Video Poker - By John Growchowski
A Slot Machine History
Let’s go back in time, to the late 1800s. There was gambling then, of course. There
seemingly always have been games of chance. Sheep’s knuckles fashioned into dice have
been found at sites dating to the Roman Empire.
But we’re not going that far back. We’re going only to the beginnings of slot machines. And
in the late 1800s, there were a proliferation of coin-operated gaming devices. There were
machines that used cards as symbols, and machines with huge vertical color wheels, in
which you’d bet your money on which color the wheel would stop.
Finally, in the late 1890s, there was the Liberty Bell.
Developed by Charles Fey in San Francisco, the Liberty Bell was where slot machines, as we
know them begin. Whether you’re playing online or offline, with three spinning reels or with
five on a video screen, the Liberty Bell is where the games we play today begin.
If you were to see a Liberty Bell machine today—and there are a few still in existence—the
first thing you’d think would be “slot machine.” There would be no wondering what this old
device was about. It’s instantly recognizable as a type of game we play today.
Fey’s creation was the first recognizably modern slot. Symbols on its three spinning reels
included horseshoes, stars, spades, diamonds, hearts and bells. It was so popular that for a
time all three-reel slots were referred to as “Bell machines.”
And while it was the first of the modern slots, the Liberty Bell was not the first of the Bell
machines. Fey had an earlier creation, the Card Bell. It was a gaming device, too, but it didn’t
use horseshoes, stars, bells and such. It used pictures of playing cards as its winning
symbols. It was popular, but it was the Liberty Bell that captured the imaginations of the first
generation of slot machine fans.
With a casing made of sheet metal on a brass frame, the Liberty Bell was durable and
attractive. There was no neon, flashing lights or sound effects, but it was a game that was
played by dropping a coin in the slot and pulling the handle to start the reels, just as players
have been doing for more than a century.
Fey was a German immigrant with a background in making instruments for electrical supply
companies. He set up a workshop in his basement in Berkeley, Calif., and it was there that
he created many early slot machines.
Many early slots were used as trade simulators by merchants, and paid out golf balls,
chewing gum, candy, cigars and more. One frequent prize listed on machines in saloons was
free drinks. Some versions of the Liberty Bell listed a pay table with a top jackpot of 20 free
drinks for three bells. Some poker machines paid as many as 100 free drinks for a royal
flush. That’s a lot of shots of Old Redeye.
Along the way, many of the symbols we still see on slot machines today came into use and
just stayed, even if the reasons for the symbols being there faded with time. The fruit
symbols still used on slot machines today come to us from flavors of chewing gum dispensed
by the Liberty Bell Gum Fruit slot made by Herbert Mills in Chicago in 1910.
Three-reel slot machines still frequently use bar symbols—single bars, double bars, triple
bars. That comes by way of the Gum Fruit slot, too. The bar symbol still in use today is
identical to the Bell Fruit Gum logo used as a symbol on early slot machines. The only
difference is that nowadays the white lettering on the black bar says “BAR,” whereas it used
to say “BELL FRUIT GUM.”
The bar also bears more than a passing resemblance to the Wrigley arrow still used on
packages of Spearmint and Doublemint gum. Some early slot machines dispensing Wrigley’s
gum used the Wrigley arrow as a symbol.
You probably don’t think of Charles Fey or the Liberty Bell, of golf balls and free drinks, of
Fruit Gum and bar logos, when you play today. They’re present nonetheless, a tradition that
continues whenever the reels spin.
John Grochowski’s website is www.casinoanswerman.com.
Let’s go back in time, to the late 1800s. There was gambling then, of course. There
seemingly always have been games of chance. Sheep’s knuckles fashioned into dice have
been found at sites dating to the Roman Empire.
But we’re not going that far back. We’re going only to the beginnings of slot machines. And
in the late 1800s, there were a proliferation of coin-operated gaming devices. There were
machines that used cards as symbols, and machines with huge vertical color wheels, in
which you’d bet your money on which color the wheel would stop.
Finally, in the late 1890s, there was the Liberty Bell.
Developed by Charles Fey in San Francisco, the Liberty Bell was where slot machines, as we
know them begin. Whether you’re playing online or offline, with three spinning reels or with
five on a video screen, the Liberty Bell is where the games we play today begin.
If you were to see a Liberty Bell machine today—and there are a few still in existence—the
first thing you’d think would be “slot machine.” There would be no wondering what this old
device was about. It’s instantly recognizable as a type of game we play today.
Fey’s creation was the first recognizably modern slot. Symbols on its three spinning reels
included horseshoes, stars, spades, diamonds, hearts and bells. It was so popular that for a
time all three-reel slots were referred to as “Bell machines.”
And while it was the first of the modern slots, the Liberty Bell was not the first of the Bell
machines. Fey had an earlier creation, the Card Bell. It was a gaming device, too, but it didn’t
use horseshoes, stars, bells and such. It used pictures of playing cards as its winning
symbols. It was popular, but it was the Liberty Bell that captured the imaginations of the first
generation of slot machine fans.
With a casing made of sheet metal on a brass frame, the Liberty Bell was durable and
attractive. There was no neon, flashing lights or sound effects, but it was a game that was
played by dropping a coin in the slot and pulling the handle to start the reels, just as players
have been doing for more than a century.
Fey was a German immigrant with a background in making instruments for electrical supply
companies. He set up a workshop in his basement in Berkeley, Calif., and it was there that
he created many early slot machines.
Many early slots were used as trade simulators by merchants, and paid out golf balls,
chewing gum, candy, cigars and more. One frequent prize listed on machines in saloons was
free drinks. Some versions of the Liberty Bell listed a pay table with a top jackpot of 20 free
drinks for three bells. Some poker machines paid as many as 100 free drinks for a royal
flush. That’s a lot of shots of Old Redeye.
Along the way, many of the symbols we still see on slot machines today came into use and
just stayed, even if the reasons for the symbols being there faded with time. The fruit
symbols still used on slot machines today come to us from flavors of chewing gum dispensed
by the Liberty Bell Gum Fruit slot made by Herbert Mills in Chicago in 1910.
Three-reel slot machines still frequently use bar symbols—single bars, double bars, triple
bars. That comes by way of the Gum Fruit slot, too. The bar symbol still in use today is
identical to the Bell Fruit Gum logo used as a symbol on early slot machines. The only
difference is that nowadays the white lettering on the black bar says “BAR,” whereas it used
to say “BELL FRUIT GUM.”
The bar also bears more than a passing resemblance to the Wrigley arrow still used on
packages of Spearmint and Doublemint gum. Some early slot machines dispensing Wrigley’s
gum used the Wrigley arrow as a symbol.
You probably don’t think of Charles Fey or the Liberty Bell, of golf balls and free drinks, of
Fruit Gum and bar logos, when you play today. They’re present nonetheless, a tradition that
continues whenever the reels spin.
John Grochowski’s website is www.casinoanswerman.com.
