| The game of slot is the only 100 percent American origin casino game. It has the share of 65% of the total gaming revenue. The first slot machine was invented by Charles Fey in the late 18th century. The invention was perfected in 1907 in coalition with Mills Novelty Company to manufacture the first ancestor of the modern slot machines- ‘Mills Liberty Bell’. It was the first slot to accept both nickels and pay checks. The reel strip of the card depicts king, queen and jack. As in modern slot machines, the ancestral one too had a bell which rang when the winning combination was hit. The machine was a mechanical device with three reels and 20 symbols. The next step to evolution of the slots machine was in the year 1910 when the Mills Novelty Company introduced the Operator Bell with a slight variation to the Liberty Bell. This machine introduced the use of fruit symbols which are also used today. This machine was made of cast iron. In 1915, the company introduced slot machines with wooden cabinet. The company then designed quieter machines and they were called as “silent bell”. The next innovation was double jackpot slot machines by which the players could win twice in succession. Then came the time when the slot machines were manufactured in different colors and cabinet designs and themes. |
| The slot machines gained its place across America during the 1930’s. It was exposed into the limelight by Bugsy Siegel who added slot machines to his hotel, Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas. It was introduced to entertain the female visitors in the hotel but soon turned out to replace the table games. |
| Marshall Fey who wrote the book “Slot Machines: A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years” had made a note in his book. It dated the existence of poker machines to be as early as 1890 and the game was existent until World War I. The game was then revoked in 1980. Many card manufacturers jumped into the field. The famous names sin this category was Mills Novelty, Caille Brothers, Automatic Machine Company of Chicago, manufacturer of the Gabel floor machines, and Watling Manufacturing of Chicago. |
| The first counter machine was invented in 1893 by Gustav Schuktze and was called ‘Horshoes’. It had ten horseshoes that paid the player, one a joker that offered a free drink and 14 cards that played nothing. |
| Herbert Mills was known as the “Henry Ford of the slot machine industry”. He was the world’s largest producer of bell machines. The largest slot machine factories were that of Mills Novelty Co. |
| The ‘Golden Era’ of slots began in the year 1919 and reaches it rising time during the twenties. It began with nickel slots then to dimes, quarters and half dollars. New era ideas was the ‘Talking Cash Register’ that announced itself each win, the Midget Derby that is a cash payout horse race slot machine, Pistol Range that paid out in candy and Fey’s Scale and Strength Testers," a coin-operated weighing machine. |
| The slot machines now are made of computerized microchips. The machines pay out with paper vouchers. The slot gaming and machine is quick evolving and keep guessing what innovation next!!! |
| Rules |
| The game of slots is a very simple one. It has no rules as such. The basic idea is to drop a coin in the Slot machine and pull the handle or push the button. In an online casino the player uses a mouse. Childs game? No it’s more like your Luck plays and there are strategies to hit the win. |
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| There is an opening in the slot machine to deposit the coin. The player drops the coin here and spins the reel. There is a horizontal line(s) across the window of the machine. The falling of a certain symbol combination when the reel stops, then the player wins. The winning combination will be specified. |
| Slot games fall generally into two categories-straight slots and progressive slots. Their mechanics and rules are the same. Straight slots or otherwise called regular slots pay predetermined payouts as per the symbol combination and the schedule. The jackpot amount is specified on the slot machine. The slot offers more realistic odds. Progressive jackpots too pay in the same way but when the progressive jackpot is hit, the player wins a good amount of jackpot. In progressive jackpot, the jackpot amount is increasing always and is much larger than the regular slot. The more number of people who plays at a slot machine, the more the increase in jackpot. |
| The traditional three-reel machines offer the best bet. The jackpot is modest yet the risk involved is less. Four or Five- reel jackpots offer a higher jackpot but the jackpot is harder to get. The payout ranges from three to twenty. Players have the option of betting in various size wagers (usually $0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00 or 5.00). Online casinos mostly have a button “Bet Max” which allows the player to play all paylines at once. There is another button “Bet One”, when this button is clicked one payline is highlighted. The number of times this button is clicked, bet is placed on that many paylines. Each payline pays out individually according to the payout table. If multiple paylines win at once, all the winning paylines are highlighted. There is a box “Win” which shows the sum of the entire win in case of multiple payline wins. |
| There are different types of online machines. The horizontal rows are referred to as reels and the vertical ones are called as paylines. In a slot machine which has three reels and two paylines, each payline is composed of three reels. Each payline represents a single bet. The variation in the number of paylines and reels makes the difference between machines. There are also different outward differences but the rules are all the same. The payout table varies depending upon the reels and symbols. Every slot machine has a payout table posted on its body on one side of the slot screen or the machine has a separate button which when pushed displays the payout table. |
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