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Slots History
It all began in San Francisco, when a 29-year-old mechanic by the name of Charles Fey built the first slot machine in history: the Liberty Bell.
Presented in 1887 as a 'New Nickel Operated Machine', Charley Fey provided the world with what would become a phenomenon. The San Francisco Chronicle described Fey's machine: "A machine featuring 3 reels mostly hidden with Horseshoes, Spades, Diamonds, Hearts, Bells symbols on reels. The device is operated by depositing a nickel in a slot to release the handle, when the right combination of symbols stop in the window the player is awarded coins ranging from 2, on 2 Horseshoes to 20 for 3 bells. Most of those present agreed the machine should be a great success"
The first machines were manufactured by hand by Fey himself and placed in the local gambling palaces on a 50% rental basis. So in addition to being the inventor, Fey was also the first proprietor of the machines. Somewhat surprisingly, and against some modern mythology, Fey's first machine was not any more bulky or any more crude than modern day examples.
In 1910, the Mills Novelty Company introduced a slight variation to the Liberty Bell and called it the Operator Bell. This machine had a gooseneck coin entry and featured the now famous fruit symbols, which are still used in many of today's slot machines. These cast iron slots are heavy, weighing over 100 pounds. Over 30,000 of these machines were made.
The era of cast iron machines ended in 1915, when Mills introduced slot machines with less expensive wood cabinets. In the early 1930s, the Mills Novelty Company made a number of additional changes to its line of slot machines that revolutionized the industry.
First, it designed its machines to be much quieter. That's why its 1930s machines are referred to as the "silent bell". Then it introduced a double jackpot that assured players that one could win twice in quick succession.
To make its machines memorable and enticing to players, Mills introduced a series of cabinet designs that were striking and colorful, each with its own theme. The first in early 1931 was the Lion Head. In late 1931, it was the War Eagle and the Roman Head, and in 1933, it was the Castle Front.
The newer slot machines found in casinos today feature random number generators that determine the number of symbols per reel based on the amount of the jackpot. The higher the jackpot the greater the number of symbols per reel.
Most slot machines are programmed to payout between 80 and 99 percent of coins played which includes jackpot payoffs. Although several machines may be located beside each other and look identical, they could each be programmed to return an entirely different percentage rate.
There are basically two different types of slot machines; flat rate and progressives. Flat rate machines have a set jackpot payoff while progressive machine's jackpot continues to grow with each coin inserted until hit.
Today, there is a number of companies producing slot machines, including: Mills and Company (the original), Jennings, Pace, and Bally, the largest of them all. There are also several in Australia and Japan. Undoubtedly, slot machines have become a world-wide phenomenon and one of the most significant additions to gambling palaces in history.
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