Slots History

Online gamers are intimately familiar with the current incarnation of slot machines, but not everyone realizes how old the “one-armed” bandit really is.

The first gambling machine that we would recognize as a slot machine was invented in 1895, by Charles Fey, a mechanic in San Francisco. He called his machine the “Liberty Bell Slot Machine.”

Looking at Fey’s machine today, it is a fairly basic slot machine. It had three reels, each painted with diamonds, spades, hearts, and one cracked Liberty Bell. It had one jackpot, and one winning combination: three Liberty Bells in a row. The reels were turned by mechanical gears, which were operated by a pull-lever on one side of the machine. The payout was fifty cents, in nickels. Fey’s machine is on display at the Liberty Belle Saloon and Restaurant, in Reno, Nevada.

Fey worked hard, but his invention was popular, and with his one small shop he was unable to keep up with the demand. To protect his patent, he consistently refused to sell permission to larger companies to build slot machines. Eventually, in 1907, Herbert Mills, a manufacturer of arcade machines from Chicago, independently developed a similar slot machine. Soon, slot machines were a nation-wide phenomenon.

The single pull-lever on the side of the slot machine gave them their enduring nickname, the “One-Armed Bandit,” even though, by the 1980s, many slot machines had replaced the lever with a push button on the front face of the machine. These models still used mechanical wheels, however. By the early 1990s, slot machines had been married to video and computer technology to produce video slots, which did away with the mechanical reels, and used computer programs to randomly produce the results of each spin.

Video slot technology allowed slot machines to grow more complex. Additional reels were added, sometimes reaching as many as seven on one game, as well as additional paylines, with some games having as many as 19 or 21. Also, slots began to take coins in higher denominations than pennies and nickels. Quarter slots, and sometimes even dollar slots, began to appear.

Computer software allowed the games to keep track of the complex dealings of the machine and, in turn, ensured fair results. Players liked the new variety, and video slots were as popular as their predecessors. These days, it’s hard to find an older, pull-lever type slot machine. Land-based casinos have converted to video-based machines, and the customers are happy with this move.

In the late 1990s, slot machines took the next jump, going from video based, computerized machines, to the internet. Online slot machines use similar software to video slots, but are based on one server which can then be accessed by players anywhere in the world. To guarantee their fairness, online casinos have their payout percentages monitored regularly by independent 3rd parties, and the results show: online casinos normally match or exceed the payout rates of land-based casinos.

Fans of slot machines approve of this latest incarnation of an old favorite. The slot games at online casinos are among their most popular and successful games. It remains to be seen what the future will bring to the slot machine