First Slot Machines

Many people who play the slot machines today do not have any idea how the first slot machine looked like or how they were played. Although this is not one of the requirements of playing this game, it is always important to learn some history about everything you are doing and this is because you may get some tips or strategies that may work with you. Some of the most common questions when the origin of the slot machines is subject is brought up include when it started, who started it and how it came about being what it is today and this will include all the transformations the game has gone through all the years it has been in existence.

The first slot machine was discovered in 1895 and this was done by a gentleman who went by the name Charles Frey who was an immigrant car mechanic. Charles called his first slot machine the “Liberty Bell” and it featured 3 reels together with symbols of hearts, spades, diamonds and a liberty bell that was painted around the reels. In order to win the jackpot a player was supposed to line up 3 bells and at this time the jackpot was a mere $0.50 which was a lot of money at that time.

After the game was played for some time Charles came to found out that he was having trouble keeping up with the demand that he was now getting and soon after a competitor came by going by the name Chicago arcade game who invented a game similar to his but now went by the name “Operator Bell” which was now classified as the next generation in the slot machine entertainment industry. This new game was very similar to the Liberty Bell and the only major difference was that it had 10 symbols on each reel. The new machine was also designed to be more portable than the liberty bell which was designed with cast iron of several hundred pounds.

The operator bell remained the game of choice for a long time in the United States right until the state of Nevada legalized the gambling industry in the 1930’s when many investors came up with many types of slots machines. Since then the slot machines have been an integral part of any casino even though there have been many transformation to the game the game has still maintained its allure. In the first few days of the slot machines the game was considered as a novelty and it was only played by the wealthy especially the wives who had nothing to do all day used this game as way of keeping themselves busy. But the popularity made game to be introduced into casinos and it quickly caught up and many players started preferring it to the other games that were available in the casino.