111 JACKPOTS

Slot Machines and How They Came to Be

Whenever you watch a movie or show that features a casino in it, there's never a time that the director neglects to zoom in a scene or two on the people playing the slot machines, letting the audience hear the cling cling sound of the coins, the swoosh once a person pulls down the lever and of course the buzzing or ringing sound that would indicate someone has won the slot machine's jackpot.

Indeed it could very well be said that slot machines are one of the most attractive, if not the best, offerings of a casino. If a casino doesn't have slot machines to offer its paying guests then they're immediately not considered as first-rate.

Slot machines are nice and easy to play. Slot machines are fun because it gives you a sense of control unlike playing the roulette for example or keno. Slot machines have also been around for a long, long time already. And if you want to know more about the history of slot machines, do continue with the rest of this article because we'll be telling you how slot machines came to be.

The slot machine is, above all else, a coin-operated machine. So before we look back at the first reel slot machine, we'll try to move a wee back further and learn about the first ever coin-operated machine to be invented. This was accomplished in the 1880's in the East Coast. Instead of featuring cherries, grapes and bells however, the first models of coin-operated machines used cards and had ten cards on each of the five slots. It usually doesn't include the jack of hearts and the ten of spades so that there'd be lesser chances of forming a royal flush.

The first reel slot machine however to be invented was called the Liberty Bell and invented in 1899 by Charles Fey. The first reel slot machine, believe it or not, already looked similar to what we're using today. It used three reel slots, had a coin acceptor, a payout schedule and of course a lever for you to test your luck. When the first slot reel slot machine made its debut at a San Francisco saloon, it was an instant hit and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, the success of reel slot machines is still as grand as ever. Majority of the Vegas casinos, in fact, account at least half of their revenue to come from the people's use of reel slot machines. If you've never been to a casino, do test your luck at the slot machine because who knows, you just might be the one to get three cherries in one hit.