Even poker has its origins in a picture-card game from 17th Century Persia. Playing cards first appeared in China in the 9th Century. The earliest six-sided dice are five thousand years old. Just about every human society ever recorded has indulged in some form of gambling.

Here at Gamepix, we’ve assembled a collection of online games that capture the atmosphere of the casino – but which don’t require that you gamble any real money. But the truth is that for every big winner, there are many more losers. We all know the thought: that today might just be my lucky day. It’s this possibility – of walking in with a hundred dollars and walking out with a million – that makes casinos so appealing. In these grand, windowless complexes, you could quite easily spend hours, or even days – and blow your life savings while you're inside…! The appeal of casinos is that while the odds are always stacked in favor of the house, there’s still a chance – be it through skill or blind luck – that you could find yourself among the high rollers, being given the keys to the penthouse suite.

And a sizeable portion of these can be found in the same building: the casino. Many of the world’s most popular games still exist in the same state they did decades ago.