Slot machines, an invention of the 19th century
- August 13, 2023
Surely you all remember the classic slot machines that filled the gaming rooms, those machines that later spread to other types of places such as bars, where we can still find them. As in casinos, see movies set in Las Vegas, for example. Finally, the last evolution was the jump to the internet and virtual casinos. But how were they born and how was their evolution?
The first machine was a five-reel poker-based machine that had no direct payout but, with a good hand, the player could get a gift from the waiter such as a cigar or a beer.
In 1895 Charles Fey invented the first automatic three-reel machine consisting of the symbols heart, spade, diamonds, horseshoe, and liberty bell. By getting 3 of this last symbol, the player took 10 5-cent coins.
The next step to reach the online slots was given by the kingbet888 slot machines with fruit symbols, which indicated the flavors of the gum that you had won as a prize in the machines. This machine introduced the BAR symbol , the logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company which was the supplier of the chewing gums.
Until the 1960s, the mechanism of slot machines was the same: a coin was thrown that unlocked a lever that the player pulled, which set the reels in motion until they stopped from left to right and one by one, increasing the suspense of the result.
In 1964, the Money Honey slot was the first electronic machine with multiple lines and video screens. This new slot machine could issue without any problem and, at the moment, about 500 coins relegating the old lever to a mere decorative motive.
These electronic machines transformed slot machines without changing their essence, replacing the old manual reels with the random number generator that allows millions and millions of different combinations and, therefore, the possibility of expanding the winnings obtained with the prize.
Megabucks slot machines have been one of those responsible for the highest payouts kingbet888.net slot machines, such as the 27 million that a retiree won in 1998 or the more than 39 million dollars that a 25-year-old young engineer won at the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas.
Since the 90s, slot machines have been linked to popular culture with reel designs inspired by musicians, movies or television references.
The design of online slots is not very different from those first slot machines, since it is inspired by the same symbols of that time and, also, by references to popular culture, although more modern.
The difference is that online slots have 5 reels and you can make bets of between 1 and 25 lines. With more lines, it is assumed that there are a greater number of combinations and more chances of winning prizes. Added to the cash prizes is the possibility of winning free spins with which to continue playing a certain number of times.
With these new virtual slots , progressive jackpots have also appeared , which are amounts of money that increase as someone on the network bets on one of these machines.
From the most classic themes, which imitate those slots of the past, to the most modern ones, the evolution of slot machines to the new online slots have not changed their essence: that the player has the hope of winning prizes and having fun (or something like this) while waiting, in suspense, for the reels to stop.
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