History of Slots

Charles Fey was a mechanic from a small town in California who became the inventor of the first ever slot machine. In 1887, he developed a slot machine that had three reels and five symbols on each reel. The symbols were loosely based on cards, so he used spades, diamonds, hearts, horseshoes and the Liberty Bell, the last being the symbol with the highest payout, thus the name Liberty Bell was given to the slot.

Although gambling soon got banned in Fey’s home state, there was still an immense demand for the Liberty Bell from elsewhere in America.

The way the Liberty Bell became famous paved the way for the development of more and more slot machines by different companies. In 1891 Sittman and Pitt of New York for the first time introduced a five-reel slot machine, widely considered to be the pioneer of the modern day slot machines. Their machine not only had a greater number of reels, it also had 50 cardfaces on each reel and different poker combinations to give payouts for a winning combination.

By 1963, Money-Honey made waves in the slot machine industry as it was the first fully automatic slot machine that needed no attendant to facilitate the payout for up to 500 coins. This machine was developed by Bally manufacturers.

The year 1976 witnessed another evolution in the development of slot machines: the video slot. Video slots became more famous than any other as they were based on more cheat-proof technology and after their introduction to the casinos of Las Vegas they never disappeared from the scene.

Modern modifications led to the introduction of increased paylines in slot machine games, so much so that over 50 paylines became common. The greater the number of paylines, the greater the chance of winning - so the high-payline games are very exciting. These days plenty of slot machines do not have paylines on them anymore; instead, they have more than 243 ways of increasing the chances of winning and making it a lucrative and interesting game.

In almost all casinos, slot machines are in the highest demand, and therefore managers are sure to provide them with the most floorspace. The revenue they generate for the casinos is also above and beyond any other game. This makes them an owner and user favorite. These days, slot machines have left the physical space in that they have moved online and taken the virtual space; this means that people can enjoy a greater variety of games.