Slot History – A Preview
Slots are among the most popular gambling games throughout the world. Slot history is an interesting one whose origin can be found out in the candy/chewing gum/cigar dispensing machines. Slot machines have become the lifeline of the entire casino industry by paying out millions of US Dollars in jackpots.
Slot History – The Initial PhaseSlots Machine was invented by a person called Charles Fey in the year 1887. It was the first ever payout machine which worked automatically. This machine consisted of 3 spinning reels having 5 symbols:
- Diamonds
- Hearts
- Liberty Bell
- Horse Shoes
- Spades
Among these, Liberty Bells became a huge success and the players just loved to play this game. This led to the boom of mechanically devised gaming industry.
Slot History: Sittman and Pitt Effect
In the year 1891, Sittman and Pitt had developed a unique machine called “Poker Machine”, which is thought to be the precursor of the modern form of Slots machine. This mechanized gambling was based upon the popular game of poker and consisted of 5 drums with a capacity of holding fifty card faces. In this game, a player needed to insert a nickel in the slit given in the machine and then needed to pull a lever. The cards in the cylinder would thus spin and the players would thus hope for a good poker hand. But automated payout system was not available with the “Poker Machine”. Hence, good hand would thus give a payout in the form of a free glass of beer, cigar or anything else.
Slot History with Fruit Flavor
Another form of slots machine was also present in order to give winnings in the form of chewing gums with fruit flavor. Picture of the fruits are placed on the reels as logo and after the spin payout is made in the form of chewing gums of the concerned fruit flavor.
Slots History entered its modern version in the year 1963 when the advanced slot machine of the electro-mechanical type was first introduced. The name of that first slot machine was “Money Honey” and was developed by Bally Technologies. Characteristic feature of this slot machine were:
- Automatic payout facility was available up to a maximum of 500 coins.
- No attendant was required for payout
- It had a bottomless hopper
This new form of slot machine led to further development of electronic slot machines where side levers were not required.
Slots History: The Modern TimesHistory of Slots: 1980s & 90s
Video Slots first evolved during the last two decades of the last millennium, i.e. 1980s and 1990s. These slots in the form of videos had popularized slot game by manifold. These slot games consisted of
- Flashy graphics, and
- Digitally enhanced sound effect
Some of the other features of Video Slots are:
- Payout can be done on multiple pay lines
- Various denominations on bet can be taken
- Game variety is enormous
Slot History: Advent of the Online Version
Online version of slots has ushered in new era for slot games. Now, a slots aficionado can enjoy the game by playing it from the comfort of his home. In fact, it has been witnessed that payout percentages of the online slot games are much higher than the land-based slot machines.
