The Old West, especially when framed as the “Wild West,” has long been a key point of interest in US history. The lawlessness, the pursuit for bigger and better things on the other side of the European-settled-and-civilised part of the continent, and the chance for adventure all roll into an incredibly intriguing point in time. As we know very well, entertainment media has long delved into this facet of history, creating many iconic characters and stories in doing so.
Missouri just so happens to have very deep ties to the Wild West, from its position of importance in the modern day to the historic figures it gave home to. While all of this is worth exploring at any time, right now, interest is hitting new levels, and that’s likely because of the popularity of a certain collection of entertainment pieces that are enjoying a time in the spotlight.
Bringing Back the Western Setting
Source: Unsplash
If you ever want a quick gauge of hot trends, themes, and popular ideas in entertainment media, there’s one main place to look. Thanks to how many games get added to extensive online libraries and how quick it is – relatively speaking – to make new games, you can quickly see which themes are currently hot whenever you play top slot games online and have a look at the tiles that are pushed higher on platforms.
Slot gaming is a very competitive space, and to sell the games, the developers and casinos have little more than a tile to showcase that the game is worth playing. It’ll feature an eye-catching image in the chosen art style as well as the in-theme logo for the game. Those that prove to be popular will be pushed up the page by the casino platform as they want to have maximum kerbside appeal, as it were, to all of their players and potential players.
So, it’s quite telling that amongst the most popular slots at the time of writing was Lawless Ladies. Boasting a 40k jackpot and a distinctly Wild West theme, the tile shows the characters of the five Lawless Ladies and a saloon sign-style logo. In the game, it’s all about embracing the wild side of the Old West. Its main features all enhance wild symbols by adding random ones, expanding wilds, and adding multipliers to the symbols.
Of course, the trend in popularity for the Wild West theme had to come from somewhere, which would have then inspired the developers to create the hit slot Lawless Ladies. For this, the finger can quite firmly be pointed at Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, its two prequel series, and the other two spinoffs in the works. The hit long-running television show has been a colossal success for Paramount, to say the least.
Through the success of Yellowstone and rising back to the spotlight in his lead role, Kevin Costner would dust off an old idea for an epic Western that he penned back in 1988. In 2024, greatly thanks to Yellowstone, Costner was able to release the first of four parts to his Horizon: An American Saga movie series. Chapter 1 released in 2024, with Chapter 2 completed and ready for a 2025 release, and Chapter 3 was filming in May 2024.
Beyond Costner, we’ve had a fair few very good Westerns come to our screens this year. The Dead Don’t Hurt, starring Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps, tells a brutal tale at the breakout of the Civil War; Place of Bones melds in elements of horror with its bank heist tale; and The Ballad of Davy Crockett certainly impressed critics. In another corner of entertainment, video gaming, the 2018-released Red Dead Redemption 2 still gets nearly 30,000 people playing on computer platform Steam alone every day.
Venturing into the Days of the American Frontier in Missouri
Source: Pixabay
What is now Kansas City was one of the most important locations in all the Wild West. This isn’t so much for the riches found here or the incredible trade opportunities, but rather its place on the Missouri River. From the east side, Kansas City became the natural hub for people looking to venture into the American West. So, over the years, it became an outpost and the first step for the thousands of people looking to migrate to the other side of the continent.
As would be assumed, the eastern side of Kansas City, the part in Missouri, was the first to develop and become incorporated. This took place in 1853 to form the City of Kansas, later roping in Westport in 1897. On the other side of the river, in Kansas’ Wyandotte County, the small towns building up as the recipients of those Missouri would send off from the American Frontier incorporated into Kansas City in 1872 to capitalize on Missouri’s success.
With the Wild West being such a rich part of Missouri’s history, there are plenty of ways to explore the setting right here in Kansas City. Naturally, the museums are the best places to go to delve deeper, with the 1859 Jail Museum and National Pony Express Museum being top picks, but there’s also Dodge City or “Hell on the Plains,” which was the last stop for many pioneers on the way out, and the city’s old red-light district in what’s now River Market.
Thanks to an influx of popular entertainment pieces, the Wild West is, once again, surging as a trendy setting. Luckily, in Kansas City, Missouri, there are plenty of ways to explore beyond the on-screen stories to the fascinating history of the American Frontier.
