Gambling machines have a rich history.
The first slot was invented all the way back in 1891 by Charles Fey, an inventor working in San Francisco. It was named the Liberty Bell for the symbols which appeared on it’s 3 mechanical reels. Plucky players were offered the chance to win tempting prizes by pulling the slot’s lever and landing matching symbols on the reels.
Though it doesn’t sound like much compared to the exciting selection of online slots available these days, the Liberty Bell was revolutionary for it’s time and proved an instant hit. Word of the machine’s success spread quickly across the USA. As Fey struggled to meet growing demand, other manufacturers started producing copycat models to satisfy the rising number of thrill-hungry gamblers.
By the time we were half-way through the 20th century, slot machines were being massed produced and widely played on both sides of the Atlantic. It was also around this time that the slot’s phenomenal popularity, combined with rapid advancements in technology, started a radical period of changes for the gambling machine: electric models were innovated during the ‘60s; the first video slots were brought out in the famous casinos of Las Vegas around the ‘70s; ground-breaking bonus features were added to machines in the ‘80s.
It was then somewhere in the ‘90s that the most remarkable change of all occurred: the slot machine moved online. This transformed the way we play and paved the way for the hundreds and hundreds of online slots and other casino games on mobile available to play on our favourite smartphones and tablet devices today.
And it seems the exciting changes don’t end here. New technologies, like virtual reality headsets, keep gaming software companies continuously improving modern online games. The future of the slot, therefore, looks set to get very bright indeed.