Who can deny the popularity and dominance of slot games, especially at the online casinos? As an online slots aficionado if you are wondering how the slot machines were invented, here’s how all action on the reels began.
How online slots games evolved?
The first slot machine is believed to have been invented by Sittman and Pitt, though their design of the machine was completely different from the ones you play at today. The duo used a machine that used standard playing cards and randomly generated a 5-card sequence upon inserting coins. The rules followed through the game were similar to that of playing poker where players with a better hand would be allowed to continue playing and collecting payouts as wins.
However, this design faced certain limitations such as it didn’t have a feature to dispense money creating uncertainty on the mechanism of paying out reward money to the players. Moreover, the machine could manage 50 cards in contrast to 52 of the deck and this put a constraint on the winning probabilities.
Fey’s Rendition: Liberty Bell slots machine
As an improvement over Sittman and Pitt’s model, the Liberty Bell Slot introduced the reels decorated with all the four playing card symbols along with horseshoe, bells and star symbols. The best part of this machine was that it could dispense coins in a combination unlike in the first slot machine model.
While the symbols continue to be used across most online slots games today, several other features were plugged into Fey’s model to improve its appearance and features. The Operator Bill slot machine launched almost a decade later came with fruit symbols, closely resembling the latest online slots.
The Electronic and Online Slots generation
Accepted for its reliability and convenience, the electronic slot machines proved to be a profitable gamble. With time, the machines became more sophisticated and in 1996, Reel’Em, designed by WMS Industries Ltd. Developed a second screen on the slot machines allowing players to win more with special bonuses and offers.
Online slots today
Engineering and exploration continued and slot machines became more and more refined in all aspects. Having travelled from the land casinos to the online sites, slot machines today come in various forms. The first online gambling software was launched in 1994. The options available to players in this era include 3 reel the classic slots, 5 reel video slots, progressive slots, bonus slots, i-slots to name a few. With smartphones came mobile gambling and today players can access their choicest online slots from any preferred portable device anywhere and anytime. The worth of the digital gaming industry has been rising and is anticipated to escalate further with the rising popularity of mobile gambling.
New technology supports seamless gaming and players can now gamble from the comfort of their nests or even when travelling with the high-end slot games accessible on any device.