While playing the casino slots, have you ever thought about the history of slot machines? And it doesn’t even matter if you play online casinos or if you prefer land-based casinos and real slots, because their history is closely linked. So the term slot aparati was originally applied to numerous creations, from 19th-century slot machines to vending machines, but the situation really changed in 1898. The one immigrant from Bavaria named Charles Fey arrived in San Francisco and created the first version of slot, which nowadays we all know as a modern slot machine.
Card Bell
This very first slot was named “Card Bell”, it had three mechanical reels, an automatic payout field and staggered stops. And one interesting fact is that for this version of the game, the symbols were taken from a deck of cards. But the following year, Fey replaced the painted symbols with a more patriotic theme, which included stars and the Liberty Bell. Right after that the name of the game was also changed in honor of this symbol of the United States. After his invention started to work and began to gain popularity, Fey began to rent it out to bars. But it is not the end because right after he also created the first five-card poker game, as well as other game machines such as Klondike, Three Spindles, 4-11-44 and Horseshoe, however, they did not become as popular as Card Bell. So that is why Fey is an important figure in gambling history and moreover all his inventions were exhibited in a special museum along with numerous slot machines and other old exhibits of casino history. However, after the closure of the enterprise, the Liberty Bell machines were transported to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.
The competition was growing
As we said, Fey was very successful after inventing the slot machine, and it was so profitable that many companies tried to buy distribution or production rights. But he refused to sell so they had to look for another place, but to their happiness right after in 1907, another manufacturer in Chicago created a machine similar to the Liberty Bell the “Operator’s Bell”. Of course it worked in a similar way, but what is interesting is that this is the first slot machine which started to use fruit symbols such as cherry and lemon, which we now know as slot classics. So an increasing number of Bell vending machines began to appear in taverns throughout the United States and since the most coveted prize was money, some vending machines offered an alternative by offering all sorts of other prizes, from cigarettes to free food.
The origin of electronic and video slots
But the real potential of electronic games was demonstrated just in 1940 when in 1963 Bally released the first electronic slot machine. This game, known as “Money Honey”, offered an automatic payout of up to 500 coins, as well as an endless container, so this type of game immediately became popular and soon began to displace its mechanical counterparts. Within just a few decades, the classic lever of the machines was almost completely replaced by a series of buttons on the front panel. Right after in 1976, the slot machine industry took a big step forward when the first video slot appeared. This slot machine has replaced the physical reels with virtual images and internal computer technology, so first the game was initially tested at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and soon received approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission. And currently, almost all operating slot machines belong to this category. But there were also progressive slots that exist now as well and offer the opportunity to win huge prizes as a percentage of each bet is added to the ever-growing jackpot. The first game of this type was known as “Megabucks” and was released in 1986 after its creation by International Game Technology. And a little bit later in 1994, Microgaming Software became the first developer to create an online casino, so this virtual milestone opened the doors to the market, and soon companies such as Cryptologic, IGT, Playtech and Betsoft joined the action. Moreover, the first online slots had poor sound effects and graphics, there was a great evolution in the following decades and this has led to the creation of a new generation of slot machines with excellent and innovative animation and sound.
Now slot machines do not stop evolving and many people are already looking forward to the future where slot machines working with VR technology will spread and we can not know maybe they will bring us back to a new experience with reels machines or maybe they will simulate something completely new.
