baccarat

The history of the Baccarat is clouded in mystery. There is some debate about whether the game originated in Italy or France, mostly because the Italian word "baccarat" means "zero" in English but it has the same meaning in French too. Some people agree that it originated from Italy, because some of the theories state that a Italian man named Felix Falguierein invented the Baccarat in the middle ages. Also the theories say that the game "...was based on an old Etruscan ritual of the nine gods, who prayed to a blonde virgin on their tiptoes waiting for her to throw a nine-sided die. The result of the die decided her fate. If an eight or a nine was thrown, she would become the priestess; if she threw a six or seven, she would be banned from any further religious activities; if she threw any number less than six, she would walk into the sea.".

Around 1490 A.D. ( during the reign of Charles V||| of France ) the Baccarat was introduced in France and quickly became favorite game of the French nobility. After that the game spread to the world and became popular mainly for its simple rules.

Now there are three accepted variants of the game: baccarat chemin de fer(railway), punto banco(North American Baccarat) and baccarat banque(a deux tableaux). In contrast with the punto banco, where the player moves depend only by the cards he was dealt( i.e. there are no strategy nor skills involved), the variations chemin de fer and baccarat banque the players are free to make choices and thus the skill is involved.

A interesting fact is that Ian Fleming( the creator of James Bond) chose the game Baccarat Banque as the favorite game for his character, so James Bond can be seen playing the game in numerous novels.