Here at Free Slot Money, we love the thrill of the slots and waiting for your symbols to drop into place to see if you are a winner. But where did slot machines come from, and how did they evolve to become the online phenomenon that we know and love today?
You can trace their history back almost 130 years, from the setup of the three reels to the strange symbols on display, and it’s interesting to discover the surprising reasons behind them all.
Like many new inventions, the first slot machines to appear were a variation of something that already existed – in this case, the poker hand. Wittman and Pitt created the first recognizable slot machine way back in 1891. It used five drums to deliver the five-card poker hand that was familiar to their target players. They figured that if people knew the game well, they would be more likely to play. Unfortunately, the number of possible combinations from 50 cards over five reels meant that it was impossible to create automatic pay-outs, so players had to go and ask for their winnings instead of getting that instant gratification that makes slot machines so compelling.
Four years later, Charles Fey came up with a far simpler solution, creating the three-reel machines that we know today. He realized that with just three reels and five different symbols, he could significantly reduce the possible outcomes and allow the machine to pay out automatically. Over the next decade, his idea was taken up and sold across the United States by Herbert Mills, and the slot machine became part of bar and casino culture.
So where did the odd choice of symbols for slots come from? The first of the famous symbols was introduced by Fey, who added the Liberty Bell to appeal to US patriotism. The fruit symbols of melons and cherries, however, came from Herbert Mills. To get around gaming laws in certain states, he set up the machines to pay out chewing gum instead of cash, and the flavours became the symbols. The bar symbol was a much later addition, representing the logo of major slot machine manufacturer Bell Fruit Corp.
With both the mathematics and the mechanics well established, slot machines changed very little in the first half of the twentieth century, and it wasn’t until the electronics advances of the 1960s that any major changes were made. The first fully-electronic machine, the Money Honey, was introduced by Bally Manufacturing, who removed the famous pull lever and replaced it with a button. No longer the ‘one armed bandit’, the slot machine had entered a whole new era.
Features such as holding and nudging the reels, and secondary games to increase your prize, soon followed, with machines themed around everything from ancient history to the most current TV shows and films. Growing rapidly in complexity and skill level, these machines were a far cry from the simple ‘fruit machines’ of the early years.
The first all-video slot appeared in 1976, and with the advent of the internet, it was inevitable that these games would move online. Today, you can find thousands of different slots online, from the simple to the sophisticated, with something for all tastes.
Yet, despite all the advancements in technology, there is still something special about dropping in your dime and pulling that handle, which keeps those original slot machines spinning in casinos from Atlantic City to Las Vegas. However good the online slots become, perhaps they will never match the thrill of seeing, and hearing, a big win raining a pile of shiny coins into your tray.
