May 31, 2024Human NatureOpen Access

The Cultural Evolution of Games of Chance

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Historical games of chance in premodern China maintained a consistent house advantage, even though early operators lacked mathematical training in probability calculus.
Players and gambling houses regularly engaged with random events, yet both groups operated without any formal understanding of probability theory or mathematical frequencies.
A cultural evolution framework shows that selective imitation and retention preserved advantageous game structures, highlighting how traditions adapt without explicit design.

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Implication

Cultural evolutionary analysis reveals favorable house advantage in premodern Chinese games of chance, indicating selective imitation drove game design without probability theory.

Cite This Study

Ze Hong (2024) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68e67752b6db6435876014b5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09471-9

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Implication

Cultural evolutionary analysis reveals favorable house advantage in premodern Chinese games of chance, indicating selective imitation drove game design without probability theory.

The Cultural Evolution of Games of Chance

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Implication

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The Cultural Evolution of Games of Chance

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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