The history of the slot machines unlike classic casino games and card games as poker is quite short. The predecessors of the slot machines appeared in 1870s.
Charles Fey, “father of the slot machines” invented his first machine in 1894. This first model has stood the test of time and you can see it in the gambling parlors even now. The reels initially depicted cards, later followed by pictures of fruit. The bell rings every time you win as it used to be one hundred years ago.
The history of the machines may be divided into three periods.
The first period – mechanical slot machine.
Charles Fey was the king of the period thanks to the invention of three-reel slots. The most popular slot machine of that time was cast-iron Liberty Bell slot.
Each of the three reels displayed ten symbols. If the player got three identical symbols, he had hit the jackpot. The chance to win a jackpot was one of a thousand. The sum of payments of the invested money in the Fey machines equaled to 50%.
When the gambling was banned, design of the slots was changed. The sums of the prizes were replaced with the pictures of the chewing gum packages, and different tastes were depicted as a respective fruit. The amounts of jackpot was also increasing along with the popularity of the machines. In order to increase jackpots additional reels were built into the machines. The slots got larger and their internal design was constantly changing.
The second period – electro mechanical slot machine.
The second period of development of the slot machines was rather calm, fell in to the middle of the twentieth century. The brightest event of the period was production of the Big Bertha. However, shortly it was overtopped by even more killing innovation of that time – Super Big Bertha.
Creation of this super slots exceeded USD 150,000. The machine contained a 5 horsepower motor and eight reels with 20 game symbols on each of them. Super Big Bertha was certainly an impressive machine, but unlikely it was not generous in prizes. The sum of payments reached only 80% of the invested money and the chance to win a jackpot was one of 25,6 millions.
Creation of the random number generator (RNG) in 1984 by Inge Telnaes critically changed the development of the machines. Random number generator transforms weak physical phenomenon into digital values, i.e numbers. The device uses the programmed algorithm, constantly sorting the numbers. When the player presses the button, the device selects a random number required for a game.
The third period – computerized slots.
Modern slot machines are computerized. The game is determined by the random number generators, showing the numbers corresponding to the symbols on the reels. The slot machines are integral part of the online casinos and the coins are used quite seldom. The fashionable slots have not so much in common with their predecessors but no doubt that the design and the spirit of the Fey times still lives in new slot machines.