History of Slot Machines - Origin

In 1891, the slot machines were designed in New York by Pitt and Sittman that had five drums displaying poker hands. It had no payback mechanism, so the places in New York paid on their own usually by giving free drinks.

Then Charles Fey made the first slot, the Liberty Slots, in his basement. Fey's first slot machine was different than today. It was over 100 pounds of cast iron, and lacked the fruit symbols associated with slots. Instead it had star, horseshoes, and suits of cards, like diamonds and spades. The Liberty Bell gave a fifty cent payout to winners. The Liberty Belle Saloon and Restaurant in Reno still has that very first Liberty Bell designed by Fey.

Then Fey made the Operator Bell Slot machine. This slot machine featured the famous fruit design, and became the standard for slot machine aesthetics.

The first electro-mechanical slot machine was developed by Bally Manufacturing in 1964 and was called Money Honey.

Bally Manufacturing continued to lead the way in the development of slot machines and in the mid 1970's introduced a Dollar Slot Machine which casinos arranged in bigger jackpots.

In 1980 a new company called Sircoma produced a video poker slot machine. They soon become very popular and still are today both in live casinos and online.

In 1992 Bally Gaming invented a slot machine which had multiple games for the player to choose to play from just the one machine. In the late 1990s a slot machine was produced that introduced a bonus feature and another chance to win money aside from the spinning reels. Player then looked forward to the next bonus round in the hope of winning the bonus jackpot.

Today modern slot machines come in thousands of variations, including video slots, different reel combinations, jackpots and progressives and even banks of slots tied together. There are slot machines based on cartoon characters, movie stars and game shows. There are many companies that manufacture modern online slot machines.

Online version of slots has ushered in new era for slot games.