History of slot machine

We have all seen a slot machine before. You can find them just about everywhere you turn in Las Vegas from the airport to the grocery stores. Have you ever wondered how the slot machine came to be. It was originally developed by Sittman and Pitt in Brooklyn, NY in 1891. This original machine would lay the ground work for the modern slot machine. This first machine of it's kind held 50 face cards in five drums. This first slot machine game was based off of the very popular game of poker.

This first game proved to be very popular and resulted in many machines being installed in bars across New York City. Players would insert a nickel into the machine and pull a lever. Once the lever was pulled the drums would spin and finally reveal the cards hopefully giving the player a good poker hand. There was no payout at this time instead of winning money the player that won might win a free beer for a set of kings or a cigar for a royal flush. The odds were increased for the house by removing certain cards or rearranging the drums to have a greater chance for the house to win.

The Liberty Bell slot machine was designed and created by a Charles Fey of San Francisco, CA in 1887. He was the first to design a system that allowed for an automatic payout. Instead of using five drums like the previous model he used three drums that had symbols on them instead of face cards. This became the first of the symbol slot machines that many of use know today. H e used five symbols- horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and the Liberty bell from which the game received its name. The top combination was three liberty bells in a row which paid 50 cents.

The slot machines only advanced from there and even though they were made illegal in several state there popularity grew. The first video slot machine was introduced in 1996 by the WMS Industries Inc. who developed “Reel Em In” which had a bonus second round screen. This was the first of it's kind. From there we have seen the expansion of casino to hold thousands of slot machines because of their vast popularity.

Slot Machines have developed over the years as well for how they accept money. It use to be that you inserted coins and then your prize was spit out of the bottom of the machine in coins. As the prize amounts raised it was then assisted by attendants who came along with your payouts. The modern machines in casinos today spit out your prize in a form of a ticket which can be cashed out at the cashier's desk or it can be inserted into another machine for continued playing time.

Slot machines are a great beginner gambling device. It gives the player with little experience to play a little in the casinos without feeling overwhelmed. If you can not figure out the combinations the machine pays you any way. There is no skill need to pull the lever or hit a button. More money can be made by placing the appropriate bets but any novice can figure these machines out. The thing to look for in casino slot machine games is to only play the games that pay out at a 98% to the player.