Slots Machines History

Slots are such a simple game that one would wonder how it came about. Who would think to come up with a gambling game in which you put money into a slot and more money comes out?

Originally slots was a gambling game created by Sittman and Pitt in 1891 somewhere in Brooklyn, New York. This game held 50 card faces in five separate drums. The player would insert a nickel into the side and press a lever that spins the drums. The object was to get a good poker hand when the drums stopped spinning. This early version of slots was very popular in bars and instead of winning money you might win a free beer or cigars.

The first traditional slot machine, the "one-armed bandit", was invented by Charles Fey in 1895 in San Francisco, California. He created three spinning wheels that each had five symbols. This made it easier to automate the game in order to give automatic payouts because it was much simpler to read whether or not a player won. The biggest payout the machine offered was ten nickels. This game of slots became so popular that Fey was unable to keep up with demand.

The second most popular slots game was a machine which had pictures of fruit flavors as the symbols on the three wheels. In fact, the "BAR" symbol which is now a popular symbol seen in the slots today came from the logo of the company that created the fruit flavored slots machine. The company was called the Bell-Fruit Gum Company.

The first slots machine that was fully electronic was a game called Money Honey that was created in 1964.

Slots has been an intensely popular gambling game in the states since its origin. Thanks to the technological advances of the internet we are now able to take slots to the next level and play a computerized version online.