History of Slots

Modern slot machines first appeared in San Francisco at the end of the 19th century, having been devised by Charles Frey, a Bavarian immigrant. Rather than pay out cash, winners on those early machines were rewarded with free drinks if the correct symbols appeared in a line. Among the ten symbols on each reel of these Liberty Bells (as they were known) were the four card suits, bells, horseshoes, and stars.

Liberty bells were not large free-standing machines, but small bartop machines, which were targeting people sitting or standing at the bar. Profits from the machines were split 50-50 between Frey and the bar owners, with just 86% of inputs being returned to players.

There were other coin-based gambling machines around, but Frey didn’t have any serious competition until the early part of the 20tyh century, when a carnival games manufacturer names Herbert Stephen Mills entered the market on a national scale.

His machines came with the added appeal of a window showing the build up of coins inside the machine, waiting to be paid out to a lucky punter. Mills also increased the number of rows visible on the machines to three (the first step towards modern ‘nudge’ features) and increased the size of each reel to 20 symbols, thereby raising the number of possible combinations to 8,000. Mills is also credited with introducing the standard fruit symbols (lemons, plums, watermelons & cherries), as well as the bells and bars that are still seen on modern machines. Finally, he also introduced the concept of the jackpot – a monster prize which most players would never see even if they played the machines day after day.

Demand for the new games was massive and it wasn’t long before the market was being entered by more and more manufacturers, each with their own version of the one armed bandit.

Today, most real-world slot machines are operated electronically rather than mechanically (i.e. with the push of a button rather than the pull of a lever) but they still use the same old concept of matching symbols on a number of different reels. The only difference is that the number of reels can be much higher and some machines (particularly in Europe) have an unbelievable number of features and facets designed to keep you hooked and part you from your money.

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