A Short History of Slot Machines

Slots have changed dramatically over the past 150 years. And while the first 19th century pioneers couldn't have imagined that you'd one day be able to play games on a touchscreen that fits into your hand, slots players today in 2024 can't imagine what we will be playing 100 years from now.

But have slot machines really changed that much over the years? After all, the latest 3D online slots still have 3 rows and 5 reels (generally), they spin in the same way as those early games, and many games have kept the same symbols.

Let's take a look at the history of slot machines and try to predict what the next generation of games could hold in store.

1890s-1910s Charles Fey and the First Fruit Machines

The grandfather of slot machines was Charles Fey, an engineer who pioneered the Liberty Bell machine in San Francisco in the late 19th century.

Fey's machine featured spinning reels - three in total - with five symbols that lined up to form winning paylines. The Liberty Bell symbol still survives to this day in many Classic online slots.

Meanwhile, business partners Sittman and Pitt develop a machine containing five drums and 50 playing cards. Based on card games like poker, the reels would stop to form winning combinations.

Herbert Mills developed Fey's design further and introduced the Operator Bell in 1907, which was installed in saloons, and cigar stores across the US. What was so pioneering about the Operator Bell was that it featured for the first time the familiar fruit icons of future slots?

Out went the card symbols of the original machine; in came cherries, melons and lemons. To get round restrictive gambling laws in the States, the machines would "pay out" flavoured chewing gum instead of cash - the flavour depending on which fruit symbols you lined up on the reels.

1940s-1960s The Big Boys Move In

Major casino game developers like Bally and WMS (Williams Interactive) took slots to the next level, installing their new games in Nevada casinos and introducing new elements like electromechanical reels.

Games like 'Money Honey' featured electric 'hoppers' that allowed many more coins to be held in the machine's cashbox. This led to bigger jackpots and a surging popularity in slot machines in the country.

1960s Big Bertha Barges In

The biggest slot machine ever made at the time, Big Bertha lived up to its name by offering players in Las Vegas a game with 160 reel icons and up to eight reels.

Incredibly, Big Bertha cost $150,000 to build (a fortune in those days) and weighed one tonne.

Responsible for some big jackpots to go with its big frame, Big Bertha was hit for a $65,000 jackpot in 1973. And the player's stake? A mere $1.

1970s Video Slots Appear

In a new decade of prosperity, and ever-advancing technology, the first video slots begin to appear in casinos in the USA.

Featuring video screens with crude graphics depicting symbols, Fortune Coin featured then state-of-the-art microprocessors and Random Number Generators to ensure a random spin every time.

Featuring four reels and three paylines, Fortune Coin still had the familiar 'one arm' that existed on popular one-armed bandits at the time.

1980s - Progressive Jackpots Make Millionaires

IGT bought out Fortune Coin in 1978 and rushed out their next genre-busting machine - Megabucks.

The first progressive slot machine, Megabucks had jackpots made up of portions of players' bets to create huge prize pools. In 2003, a record jackpot of $40 million was popped an American player called Bill Efritz. His $20 stake remains probably the biggest ever spin-up in the history of slot machines.

1990s - Bigger Jackpots and the First Online Slots

Another IGT behemoth - Wheel of Fortune - was introduced in the early 1990s to Vegas casinos and remains a popular game with Vegas holidaymakers.

However, it would be in the emerging Internet world where slots would take their next big evolutionary step.

Microgaming produced the very first online slot, which, like the first fruit machines of the early 20th century, featured fruit symbols, three reels, and just the single payline.

However, Bally wouldn't be far behind, developing games with bonus features which could be triggered by landing Scatter pay symbols anywhere on the reels, and Wilds which substituted for all regular symbols to form more winners.

2000s - Jackpot Records Tumble and Online Casinos Grow

As more online casinos continue to emerge, the lower overheads mean that progressive jackpots increase and RTP% (Return to Player percentages) became more generous. Progressives hit the multi-million dollar mark, with Net Entertainment's Mega Fortune slot smashing the world record in 2013. A Finnish player bagged a jackpot on the game worth �17,861,813 (248,940,897 ZAR).

Internet casinos now boast hundreds of online slots, from Classic-style 3-reel games with minimal paylines, to the latest 3D slots with slick animated sequences and multi-layered bonus features.

Major developers like Playtech and Microgaming started to form deals with Hollywood production companies to offer big-movie tie-ins like The Dark Knight and Terminator, which utilised actual scenes from the original films.

Meanwhile, land-based casinos in Las Vegas - which is still prohibited from offering residents online slots legally - continue to grow their slots presence. The MGM Grand in Sin City now boasts over 3,000 slot machines.

2010s - Mobile Gaming Takes Hold

With mobile technology improving and smartphones becoming more sophisticated, gamblers are now able to play real-money slots on their phones and tablets.

Slots developers continue to rush out mobile versions of existing online games to fit the smaller touch-screen. And with slots gaming more accessible than ever, progressive jackpots on mobile slots are slowly catching up with their older online cousins.

The Future

As we look ahead to the coming ten years in online slot machines, we're seeing a rise in mobile gaming that shows no sign of slowing. We could even see mobile slots overtake their online counterparts over time.

In terms of games, the skill factor is something that should continue to feature in new games.

Players now want to see a skill element in their bonus games as opposed to just trusting blind luck. That means we should see more arcade-style mini-games included in online slots where you have to use your skill with the mouse or touchpad to win more cash.