The first step is to have chronic pain.

The scene is set. Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gainsborough against an overwhelming number of Don Corneo’s leering lackeys. Tifa roundhouse kicks one in the face, and what’s that? AERITH HAS A FOLDING CHAIR?!

Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997, is not the first game to feature a casino. What Final Fantasy VII did differently, though, is create the casino as a representative of the larger game it was involved in. Final Fantasy VII’s Gold Saucer exists as a microcosm of the larger game, especially the city of Midgar, in order to further cement VII’s plot message of classist divides through the use of gambling.