In the early days of Bitcoin casinos when this new form of online gambling was still taking shape, a few game genres quickly rose to prominence by resonating with crypto users. These breakout games set the course for crypto casinos’ initial direction.
Dice games became one of the first hugely popular crypto casino game genres around 2013. Primedice led the way with a simple Bitcoin dice game built on blockchain technology. Users could bet varying amounts of BTC on rolling dice under a certain number. Thanks to provably fair random number generation, players could verify the fairness of each roll. Primedice demonstrated dice as an ideal crypto game with easy rules, fast bets, and transparency through Bitcoin.
Soon competing Bitcoin dice games launched, including SatoshiDice, Just-Dice, and DuckDice. They tweaked factors like payouts, maximum bets, and aesthetics while retaining dice at the core. For early crypto gamblers, the simplicity, fairness and bitcoin integration made dice games an appealing option. At one point, dice games accounted for over half of all Bitcoin transactions.
Another breakout crypto casino game pioneering blockchain gambling was crash games. Inspired by the declining multiplier concept of cash crash games, CryptoGames brought this to Bitcoin casinos in 2014. Players bet BTC on a multiplier rising from 1x up until it crashed. Where you “cashed out” before the crash determined payouts. This unpredictable excitement and risk-reward tension built on blockchain rails formed an engaging gameplay loop that helped crash games gain popularity.
Overall, the early trendsetting games of pioneering crypto casinos tended to focus on adapting existing gambling formats like dice and crash to the crypto context. Their success underscored gamifier demand for the same enjoyment and transparency of traditional games upgraded with Bitcoin and blockchain attributes. This would drive continuing innovation in the crypto casino space.