Roulette Equipment

Like any casino game Roulette has its own equipment without which it is impossible to play the game. The main elements of the game are: a table, a table layout, a ball, a wheel and chips.

Roulette tables are usually green, though you can come across blue ones. Roulette tables are not all the same. There are two main types of Roulette tables. One is the standard table, which has one betting layout with the roulette wheel at one end; the other, called the double-end table, has two layouts with the wheel in the center between them.

The layout is a multicolored design printed on green baize that covers the players' side of the table and forms the betting section. The main section of the design is comprised of 36 numbered rectangular spaces arranged in three long columns of 12 spaces each. The spaces at the head of the columns are numbered 1, 2, 3 and are nearest the wheel. The numbering continues in sequence across the columns, ending with 34, 35 and 36 at the foot columns farthest from the wheel. Directly below these numbers are three blank spaces. A chip placed on one of these indicates that the player is betting on the 12 numbers on the long column directly above the space on which the chip rests.

The ball is made of ivory or synthetic plastic. The size is from inch to inch in diameter.

There are up to 7 sets of chips in the game of Roulette. Each set is differently colored and consists of 300 chips and there is one set for each player. The color of the chips indicates the player, not the value of the chips. For larger valued chips, in some instances they will actually have a color that indicates value.

There are two types of roulette wheels. The American wheel has 36 numbers and the signs 0 and 00. The French or European wheel, which has 36 numbers and only the single 0, is found mostly in European and South American casinos. The American wheels used in the United States and the Caribbean islands are, except for the double 00, similar in construction to the French wheels. The actual roulette wheels are made up of two separate parts - the table, which is stationary, and the wheel itself, which is movable and manually rotated by the croupier.