Famous Games That Technology Has Taken in Completely New Directions
Classic games that we all love to play tend to evolve slowly, with gradual changes to the rules and strategies occurring over many years. Yet, when we look at the following games, we can see how they’ve all changed more drastically and in different ways in recent times thanks to advances in technology.
Bingo Players Have Embraced Online Play and Different Versions
When bingo first went online at the start of the century, no one could have imagined how this would help the game to grow and reach new markets so effectively. One of the secrets to this is that many different online versions of the classic game have been developed, using a variety of themes and rule changes to add freshness.
The meeting of bingo and Monopoly in the MONOPOLY Big Baller game from Evolution Gaming reveals how this way of playing is becoming ever more varied. In this case, the game is set on a riverboat and has a real host live-streamed onto the screen. By using 3D elements and the latest augmented reality techniques, the developers have created an immersive bingo game that adds features from Monopoly for more varied gameplay.
This has helped introduce bingo to more players, who perhaps might never have tried the traditional approach that has been popular in Yorkshire for many decades, of crossing off their numbers on a card in a local hall. Instead, they’ve been intrigued by online games like those mentioned above and Slingo, which plays like a cross between bingo and a slot machine to give more varied gameplay.
Chess Players Are Learning from Computer Programs
1997 is often stated as the year that chess was changed forever, and it was also a massive milestone in the development of artificial intelligence. This was the year when the Deep Blue supercomputer that was created by IBM won a chess game against world champion Garry Kasparov in New York, causing us to look at computers in a new light.
The progress made since this historic game has been dramatic, with computer programs now easily able to beat any human chess player. This has led to former world champion Magnus Carlsen saying that he doesn’t want to play against computers. However, what no one could have predicted at the time of Deep Blue’s stunning victory was that this would lead to the world’s best chess players learning from computer programs.
After more than 1,000 years of chess being a game where the best players learned their strategies and moves painstakingly, the success of chess computers has opened up new possibilities. We can now learn any strategy with the help of a computer and easily recreate classic games from the past, such as Yorkshire champion John Littlewood’s historic encounter with Mikhail Botvinnik, with software such as Rybka 4 even making it feel as though you’re playing a human when you’re really up against the computer.
These examples show us that the most popular games are likely to carry on evolving, perhaps at a faster rate than ever before. The simplicity at the heart of bingo and chess remains one of their strong points but technology is now being used to take them in new directions without losing their essence.
