Slot machines have become an instantly recognisable casino staple, even though they haven’t been around for nearly as long as many of the classic table games. They’ve also changed a lot in the space of a century or so, evolving in response to wider advances in technology.
So, before you play Slots online, how about learning more about the history behind these games and how they went from mechanical curiosity to online juggernaut?
The very start of Slots
It was in the late 19th century that the first stirrings of the slot machine began. Similar mechanical devices sprung up in the years leading up to the creation of the first true slot game – the Liberty Bell.
Charles Fey of San Francisco unveiled the Liberty Bell in 1895, a much simpler design compared to its contemporaries. With just three spinning reels and five different symbols – horseshoes, diamonds, hearts, spades and the Liberty Bell itself – the game looked quite different to some of the most modern slot games.
The Liberty Bell quickly proved itself a hit, leading to plenty of slot machines patterned after it in the following decades. Some stuck closely to the design of the Liberty Bell, while others branched out to feature different symbols – such as fruit – on their reels.
Iterating on the classic Slots design
The mechanical design of the Liberty Bell and its successors remained in play for decades, with players pulling a lever to initiate a spin of the reels. But by the 1960s that classic design had started to age, especially as the mechanical workings could be influenced by external factors.
It was here that the pivot to electromechanical designs came, with a general incorporation of electronics into future slot games. The use of electronics allowed for game designs to expand further, as well as adding to a greater degree of theming.
Within a couple of decades, the old mechanical slot machines were superseded and largely fell out of use. This paved the way for the next step in the evolution of Slots, with the removal of physical reels.
The digital transformation of Slots
Video Slots replaced the internal workings of the electromechanical slot machine with a screen, which would show the spinning of the digital reels. At this point, the lever was largely left behind, replaced with a button or tap on the screen as the way for players to initiate a spin.
Without physical components to worry about, developers could experiment and push the concept of slot games even further. Now Slots with as many as seven reels and even higher numbers of paylines began to debut, making the most of the digital medium with its advancing graphics, animations and sound effects.
Once the 1990s rolled around and the internet became increasingly widespread, these digital slot games were poised to make the jump online. As Slots had already shed their mechanical components, it was a relatively simple matter to port them across to online casino platforms.
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Modern slot games still share a lot with the oldest slot machine designs. But there’s no denying how much these games have evolved, moving from their mechanical start to the fully digital Slots of today.
