The History Of
Slot Machines
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In Las Vegas and elsewhere,
the slot machine is the most
popular casino game. In
fact, slot machines
contribute about 70% of the
casino's total income per
night. The popularity of
slot machines is partly due
to the jackpot prizes that
tend to advance by the year.
Among the most advanced slot
machines are cars and a
million dollars. Slot
machines have a colorful
history.
It was in 1887 when Charles
Fay invented the first slot
machine called the Liberty
Bell in San Francisco,
California. The slot machine
was actually invented
because of the game of
poker. During that time,
making an automatic payout
was pretty much impossible
since poker machines usually
had an endless hand list.
The slot machine was able to
handle the limitations of
the poker machine. Fey
specifically created a
machine that was simpler in
design. Instead of paying
money for each hand the
player dealt, this machine
had 3 spinning reels. Each
reel contains 5 symbols
which when the symbol is
aligned on a specific pay
line, the grand prize can be
paid out. It was this
simplicity that was once
seen as the new poker
machine that was the reason
for the popularity of the
game today. Of course, this
is along with the high
prizes that the player can
win. The liberty bell paid
about 10 nickels when the
player won 3 liberty bells
in a row.
The classic game, Liberty
Bell, has become so popular
that other manufacturers
have created their own
versions of their hardware.
Sittman and Pitt invented a
five-barrel machine with a
total of 50 card faces in
1891 based on the machine
used in poker. This game
also became popular during
that time. "Operator Bell"
was created by Herbert Mills
in 1907 in Chicago. Operator
bells have been set up in
various places across
America where traffic is
high including bowling
alleys, bars, and stores.
While these games have
proven to be very popular,
they have posed various
challenges to the owners as
prizes can be won easily.
This was a challenge because
payments were limited. For
example, a machine with 3
spinning reels with 10
tokens can produce about
1/1000 of the chance of
winning. This effectively
limited the chance of
winning the jackpot. This
problem was completely
overcome in 1963 when the
first electromechanical
machine was invented. This
machine with weighted
symbols was called "honey
money". Money Honey is
equipped with
microprocessors that
essentially limit the
frequency of aligning
winning tokens on the pay
line. Such a device lowered
the odds of winning,
allowing the casinos to
increase the jackpot prizes
by massive proportions while
also increasing the winnings
they make from the slot
machines.
Today, slot machines can
also be played online. To
replicate the evolution of
jackpot prizes in live
casinos, online casino
operators offer special
bonus rounds such as Cascade
and Hold 'n' Spin. These
games are an addition to the
basic online slot games such
as video slots, interactive
slots and multiple pay
lines.
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