Slots Machines History

The slot machine was invented in 1895 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California. The first machine, known as Liberty Bell, had pictures of diamonds, hearts, spades, and cracked Liberty Bells on three mechanical reels. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payoff, ten nickels. Liberty Bell was a huge success and spawned a thriving mechanical gaming device industry. Another early machine gave out winning in the form of fruit flavoured chewing gums with pictures of the flavours as symbols on the reels. The popular cherry and melon symbols derive from this machine. The "BAR" symbol now common in slot machines was derived from an early logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company. In 1964, Bally developed the first fully electromechanical slot machine called Money Honey.