Why fruits spin on the reels of slot machines
Slot machines have been around for many years, and their popularity continues to grow. Now they can be found online, and not just in casinos located around the globe. The rules of the game are still simple and clear with the offer of a big win. And their online counterparts continue to attract new players every year. The reasons for the popularity are quite simple: the rules are simple and intuitive, no need to understand complex strategies, they offer huge prizes for winning, and slot machines can be found in any casino in the world.
Birth of the “one-armed bandit”
In 1891, in Brooklyn, Sittman and Pitt invented the world’s first slot machine, consisting of five reels with a symbol on each. To play, you had to throw a coin and pull the lever that rotated the reels. To receive a prize (most often they were a free cigarette or drink), three symbols in a row had to match.
In 1897, in San Francisco, Charles Fey invented innovations. Instead of five reels, there were three, and the number of symbols already totaled five, such as: a spade, a horseshoe, a freedom bell, a tambourine and a heart. The main prize was a coin of 50 cents, and in order to get it, it was necessary to knock out three bells in a row. These machines were so successful that a number of imitators followed. Mills Novelty Company was one of the most successful companies in the emerging industry. In 1898, she produced her own line of three-reel slot machines. Since card symbols were banned in public places at that time, the bells were replaced with fruits. And this has increased the popularity of these devices.
The development of the industry and the growth of interest in slot machines in the early twentieth century
In the United States, as early as 1907, the number of gaming devices numbered approximately twenty thousand. And their number continued to grow each subsequent year. It is worth noting that many of the devices were made by hand. The world’s first automatic slot machine was released in 1966. And this was a new technical breakthrough in the field of slot machines, because before that, the payout was made from the hands of the owner to the hands of the winner.
Starting in the 2000s, it was marked by the emergence of online casinos around the world. Nowadays, mobile applications with slot machines have already appeared. This made it possible to play slots in any convenient place and at any time. And also be mobile and not waste time getting to the gambling house.
