Mar 10, 2017 The slot machine was invented in 1895 by a man named Charles Fey in San Francisco, California. Fey had a background in mechanics, and his first slot machine, which he called the Liberty Bell, was indeed a brilliant mechanical system of reels and levers.
The History of Slot Machines by NoLuckNeeded.com member LadyLuckythis article?
The slot machine was based on the concept of a gambling machine which was designed by Pitt and Sittman in New York back in 1891. The first gambling machine had five drums that displayed poker hands. The drums held a total for 50 card faces therefore there were two cards which had been removed; these were usually the ten of spades and the jack of hearts. By removing those two cards the chance of hitting a royal flush dropped in half and made the odds better for the house. The 5 drums could also be rearranged to reduce the player’s chances even further. The machine had no payback mechanism so any establishment that had bought them paid out in prizes of the machine owners choice, which was usually free drinks or cigars depending on what type of poker hand was displayed.
The fist recorded slot machine was made by a man named Charles Fey who made that slot machine in his basement. It was named 'the Liberty Bell' and was devised of three spinning reels containing a total of five symbols- horseshoes, diamonds, spades and hearts and the cracked Liberty Bell. The original poker based machine proved it almost impossible to make an automatic payout for all possible winning combinations however by replacing the ten cards with five symbols and by using three reels instead of five drums it was easier for a win to be read and that allowed Fey to create an effective payout mechanism. The biggest payoff was for three bells in a row which paid ten nickels. This machine was the one that most resembles the machines that we know now and was equipped with a coin acceptor, a payout table and a large handle on the side of it. The large handle on the side and the ability to leave a player penniless were the two factors which earned the machines the nickname 'one armed bandit'.
Charles Fey's first slot machine was over 100 lbs of cast iron. The very first' Liberty Bell' that was designed by Fey can still be seen at the Liberty Belle Saloon and Restaurant in Reno, Nevada which is owned by Charles Fey's grandchildren.
After the success of his first slot machine Fey made the 'Operator Bell' slot machine. This slot has the famous fruit design featured today and was the one machine which became the standard for slot machine concepts. Once anti-slot machine feelings began to surface Fey had to be clever. He designed many slot machines to work like vending machines. This design ended up being a burden to the owners of the vending machines as the public would often confuse the two, and it is said that law enforcement took advantage of that fact when they needed good press. It was alleged that The Bell-Fruit Gum Company had stolen a slot machine from Fey and they were the first to mass produce machines that could dispense gum for every pull, this was to mask the actual nature of the slot machine. This is where the BAR symbol came from as it was an effort to market their gum. There proved to be trouble for Fey when the anti-gambling movement which piggybacked the anti-alcohol movement, also known as the temperance movement. Slot machines became illegal in San Francisco in 1909 and a year later in Nevada. By 1911 slot machines were banned by the state of California.
By the time the thirties came around it was politically correct to be 'anti gambling' but most especially 'anti slot machine'. Politicians took advantage of this time to try to earn more votes. New York Mayor LaGuardia had a photo op taken on a barge in New York City and was said to have had his photo taken dumping New York City's machines into the sea. However, it is rumored that most of those machines were not even slot machines; they were nothing more than everyday vending machines. The city had confiscated many legitimate vending machines in order to 'score a public relations coup'. This was what they called 'the black day in the history of slot machines'.
Then the notorious organized crime figure, 'Bugsy' Siegel, who stood out in the history of the slot machine came along. The Flamingo Hilton was built by 'Bugsy' on the Las Vegas Strip, he invested in slot machines to fill spaces in the casino and to keep the wives and girlfriends of his rich players occupied. To Bugsy, slot machines were a novelty. Up until the late 60's slot machines were mechanical. It wasn't until 1963 that Bally made the first fully electromechanical slot machine called 'Money Honey' and from then on the slots of Las Vegas evolved by making them electronic. The electronic slots were much more secure than the old mechanical ones. Although they were not perfect it was much harder to cheat. It was during this period that electric bells and motorized coin hoppers became standard.
With the 70's came companies which started the use of microchips and random number generators which determined the spin of the reels. Pulling the arm of the slot machine was no longer necessary to spin the reels. The push of a button got the same results. As the microchip advanced, the slots advanced with it and by the 80's all the casinos went to microchip-powered slot machines.
The first video slot machine that offered a second screen bonus round was developed in 1996 by WMS Industries and was called 'Reel 'Em In”.
Slot machines now account for 70 to 80 percent of casino revenue. The machines are regulated and it is the manufacturer that sets the pay off not the casino itself. WMS Industries is an electronic gaming and amusement company. Williams Manufacturing Company is based in Waukegan Illinois.
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Last edited by TDTAT on 26.07.2009, 17:36; edited 2 times in total
Online Casinos for Hearts of Venice Slots
You can play Hearts of Venice slots for real money at any of these online casinos:
NOTE: Hearts of Venice slots, made by WMS is not yet available to play for cash in the US or Canada - to play real money casino in these regions, please see our Online Casinos Page.
Hearts of Venice Slot Machine
If you’ve not yet had a chance to visit this magical City of Venice, why not take a virtual trip with the help of Williams Interactive and create your own unique experience? Free Spins guaranteed to pay a minimum of 400x your line bet is only one of the tools you can use to make sure it’s a lucrative one.
Oh, Venice, the famous romantic Italian city floating on water, boasting marble palaces and hundreds of gondolas cruising its numerous canals. This is the setting WMS has chosen for Hearts of Venice, their 5-reel and 50-payline video slot featuring Hot Hot Super Re-spins and Bonus Guarantee.
When Was The First Slot Machine Made
The Real Money Game: Payouts, RTP and Max Bets
Hearts of Venice is a medium variance slot with an RTP of 95.98%. The gondolier and the lady with a rose are two of the game’s highest paying icons. The first will cash out 150x your line bet, and the second multiples it by 200. But that’s far from being the biggest amount you can hope to collect. Free Spins bonus round guarantees to deliver a minimum of 400x your bet per line and potentially much more. Hot Hot Super Respin, on the other hand, could fill the reels with Heart icons which will do their reveal exercise and award payouts of up to 10,000x the line bet.
To start off, you’ll be offered to wager between €0.40 and €200 per spin, the value of your total stake consisting of a bet per line multiplied by number of paylines and a feature bet equal to 15x your line bet. Wins are delivered by a minimum of 3 identical icons on a payline, such as the lady holding a rose, a gondolier, his gondola and his hat, a street lamp, a rose and a bridge.
Wild game logo appears on all reels but the first, and though it doesn’t offer any payouts on its own, it will stand in for all other symbols except for Scatters. One of the latter is a Heart symbol which upon landing reveals any of other game icons other than Wild and Feature, and in a Scatter-like fashion, awards any pays. Feature icon is the other Scatter depicted as a silhouette of a romantic couple and acting as a free games trigger. Land 3 of those and you’ll be awarded 10 Free Spins with additional Heart and Wild icons added to the reels. Feature can be re-triggered to deliver an additional batch of 10 spins on top of those already won. What’s more, it guarantees to win you at least 400x your line bet, and in case you’ve not managed to claim this amount yourself, the payout will be automatically increased to the minimum guaranteed level.
The additional feature bet mentioned above buys you the opportunity to benefit from the Hot Hot Super Respin. What it means is that whenever Heart icon appears in all positions on the first reel, the player is awarded 2 re-spins. Reel one remains fixed and any Heart and Wild symbols which land during re-spins are also held for the duration of the bonus round. After the second re-spin, all Hearts will reveal the same random symbol and award any pays.
The First Slot Machines Made
Interesting features with high win potential are doubtlessly the game’s biggest draw, and high maximum wagers make this WMS title appealing to high-rollers