The Mechanical Slot Machine
Charles Fey is the man credited to have invented the mechanical slot machine. From this major innovation of mechanical games of chance in 1897 (his was the first one to issue coins as an award when a player wins), we now have today's fun video slot machines. Let's have a quick look at the works behind the mechanical slot machine.
Playing slot machines back then was simple. All you had to do was put your money in the money slot and pull away on the lever of the mechanical slot machine. You then watch the reels and see if you are lucky enough to strike up a winning combination on the mechanical slot machine.
Charles Fey's slot machine had three reels on it, which everyone fondly looks at in anticipation of a reward. The reels on this mechanical slot machine each had symbols. Initially the symbols only included spades, diamonds, hearts, horseshoes, and bells. On this original slot machine, if you get to line up three bells you win the jackpot. That is why the mechanical slot machine was once also known as the "bell machine".
Winning was a lot easier back then with the mechanical slot machine. The machine has three reels, and each reel would have ten symbols on it. That would mean there are only 1,000 possible combinations that can be made with Fey's original mechanical slot machine.
The total payout for the mechanical slot machine boiled down to a total of 750 coins. That's about a 25% profit; one big reason why the mechanical slot machine attracted would be investors who would want to try placing them on their gambling house or parlors.
With time came development and changes were made to the later mechanical slot machine models. Since owners wanted to get more out of a single mechanical slot machine, they either had to add a new reel to the slot machine or add more symbols for each present reel.
What happened was that new symbols were added. New mechanical slot machines now had 20 symbols instead of ten; thus increasing profits. That number of symbols went up to 22, and that became the maximum number of symbols. It was just physically impossible to add to more symbols to the reels.
There was also a time when a fourth and a fifth reel was added, but that never became a hit with the players. So the standard number of reels on the slot machine was set to three.
This was the beginning of the mechanical slot machine. It would soon pave the way to today's video slot machines and video reels.
