ensuring a house edge when the game was added to the Monte Carlo casino in the 19th century.

The list of current online roulette games reveals that other features have been added in recent times as it has reached new audiences. They include the use of random multipliers on Quantum Roulette x1000 and Gold Vault Roulette. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Roulette adds a bonus round based on the TV game show and we can expect to see other features added in the future as the game’s popularity continues to grow in many countries.

Many Different Ball Games

The earliest evidence of ball games being played comes from Egypt, while Mesoamerica and Asia had their own games of this type in the past. However, it was in Europe that the likes of football and rugby emerged as organised types of entertainment that turned into huge industries.

As these sports reached new shores, interesting variants emerged like the Australian Rules version of football. This sport was introduced in the 19th century and combined Gaelic football with UK football rules and the indigenous game called marngrook. In the US, a new kind of football was also created in the same century, as a sort of cross between football and rugby with rules that appealed more to American fans.

"Robert Harvey’s last game of AFL Football" (CC BY-ND 2.0) by Bradsview

The History of Cinema

While the modern film-making industry is largely centred on Hollywood, its history can be traced back to Paris, France in the 1890s. It’s impossible to give credit to a single person for creating the technology that makes movies possible, but it’s clear that the Lumière brothers were the first people to project a film as a type of paid entertainment.

Many of the early advances occurred in Europe but as this technology was increasingly used across the planet, new styles and approaches were used. This led to lush, big-budget productions in the US, the Japanese jidaigeki period dramas and Bollywood’s musical style. This diversity has helped to ensure that the film industry is adapted to the taste of each culture, while all starting from the same idea the Lumière brothers had in Paris over a century ago.  

This look back over the history of some of the most popular types of entertainment has shown how European innovation played a crucial part in them. Looking forward, expect to see more fresh ideas emerge from here that continue to change how we get entertained.

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