A History of Slots

A History of Slots

Slot machines are, without a doubt, the most popular casino games out there. Since their invention in the late 1800s, they have been a dynamite source of entertainment and gambling fun. They’re also a universal part of the casino experience. Between land-based and online casinos, you have literally thousands of options to choose from when it comes to finding a favorite one.

Called “fruit machines” in England and “pokies” in Australia, slot machines have a rich history to be sure. In fact, the name “slot machines” was originally applied to all automatic vending machines as well as gambling devices. This nickname referred to the slot in the machines where someone would drop their coins in. Only in the 20th century did the term come to mean just the gambling games.

There’s obviously way more to slot machines’ history, so let’s dive in and see how they’ve evolved over the years from simple mechanical games to complex graphical interfaces.

The Late 1800s

The story goes that the first “slot” gaming machine was developed by the New York based company Sittman and Pitt in the early 1890s. The game was set up in bars and cost 5 cents to play. People would insert their money and pull the lever to start up the reels.

The game had five spinning drums containing a total of 50 playing cards, and payouts were made for lining up a poker hand along the reels. Instead of a full 52-card deck, the manufacturers removed the 10 of spades and jack of hearts, which reduced the odds of a player getting a royal flush by half. This game didn’t have a mechanism for direct payouts, so players had to collect their wins at the bar (which were non-monetary prizes, like free drinks or cigars).

The game that more closely resembles what we think of as a slot machine was invented by car mechanic Charles Augustus Fey around the mid-1890s. Instead of drums, he used three reels to simplify the process the machine would have to go through to read a win. This simplification made it possible for it to create automatic payouts.

He replaced the playing cards with five symbols across just three reels: diamonds, hearts, horseshoes, spades, and a Liberty Bell. Because the highest payout was awarded for three bells in a row, the machine became dubbed the Liberty Bell. (By the way, that highest payout was 50 cents — over $15 in today’s money.) He rented out the machines to bars with a 50/50 split of the game’s profits.

The game became hugely popular, but because Fey never applied for a design patent, plenty of other game manufacturers copied his game and started a phenomenon.

The Early 1900s

The demand for Liberty Bell slot machines grew immensely, and at first, gambling supply manufacturers were trying to buy the manufacturing and distribution rights to the game. Fey wouldn’t sell, but he also couldn’t build enough machines to meet the large demand.

In 1907, Chicago-based arcade machine manufacturer Henry Mills started production on his own slot machine, and it was a total knockoff of Fey’s Liberty Bell — he even called it the Operator Bell. More arcade companies got in on the action, and by 1910, there were over 3,000 slot machines just in the city of San Francisco.

Of course, before this total boom in the gaming industry, slot machines had actually been banned back in 1902. There had apparently been some concerns about whether the gambling machines were ethical. To get around this ban and the moral quandary about gambling, the Mills Novelty Company and the Industry Novelty Company marketed the machines as chewing gum dispensers.

And that’s what they ultimately were — players weren’t inserting their coins to win back any money but to win some chewing gum. The manufacturers had put fruit symbols on their reels, like cherries or lemons, which represented the flavors of gum players could win. The bar symbols that we still recognize today were apparently meant to symbolize packets of chewing gum.

The 1930s

By now, slot machines for gambling were still almost totally banned, except within Nevada. But Chicago-based arcade maker Bally Manufacturing (famous for its pinball games) still decided to add slot machines to its roster.

The company made 3-reel slots that were small enough to fit on top of store countertops. Instead of making direct payouts to players, these paid out in sticks of gum, golf balls, and other small items. This helped to expand the presence of slot machines and made Bally a big name in the gaming industry.

Slots Go Electromechanical

In the 1960s, bans on slot machines had mostly faded away as local governments realized how much tax revenue they could make. This allowed for a new period of innovation.

In the early 1960s, Bally created the first fully electromechanical slot machine, called Money Honey. All of the reels were operated by electric motors, though players still needed to pull the lever in order to spin the reels. (It was thought that the lever needed to stay as part of the machine because otherwise players wouldn’t know how to operate it.)

The electromechanical approach allowed Money Honey to be the first slot machine built with a bottomless hopper. This component circulated coins from a pool for the payouts instead of needing to be filled more regularly, and this then meant that the machine could pay out wins of up to 500 coins automatically — a huge increase in payout size and also a huge draw for players.

After a while, as electromechanical slots became more ubiquitous, manufacturers removed the lever and replaced it with a button.

Next Up, Video Slots

Slot machines continued to evolve through the 1970s, when the company Fortune Coin invented the first video slot. It used a modified Sony television to display a video of reels spinning instead of having physical reels.

It was placed on the casino floor at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, but it wasn’t very popular at first. People were so used to watching physical reels spin inside the machine that they didn’t feel that this was a genuine slot machine. After some modifications, the machines started gaining in popularity and were soon in just about every hotel along the Vegas strip.

Over time, slots began dominating casino floors, taking up 70% of their game offerings and making 70% of the casinos’ incomes. Video slots could have different themes and appearances, and this kept players coming back to try the variety.

Video slots also started offering progressive jackpots, which created massive jackpots and enticed people to try their luck at now being able to win millions off of a slot machine.

Slots Move Online and Video Slots Expand

Then, in the 1990s, slots technology changed all over again. In 1994, the very first online casino introduced its own slots. Suddenly, thanks to the proliferation of the internet, players no longer had to leave their homes to play their favorite games, and gambling exploded once more.

Two years later, video slots allowed for the creation of second-screen bonus rounds, which was an honestly groundbreaking achievement. When a video slot triggered a bonus round, the display screen changed to show the bonus game. It was like two games within one, giving players the chance to get additional winnings by spinning a wheel or solving a puzzle. And players loved it.

The Legacy of Slots Continues

Today, slots are still a huge part of casinos’ offerings and profits. Sure, you can always find blackjack and roulette games at any casino, but slots dominate.

The evolution of slots technology over the years can be seen in today’s machines. It’s rare to find a slot in a brick-and-mortar casino or an online casino that doesn’t offer some sort of bonus round, and ornate, animated graphics are the norm now.

Who knows what the future of slots may hold? Maybe it will involve more 3D designs, or perhaps it’ll make the jump into virtual reality. But no matter what is in store, it’s bound to be pretty thrilling.