The History Of Slot Machines

01.12.2020
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The history of slot machines is a story of pioneers who altered the way people have gambled over the past century and a bit. You can still see evidence of the early slot machines in new video slots made today. Let's take a trip down memory lane and explore the fast-changing history of the most popular gambling game in the world. The history of slot machines begins with their invention. The race to produce the first commercial slot machine reached its height in the last decade of the nineteenth century. On opposite coasts of the United States, people were striving to make a handy and fun game that could be played in all sorts of venues, whether it was in a diner or a bar. Introduction to Slot Machine History. The first coin-operated slot machine was invented just over 130 years ago. That’s a lot of slot machine history. However, understanding it provides insight into the next technological advancements to expect from this entertainment machine.

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The History Of Slot Machines

If you live on this planet, and especially if you’re over the age of 18, you have heard of slot machines and might have even spent countless hours sitting at one. That is completely understandable considering that slot machines have been a huge staple in the entertainment industry throughout the last century.

Slot machines take up serious amounts of floor space in just about every casino in the world. Invented in the 19th century, they are still one of the most popular casino games in the world. On average, 30% of casinos profits come from slot machines. They are everywhere and offer thousands of different games to select from.

With their consistent levels of popularity on a global level, you can rest assured that they also bring an interesting history to the table. Here is the awesome history of slot machines.

1- The First Gambling Machine Can Be Traced Back to the 1800s

Back in the early phases of the 19th century, people here in the United States began to realize the large potential profits that could be made from owning and operating what today would feel like a fossilized version of a casino. One of the early pioneers of the casino industry who brought forth the concept of a “gambling machine” was a man from Brooklyn, New York named Charles Fey.

It’s interesting to note that there is a great debate amongst the gambling/casino community about who invented the first slot machine and when it was invented. Before Fey’s prototype of the slot machine, it is said that the Brooklyn based company Sitmann and Pitt brought forth the world’s first “gambling machine.”

This gambling machine wasn’t like the typical slot machine that you are used to. This machine was more like a poker machine. The machine had 5 drums or reels, and each reel held 10 cards. Instead of a button that you would press on a slot machine you would pull a lever after inserting money inside the machine.

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After the lever was pulled, the drum would spin the cards, and the objective of the game was to land a strong poker hand. The machine would later become more advanced and favorable when it gave the player the opportunity to deposit unwanted cards and draw for more, almost like you would in a normal poker game.

The History Of Slot Machines Photos

The rewards that came with these machines wouldn’t be automatic. The machine didn’t spit money back to the player if the player won, and there also were a lot of states that had these machines but didn’t have the legal permission necessary to allow gambling inside the states’ lines. They would typically win a beer or cocktail, or a cigar/cigarette.

2- Innovations Were Soon to Follow

The original version of the slot machine, created by Fey in 1895, was called the “Liberty Bell.” It was different from the former prototype of the “poker machine,” one of the reasons being that his machine had only three reels. The machines also had a mechanism that allowed players to receive an immediate reward that would be dispensed by the machine if the player won.
Different from the poker machine by Sitmann and Pitt, instead of having reels with different cards, Fey’s machine with 3 reels had a symbol such as a horse shoe or liberty bell on each reel. The symbols would eventually line up in order to hopefully create a winning payout for the player.

Fey gained so much popularity and success based on his prototype of the first slot machine that competing companies would eventually surrender to just copying Fey’s idea. After Fey and his slot machine gained much fame and notoriety, the machine would inherit its new name, The “One Armed Bandit,” with a lever on the side of the machine.

Fey would go on to eventually open The Slot Machine Factory in 1896. Even though the original “Liberty Bell” machine cannot be played anymore, gambling enthusiasts are still able to see the machine at a museum in Reno.

The History Of Slot Machines In Usa

3- Slot Machines Were Banned for a Period of Time

Especially when comparing the early styles of slot machines to the more technologically advanced models found today, it’s easy to tell that slot machines have come a long way. Plus, they’ve been around for over 100 years.

Now that electronic machines have been around for quite some time, we have strayed far away from the early days of having to pull a lever in the hopes of winning. Slot machines can oftentimes make you work hard before you can have the lucky chance of winning something sizable. Since their early days, men and women both have slaved away for countless hours, pulling the handles or pressing the buttons.

Aside from the electronic machines adapting a button, modern slot machines also would stray away from the original 3 reel concept, which is what you would ordinarily find inside your typical modern casino.

When speaking of the history of the early days of the slot machine, we left off right around the beginning of the 1900s. After the United States fell in love with Fey’s “Liberty Bell” in 1895, by 1902, slot machines would just several short years later end up getting banned throughout the United States.

The banning of slot machines would bring on a new era, which started when Herbert Mills brought forth a new variation of the slot machine in 1907. His machine would introduce the concept of using fruit symbols as the characters for each reel, and instead of their being cash prizes, winning players would receive prizes in the form of sweets, such as candy or chewing gum.

It wouldn’t be until the early 1960s that the world would see another dramatic change in the style and mechanics of the slot machine. In 1963, a famous company in the industry named Bally introduced the very first electromechanical slot machine.

The name of the machine was called “Money Honey” and featured electronic reels. Regardless of the reels being electronic, a pulled lever was still required in order to make the reels spin. Another huge change that Money Honey brought to the industry was that it held the capacity to be able to spit out up to 500 coins.

As the popularity of this machine grew, which happened quickly, a button would eventually be used in place of the lever.

4- The Computer Revolution of the 1970s Introduced Video Slot Machines

In 1976, the world would see the very first video slot machine. This had a dramatic impact on the popularity of slot machines, as though their popularity couldn’t get any larger. Created by the company Fortune Coins, the video slot machines used a Sony television display screen that displayed the videos and was first featured inside the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It wouldn’t take long before almost every single hotel on the Las Vegas Strip featured the new video slot machines. Casinos wouldn’t see any more changes in the slot machine industry until the 90s.

1994 could arguably be the year that many enthusiasts would say was the most revolutionary year out of any other year for the slot machine. The arrival of the internet opened doors for the casino industry that many people thought impossible.

The birth of the internet was the catalyst that would quickly bring the birth of the first online casinos. In 1994, different online casinos added slot machines as one of the games that could be enjoyed online, allowing players to never even have to step foot in a casino in order to play their favorite game.

By 1996, video slot machines began incorporating a second screen that provided the player with the potential opportunity to go into a “bonus round.” When the player activated a bonus round, an additional new screen would appear that simply gave players the chance to win more. During this time period in the mid to late 90s, this style of slot machine made up 70% of the total profits earned by all casinos.

Just to give you an understanding of just how popular slot machines are today, a recent study in England concluded that the citizens there have spent over £5 billion a year just on video slots alone. Imagine if a study was conducted that could tally up the annual spending on slot machines in every country of the world.

Conclusion

It’s just amazing how consistently the United States alone has found great pleasure and joy year after year through what used to be such a technologically simple machine. Regardless of its simplicity, Americans and other people around the globe have embraced all of the different concepts and stages of the slot machine.

I’m sure there are so many other neat and interesting pieces of history in regards to slot machines that I easily might have left out. If you have more cool facts and tidbits on slot machines and their awesome history, please drop a comment down in the section below.

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Slot Machines – Brief History

The history of the slot machines unlike classic casino games and card games as poker is quite short. The predecessors of the slot machines appeared in 1870s.

Charles Fey, “father of the slot machines” invented his first machine in 1894. This first model has stood the test of time and you can see it in the gambling parlors even now. The reels initially depicted cards, later followed by pictures of fruit. The bell rings every time Slotxo you win as it used to be one hundred years ago.

The history of the machines may be divided into three periods.

The first period – mechanical slot machine.

Slot Machine Names List

Charles Fey was the king of the period thanks to the invention of three-reel slots. The most popular slot machine of that time was cast-iron Liberty Bell.

Each of the three reels displayed ten symbols. If the player got three identical symbols, he had hit the jackpot. The chance to win a jackpot was one of a thousand. The sum of payments of the invested money in the Fey machines equaled to 50%.

The History Of Slot Machines Jackpots

When the gambling was banned, design of the slots was changed. The sums of the prizes were replaced with the pictures of the chewing gum packages, and different tastes were depicted as a respective fruit. The amounts of jackpot was also increasing along with the popularity of the machines. In order to increase jackpots additional reels were built into the machines. The slots got larger and their internal design was constantly changing.

Liberty Bell Slot Machine 1880

The second period – electro mechanical slot machine.

The second period of development of the slot machines was rather calm, fell in to the middle of the twentieth century. The brightest event of the period was production of the Big Bertha. However, shortly it was overtopped by even more killing innovation of that time – Super Big Bertha.

Creation of this super slots exceeded USD 150,000. The machine contained a 5 horsepower motor and eight reels with 20 game symbols on each of them. Super Big Bertha was certainly an impressive machine, but unlikely it was not generous in prizes. The sum of payments reached only 80% of the invested money and the chance to win a jackpot was one of 25,6 millions.