Slots History

No matter if you go into a real life brick and mortar casino, or if you sit down behind your computer and log on to an online casino, the majority of the games you will find will be slots. In fact, on average, slot machine games make up for 80% of all casino’s games. In most land based casinos, the first thing you see and hear are the sounds of the slot machines spinning and people winning. The reason for so many slots is that they are fun to play and so wide spread that everyone is sure to find one that catches their eye. Another reason is that slots have been around for quite a long time, since the end of the 19th century in fact.

The first slot machine was introduced to the public in 1895. It was created and built by a Californian auto mechanic name Charles Fey. The original slot machine consisted of a metal machine with a pull lever on the right side and three metal loops inside the machine. These 3 metal loops are what we call reels today and on each of them were diamond, heart, spade and liberty bell symbols. There was only one pay line and in order to win you had to line up 3 matching symbols on the payline. The name of the original slot machine game was the Liberty Bell and the liberty bell symbol gave the jackpot prize of fifty cents. 5 dimes may not seem like a lot today, but we are talking back in the end of the 19th century, before the depression and before gambling was outlawed.

When gambling became illegal, many of Charles Fey’s original slot machines became what they call fruit machines, or gum machines. Instead of the original symbols, you will find different fruit symbols on the reels. Some of the fruit even had letters on it that spelled out GUM. It is obvious why they call it a fruit machine for the symbols, but where did the gum part of it come in? People often referred to these machines as gum machines because although you would insert money and pull the lever like a regular slot machine, instead of coins coming out of the slots, a pack of gum would come out when you won. However, gambling did not stay illegal forever, quite obviously and you can still find the original 3 reel Liberty Bell slot machines in the top Las Vegas casinos to this day.

There are many names for slot machines. As we have already mentioned, many people called them gum machines and fruit machines in the early 20th century. Actually, it is still common to hear slot machines referred to as fruit machines in the UK. Another common nickname for the old fashioned slot machines are one armed bandits, which is referring to the lever that you must pull that resembles a single arm. The term slot machine did not actually define what we call slot machines today. Instead, slot machines were all kinds of machines with slots such as what we call vending machines in the 21st century.

Today, there are tons of different slot machines to choose from in every casino in every theme. Whether you are looking for the classic 3 reel slot machines, or even one of the newer kinds, there is most definitely an online and offline casino that has something for you. Besides the classic slots, you might also find 5 reel slot machines, 7 reel slot machines, video slot machines, progressive jackpot slot machines and even slot machines that have bonus features. All slot machines have different themes, you may find some that are from your favorite childhood show or movie like the Bewitched slot machine game or the Wizard of Oz slot machine game.

As you try more and more different kinds of slot machines, you will notice that each one is different. Not only are the symbols and reels different, but the payouts can be different as well. Some slot machines will pay more if you bet more and some stay the same. Some slot machine games have free spin rounds, bonus features and/or scatter features. There are even some newer slot games that were introduced to online casino goers in the past few years. These slot games are called iSlots, which stands for interactive slots.

An iSlot is a kind of slot machine that has all the extras you may be looking for. If you want a slot machine game that will grab your attention and keep you interested, iSlots may be the casino game for you. Each iSlot has it’s own story to it that you follow as you spin the reels. Certain symbols will take you the ‘next’ feature which will show you a short clip of part of the story before returning you to the regular slot machine game. iSlots are also known for the tons of bonus features that they offer their players. In fact, most iSlots have at least 3 different bonus features in each game, to assure you stay excited.

As you have seen, there are truly tons of different kinds of slot machines with different paylines, themes and bonus features. No matter what casino you go to, you will almost always find a whole slew of slot machines as soon as you walk in the door. For online slot machines, there are many different software providers that provide internet casinos with great graphics and different games. With iSlots being so different and new, who knows when or what the next kind of slot machine game will be.