6 most popular types of casino games

Casino games have a long history, undergoing many years of refinement and innovation. New variants are pushed out to players – old games with new and exciting twists – while the classics persist and less exciting games fall out of favor. The new era of online casino gaming has only escalated this – it would take players years to exhaust the vast libraries of games that casinos such as Vulkan Vegas have on offer.

But regardless of all these glitzy new games, a few games will always have a firm place as favorites. Read on to find out which are the most popular types of casino games.

Baccarat is one of the oldest casino games, originating in Italy during the 1400s. It’s a simple game and one of the only table games on this list that relies purely on chance rather than any strategy, with its gentle learning curve making it popular for newcomers.

Players aim to put together a hand with a total value of nine, or as close to that as possible. Face cards and 10s all have a value of zero. Where it differs from blackjack and eliminates elements of strategy, in baccarat, the pre-established rules of the game determine whether you’ll receive another card from the dealer or not – players have no choices except on where to bet.

As perhaps the most widely known casino game in the world, it’s a no-brainer to include poker on this list. Any casino worth its salt – if it includes table games at all – will offer a wide variety of poker games to players.

Poker has a lot of variations – Texas Hold‘em, Omaha or Seven-Card Stud, to name but a few, but they all have a number of things in common. First is the skill and strategy required for players to excel at poker, making it a favorite among keen gamblers. Second is that players will receive cards, attempting to improve the quality of their hand, and then place bets on how likely they are to have the best hand in the game.

It's a game of bluffing and careful analysis, and if your instincts win out, prevailing at the poker table is one of the most satisfying moments for casino gamers.

No image of a casino is complete without a roulette table, and no table game is simpler and more thrilling. Players bet on colors or numbers (or both) on the roulette wheel before it is spun, and if the ball lands in a slot you’ve put your chips on, you win.

Like all casino games, a wide number of variations have developed, though all are based on the spinning wheel. Its accessibility makes it so popular, but with more time spent on the game, players refine their understanding and get an even greater chance of hitting it big.

This list wouldn’t be complete without the all-time favorite casino game – slots. Between the heady variation on offer and the thrill of simple and mindless fun, slots have practically become the face of casinos, especially since the rise of online casinos where software designers are free to reach for the stars when it comes to graphics, themes and exciting rules.

Craps is the only dice game on this list. Players will roll a pair of dice on the dice board and place bets on the outcome – a simple concept, but craps has a very intricate set of rules. It’s this complexity that draws so many players to a game involving only a pair of dice.

There’s certainly a lot of terminology to learn while playing craps, and it has a much steeper learning curve than many games on this list, but nonetheless, craps has certainly persisted as one of the most popular casino games on offer.

Following the thread of highly strategic games, blackjack is another star on this list, boosted by its enticing combination of simplicity and strategy. Every hand requires a decision, and the outcome of your game depends on your choices.

Similarly to baccarat, players aim to make a hand totaling as close to 21 as possible, but in blackjack, players must choose whether to receive or pass on a card each turn. Every time they request a card from the dealer, there’s a chance they’ll bust and lose everything they’ve placed in the game.

Like poker, blackjack has a number of variations, including European Blackjack, Face Up 21 and Spanish 21, each with a different degree of house advantage. Blackjack is a guaranteed find on any online casino and operators have made great efforts to make it as close to the real thing as possible.