History of Slot Games and Slot Machines

This game has become part of our lives, as it is easily found in bars, physical casinos and nowadays in online casinos. It is well known machine, has evolved from classic themes, in which it was necessary to insert a coin to unlock the lever and have access to 3 reels that allowed you to win money, to the most modern versions, which include 5 reels and greater opportunities to win money while having fun. This new version has not lost its essence, continues to generate that sense of impatience and hope to players as they wait for the reels to stop and give their final verdict, but has as an additional factor, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without interruption.

But, let's start from the beginning and for that we must go back to the end of the 19th century around 1887 when Charles August Fey, a German engineer creates the first arcade machine with the greatest repercussion in history, the slot machine called "Liberty Bell", which took about ten years to finish its construction, the machine was quite advanced for its time as it had three cylindrical rotating rollers each with symbols of hearts, swords and diamonds from playing cards; There were also bells and horseshoes, where in each of the rails there was a bell of broken freedom and hence its name. Slot machines have specific sounds to make you play more. The machine also had an iron slot to insert the coins and a manual lever which activated the mechanism of the game. The prizes were obtained automatically and consisted of drinks or cigarettes and the maximum prize was half a dollar, which was obtained by obtaining three bells.

Nevertheless there are those who affirm that Sittman and Pitt, were those who had put the bases of the slot machines years before, this was false because to machine of Sitmman and Pitt based on the game of the poker was constructed in the year 1891, this machine consisted of five drums with a total of fifty faces where it did not include the ten of spades and the J of hearts with the only intention to reduce the possibilities of winning. The weakness of this machine lies in the inability to give the player the prize automatically, which was the sole task of the owner.

Slot games today

On the other hand, at the beginning of the 20th century in 1907, Herbet Mills, attracted by the potential of slot machines, began to produce "Operator Bell" machines, where the mechanism of the machine was similar to that of the "liberty bell" with a small variation since this machine offered chewing gum prizes, this in order to avoid the North American laws that did not allow prizes in the form of money. The symbols of the drums were of fruits representing the flavors of the chewing gum that could be won as a prize, popularizing then the symbol BAR which was the logo of the company producing the machines of chewing gum Bell-Fruit Company.

Later, in the 60's, in 1963, Bally Tecnologies created the first electronic slots called "Money Honey", which establishes the bases for online slots today. In addition, the "Money Honey" replaces the side lever with a button, leaving it as a decorative icon and the rollers are replaced by screens.

Today, with the arrival of the digital era and the presence of the Internet, it is even easier to find a slot game with different symbols and themes according to the player's preference, since online slots, in spite of preserving the same essence of the game, has a special and unique charm, since it can combine traditional machines with scenes from famous movies, interactive stories, bonuses and mini-games.