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The History of Slot Machines

The first mechanical slot machine was the Liberty Bell.

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Tomasz Zajda / EyeEm / Getty Images

by Mary Bellis
Updated April 13, 2019

According to Legal Slots, the term slot machines was originally used for all
automatic vending machines as well as for the gambling devices, it was not
until the 20th century that the term became restricted to the latter. A "fruit
machine" is one British term for a slot machine. The one-armed bandit is

another popular nickname.

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Charles Fey & Liberty Bell
The first mechanical slot machine was the Liberty Bell, invented in 1895 by
car mechanic, Charles Fey (1862–1944) of San Francisco. The Liberty Bell
slot machine had three spinning reels. Diamond, spade, and heart symbols
were painted around each reel, plus the image of a cracked Liberty Bell. A
spin resulting in three Liberty Bells in a row gave the biggest payoff, a
grand total of fifty cents or ten nickels.
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The original Liberty Bell slot machine can still be seen be at the Liberty
Belle Saloon & Restaurant in Reno, Nevada. Other Charles Fey machines
include the Draw Power, and Three Spindle and the Klondike. In 1901,
Charles Fey invented the first draw poker machine. Charles Fey was also
the inventor of the trade check separator, which was used in the Liberty
Bell. The hole in the middle of the trade check allowed a detecting pin to
distinguish fake nickels or slugs from real nickels. Fey rented his machines
to saloons and bars based on a 50/50 split of the profits.​

Demand for Slot Machines Grows

The demand for Liberty Bell slot machines was huge. Fey could not build
them fast enough in his small shop. Gambling supply manufacturers tried
to buy the manufacturing and distribution rights to the Liberty Bell,
however, Charles Fey refused to sell. As a result in 1907, Herbert Mills, a
Chicago manufacturer of arcade machines, began production of a slot
machine, a knock-off of Fey's Liberty Bell, called the Operator Bell. Mills
was the first person to place fruit symbols: i.e. lemons, plums, and cherries
on machines.

How The Original Slots Worked

Inside each cast iron slot machine there were three metal hoops called
reels. Each reel had ten symbols painted on it. A lever was pulled that spun
the reels. When the reels stopped, a jackpot was awarded if three of a kind
of symbol lined up. The payoff in coinage was then dispensed from the
machine.

Age of Electronics
The first popular electric gambling machine was the 1934 animated horse
race machine called PACES RACES. In 1964, the first all-electronic
gambling machine was built by Nevada Electronic called the "21" machine.
Other all electronic versions of gambling games followed including ones for
dice, roulette, horse racing, and poker (Dale Electronics' Poker-Matic was
very popular). In 1975, the first electronic slot machine was built by the
Fortune Coin Company.

CITE

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