Unlike the majority of casino games, slots are straightforward and fairly easy to play. Strategy and skills aren’t necessary, which means that almost anyone of age can play with ease.
Interestingly, slots have evolved throughout the years to appeal to as many people as possible, resulting in their skyrocketing popularity. In what follows, we break down how technological developments helped slots evolve from physical machines to immersive online games.
The first slot machines
Slots are over 130 years old. Their origins can be traced all the way back to 1891—a period in human history driven by the Second Industrial Revolution’s innovations, which included electricity, automobiles and gasoline among others.
During this epoch of groundbreaking inventions as well as economic uncertainty, the New York-based company Sittman and Pitt came up with a disruptive concept: the first-ever slot machine. Made up of five drums and fifty poker cards, the machine became popular across many bars in the city.
The game’s mechanics were simple: a player had to pull the lever located on the side of the machine and hope to be lucky enough to line up winning poker hands on the reels. It only costed a nickel to play and, as the machine had no way to payout wins, the players needed to head up to the bar to collect their winnings (free drinks or cigars).
While the game’s mechanics were simple, winning was tricky. The house needed to have the edge. Otherwise, the bar would be giving free drinks and cigars on a regular basis. This is why the Ten of Spades and the Jack of Hearts were removed from the slot machine, lowering the odds of getting a royal flush by fifty percent.
Automatic payouts and the fruit machine era
Charles August Fey, an American inventor of Bavarian descent is credited with creating the first modern slot machine in 1894. The coin-operated device amassed a high degree of success, inspiring Fey to open a full-time slot machine factory and release a new model 1898, the Card Bell. This three-reel machine could automatically issue cash prizes.
The Card Bell slot machine was soon followed by the Liberty Bell in 1899. This particular model replaced the playing cards with five symbols: spades, hearts, diamonds, horseshoes and a liberty bell. A player would win the highest payout for three bell symbols, hence the machine’s name.
America banned slot machines in 1902. However, the Liberty Bell machine continued to be manufactured. As cash prizes couldn’t be distributed, slot machines now awarded payouts in the form of chewing gum and sweets. The machines also featured fruit symbols, giving rise to the fruit machine era.
In 1907, Herbert Mills, a Chicago-based manufacturer, created the Operator Bell slot machine. Mills’ invention would be found in most bowling alleys, tobacconists, shops and salons. Around this time, the BAR symbol present in many contemporary slots was introduced—it was based on the Bell-Fruit company’s logo.
Video slots and progressive jackpots
For years, there weren’t any major groundbreaking innovations in the slot machine market, and most machines remained purely mechanical. Then, in 1964, The Bally Manufacturing Co. introduced Money Honey, the first one-hundred percent electromechanical slot machine. While players still had to pull the lever to kickstart the game, the reels were completely electrically-driven. Money Honey was also the first slot machine to pay out as many as 500 coins. Electromechanical slots became progressively more common and, as time went by, the handle was replaced by buttons that started the game.
The next slot machine milestones came from Las Vegas-based company Fortune Coin, which created the first-ever video slot in 1976. The game used a modified Sony TV screen for the display and was first seen in the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. After getting approval from the Nevada State Gaming Commission, video slots quickly became popular, ushering in a new era of slots.
Casinos introduced progressive jackpots in 1986. Developed by International Game Technology, Megabucks was the first progressive slot machine. Essentially, whenever a player failed to hit the jackpot, the winnings increased, creating a winning pot with no limit.
Another significant development around this time came with the release of Reel Em by WMS Industries Inc. in 1996. The video slot featured a bonus round on a second screen, where players could play a bonus game.
Online slots and beyond
While the Internet had existed since 1983, the World Wide Web’s invention in 1990 popularised the internet among the public and became a fundamental step in the development of the vast catalogue of information accessible to us nowadays.
The first online casino is said to have been released sometime in the late 1990s. Initially, only games such as roulette and blackjack were available. However, slots were soon added as well. The games’ style was quite similar to those of land-based slot machines, with the same number of reels and the same symbols. Yet, as computer programming evolved, interesting new themes, layouts and structures emerged.
With the release of the AppStore and Android Market in 2008, playing online slots on mobile devices became a reality. In the 2000s and early 2010s, iconic online slots like Starburst, Gonzo’s Quest, Mega Moolah, Book of Ra and Thunderstruck emerged.
In 2016, Big Time Gaming (BTG) released the Megaways engine, also known as a random reel modifier. This changed the number of symbols that landed on each reel during a spin, resulting in numerous different ways to win. Players now have the chance of winning up to x100.000 over the bet, a revolutionary concept that took online slots to a new level.
Nowadays, there are numerous casino websites and apps featuring wide catalogues of online slots. It’s possible to find games with a variety of themes—romance, adventure, mystery, etc—and titles inspired by big-name franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel. Developers are constantly working to incorporate innovative features and emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR). In the Meta Quest store, for example, it’s possible to find a variety of VR casinos offering poker, blackjack, roulette and, of course, online slots.
To conclude
Slots have come a long way since their invention in 1891. Thanks to technology, they evolved from mechanical devices to video slots and then online slots. However, the history and evolution of slots is far from over. With emerging technologies such as AI, VR and 5G, players’ experiences will continue to change and become even more immersive.