When Were Virtual Slot Machines Invented
Introduction to Slot Machines Invented
In this post, I’ll do my best to answer the question, “Where Were Slot Machines Invented?” Between you and me, understanding the history of slot machine development provides us with invaluable insight into this entertainment device.
Armed with this knowledge, we can begin to understand what next technological advancements to expect. What follows is a brief chronological history of significant developments in slot machine technology.
Nov 27, 2015 There were coin operated gambling machines way back in the late 19th Century; the most common were large upright wheel machines like this one - They were fairly common in the saloons of the late Gold Rush period. The first reel-style slot machine, invented by Charles Fey in 1895, featured 3 individual reels with symbols like horseshoes and clovers. A jackpot was triggered when the player hit a Liberty Bell on each reel. Fey’s machines were quite popular and were soon found in saloons across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Throughout, notice how slot machine popularity waxes and wanes alongside the governmental responses to this type of gambling. I’ll begin with Charles Fey in 1887 and finish with the invention of first video slot machines in 1994.
A multitude of other blogs will detail the technical development of slot machines from the mid-90s to today. They’ll have more detail due to their emphasis on current winning strategies.
Simply re-open the same page that you had open on your desktop and play. This means you can start playing our slots on your desktop and then continue playing on your mobile device. Without needing to type in a URL or do any searches. Free slots to download on mobile.
Future topics are expected to include modern casino business operating
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Charles Fey and the First Slot Machine
The first place to answer “Where Were Slot Machines Invented?” begins in San Francisco. The Liberty Bell is arguably the first slot machine for gambling with automatic payouts.
It was invented in 1887 by Bavarian-born Charles Fey in San Francisco, California. This slot machine simulated the card game of poker, having three spinning reels each with five symbols: diamonds, hearts, horseshoes, spades, and an image of the Liberty Bell.
The highest jackpot, fifty cents or 10 nickels, occurred when all three reels showed a golden Liberty Bell. It was a massive success.
Fey is generally considered to be the “Father of Slots,” in part due to this invention. However, he’s also because he worked so hard to popularize the game.
For both these reasons, Charles Fey’s San Francisco workshop is a California Historical Landmark.
Bell Fruit Gum Slot Machines
Bell Fruit Gum slot machines were manufactured by Industry Novelty Company starting in 1907.
The reels on these machines included cherry, melon, orange, apple, and bar symbols. It had non-cash payouts in the form of fruit-flavored gum, allowing machine owners to avoid prosecution under the anti-gambling laws of that time.
The cherry and bar symbols became traditional to slot machines, and are still commonly used today. The bar symbol was the company logo of an early slot machine manufacturer.
I’ve written a detailed post on fruit machines, which can be found at Why Do Slot Machines Use Fruit?
By 1910, Worldwide Slots!
By 1910, slot machines could be found worldwide. Companies in Europe were mass producing 30,000 of them. In America, machines were installed in most cigar stores, saloons, bowling parlors, brothels, and barber shops.
Improvements immediately found in these slot machines were:
- Cast iron machines instead of wooden cabinets
- Improved mechanicals for back-to-back jackpots
- New coin acceptor developed to limit the use of fake coins
- Designed to be quieter
In 1909, new laws began to be introduced prohibiting slot machines from dispensing cash. These new restrictions resulted in slot machines having the aforementioned non-cash payouts of fruit-flavored gum.
Prohibition, The Golden Age of Slots
From 1920 to 1933, Prohibition existed in America. When we learn about the history of the United States, we’re generally taught that Prohibition was a time when the making, consumption, or supplying
What generally isn’t taught in history class its consequence with regards to slots. Since slot machines were mainly found in bars and saloons, they moved to speakeasies alongside the distribution of alcohol – and returned to offering cash prizes.
So, as a result, during America’s Prohibition slot machine popularity increased even more.
How much? Well, the time of Prohibition is also referred to as the “Golden Age of Slots” due to this tremendously increased popularity.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Gambling was legalized in the state of Nevada in 1931, due to the increasing popularity of gambling despite political pressure on the gaming industry. In the 1940s, slots were installed in Las Vegas’ Flamingo Hotel.
However, after World War II, municipalities began to be drawn by the prospect of tax revenue. A consequence of this governmental response was an exponential growth in the manufacturing and playing of slot machines which continued well into the 1960s.
Slot machine development advanced from a fully mechanical machine to an electromechanical device in 1963 with the Money Honey slot machine by Bally Technologies, a company formerly limited to the manufacturing of pinball machines.
Besides improving gameplay with all manner of flashing lights and sounds, electrical components allowed for multi-coin bets with higher payouts. Bally Technologies would continue to develop slot machine technologies for decades.
By 1970, Bally had added more reels and made coin-handling improvements to allow for more coins and higher denominations, resulting in more enormous jackpots for consumers. Bally went public in 1975, trading on the New York Stock Exchange as the first gaming company.
The first genuinely electronic slot machine, e.g., the video slot machine, was developed in 1976 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was placed in the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas. It received approval from the state of Nevada, but only after additional security modifications were made against cheating.
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey legalized gambling in 1978, by which time the Bally Technologies behemoth had cornered 90% of the market for slot machines. Bally continued to add reels, knowingly both decreasing the odds of winning but also increasing the size of jackpots.
Over time, the number of symbols per reel was increased to a maximum of 25 and wagers were raised to $5, $25, and eventually $100. Coins would continue to be provided during slot machine jackpots until they ultimately began being phased out in the 1990s.
U.S. Patent 4,448,419: The Random Number Generator
An answer to the question “Where Were Slot Machines Invented?” wouldn’t be complete without including an electronic board component commonly found in modern slot machines.
Bally Technologies hired a computer programmer to increase the size of jackpots without losing profits for the company. This improvement was accomplished by utilizing the concept of a random number generator (RNG).
As it is challenging to computer generate a truly random event – take it from me; I’m a physicist. So, sometimes the more accurate term pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) is used.
In any case, this focused business development resulted in yet another technological revolution in slot machine gaming.
For those interested in this sort of thing, see Igne S. Telnaes’ U.S. Patent Number 4,448,419, awarded in 1984, entitled “Electronic gaming device utilizing a random number generator for selecting the reel stop positions“.
The Arrival of Computer Microchips
In the 1980s, computer microchips allowed a leap forward in slot machine technological advances. This including the capability of having video slots, online slots, and linked machines for progressive slots.
In Las Vegas in 2003, a linked slot machine with a shared jackpot reached an enormous size before it was won: nearly $40 million.
Video Slots
One of the first slot machines with video reels was the Fortune Coin by Walt Fraley. Slot manufacturer IGT purchased its patent from Mr. Fraley, then developed it further to overcome an initial distrust of this new technology by slot machine players as well as improving its overall technical operation.
Due to the application of targeted marketing techniques, video poker machines were found to be honest and could be trusted, thereby overcoming people’s initial skepticism over how fair the video slot machines would be, and building a public perception of trust.
In the 1990s, the advent of the internet and increasingly fast and powerful computers allowed for the first electromechanical slot machines with bonus games, multiple lines, and the modern version of online slots.
Casinos have established a broad base of slot players while, along with today’s ready online access, online game developers are mostly only limited by their imagination.
Two Active Screens
The first video slot machine with two screens was created in Australia in 1994, followed by America in 1996.
The second screen was used to provide the player with a different environment in which bonuses could be played.
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Summary of Slot Machines Invented
When Were Fax Machines Invented
The history of slot machines is filled with technological developments. Each step in this chronological journey brought forth more inventions included in the modern slot machine.
Before Charles Fey’s 1887 invention in San Francisco, there were gambling machines – but they didn’t have slots for coins.
Therefore, despite prior technologies being used in that device, Fey’s coin-operated machine is considered the first genuine “slot machine”.
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Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
Introduction
The first mechanical slot machine was invented in the late 1800's by a Bavarian imiagrant named Charles Fey (1862-1944) in San Francisco. In order to understand the history of the slot machine though we need to jump back a little in time.
Poker Machines
Before Fey’s invention there were other coin-operated games of chance. The most popular one, invented by Sittman and Pitt of New York, was a 'poker machine' that was similar to a slot machine and used 5 reels with 10 poker cards on each reel. These machines were very profitable and were used in hundreds of locations (mainly in cigar stands) in the 90's (the 1890's that is). The machines paid out prizes, like a free cigar or free drinks, which were distributed manually by an attendant.
Charles Fey
When Charles began building machines, he initially built ones that were similar the popular poker machines and called them by various names, like the 'Duke' and the 'Klondike'. After building a few of them, placing them in locations, and doing very well with them, he then opened a factory in San Francisco to work on his machines full-time.
But Fey wanted to build a machine that would pay out automatically. This wasn't possible at the time due to the difficulty of calculating the vast number of winning combinations of a machine with 5 reels and 10 cards on each reel. So, in 1898, Fey designed a poker machine called the 'Card Bell' machine that retained the card symbols of the earlier poker machines but had only 3 spinning reels and only 5 symbols printed on each reel. The automatic prize-payout allowed the machine to be the first to pay out coins.
The 'Liberty Bell'
About a year later, in 1899, he created the 'Liberty Bell' machine, which added horseshoes and bells to the suit symbols on the reels. Lining up three bells would win the top prize (hence the name). Fey's design became the standard design for slot machines going forward and was so popular that all 3-reel slot machines were referred to as 'Bell Machines'.
Fey rented his machines to saloons and bars and split the profits 50/50. The demand for Liberty Bell slot machines was huge and allowed Fey to monopolize the slot machine market. Many gambling supply manufacturers wanted to buy the manufacturing and distribution rights to the Liberty Bell but Charles Fey didn't want to sell them.
But Fey could not keep up with the demand so in 1907 he partnered with Mills Novelty Company to manufacture a cast-iron machine called the 'Mills Liberty Bell'.
Virtual Slot Machines Online
Unfortunately for Fey, patent laws of the time did not protect gaming devices because a Federal Judge ruled the slots could only be used for gambling and had no useful purpose. So a few years later, in 1910, the Mills Novelty Company introduced a slight variation to the Mills Liberty Bell called the 'Operator Bell'. The machines from Mills Novelty were the first to use the fruit symbols like lemons and cherries that you see on some slot machines today.
1910-1933
Part of the growth of slot machines was due the wide open nature of San Francisco during the early 1900's. The climate started to change quickly though in 1909 when San Francisco outlawed all gaming machines. Nevada did the same a year later and the state of California created a statewide ban on slot machines in 1911.
These laws did not have much of an effect on slot machine sales because slot machine manufacturers were able to find ways to alter the games to avoid getting them classified as gambling devices.
For example, the 'Liberty Bell Gum Fruit' model dispensed a package of gum, which allowed the machine to be classified as a vending machine. The Caille Brothers slots created machines that had a Swiss music box located in the bottom of the cabinet so the machine was classified as a musical device. Another popular strategy was to have slot machines dispense items like mints or gum in order to have them classified as vending machines.
Slot machines reached their peak sales during the Great Depression and the lawless days of prohibition, which began in 1919. They were popular in the speakeasies as well as the many respectable businesses that needed the profitable machines in order to stay in business during the tough economic times.
1933-1945
After prohibition ended the government decided to target slot machines since they were looked at as tools for organized crime. Raids began to increase as well as laws prohibiting the possession of slot machines or a sale of a slot machine to an illegal state. Despite these efforts, the popularity of slots machines was difficult to stop and slots were still able to operate in some places.
Post WWII
After World War II, governments started to become friendly to the slot machine industry because it now looked at it as a source of tax revenue.
Computer Technology
In 1963, Bally developed the first electromechanical slot machine, called Money Honey, that used electronic micro-processors to decide the outcome of the game.
The first fully-electronic slot machines were introduced in Las Vegas in 1975. They were built by the Fortune Coin Company and used simulated reels on a monitor. The electronic machines caught on slower than expected because many players did not trust the fairness of the machines. In 1978, the company that would later be known as International Game Technology bought out the Fortune Coin Company.
In 1984, a Norwegian scientist named Inge Telnaes received a patent for a device titled, 'Electronic Gaming Device Utilizing a Random Number Generator for Selecting the Reel Stop Positions.' International Gaming Technology (IGT) bought the patent in 1988 and now all slot manufacturers his technology must license the patent from IGT.
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New Machines Invented
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