A Little Bit about the History of Slots

Everyone just loves playing the slots.

Slot machines are easy to play. You certainly don't need bluffing techniques in order to win or some card counting strategy. Slot machines also don't cost quite as much as playing other casino games. And even if you lose, it wouldn't really matter because it was money well-spent, considering the amount of fun you had playing.

With all the advantages and benefits that you and the other players get to enjoy when playing the slots, did you ever wonder who was the brain behind such glorious inventions?

If so, you came to the right place because we're going to tell you a little bit about the history of slot machines.

The first slot machines, if you ever get to see one or an imitation of it, would no doubt give you the impression of being a poker machine. The first models of the slot machines, you see, made use of decks of cards instead of pictures or symbols. The paylines were based on poker hands like the royal flush, full house and so forth instead of three cherries or three bells.

To even out the odds and make the owners of the machines earn some more money, two cards - usually a jack and a ten - were always taken out of play to minimize the chances of a player spinning out a royal flush.

The royal flush after all was the highest payline - the greatest jackpot so to speak - so the owners' main concerns were to lessen the chances of that happening!

But anyway, the name of the man behind the first slot machine is Charles Fey. Just like Bill Gates, a cursory first glance on him would not make anyone think that he could have invented such a thing. Charles Fey was, in fact, prior to his successful and much-celebrated invention, nothing but a lowly worker in the California Electric Works.

It was only when he finally had the Liberty Bell - the name in which the first ever slot machine was christened with - fully running that he had a brighter future to look forward to.

Fey never looked back after the overnight success of the Liberty Bell in a San Francisco saloon. He quit his job and together with his work buddy Theodore Holtez, they formed their own company and went on building hundreds and hundreds of slot machines.

Isn't the rags-to-riches story of Mr. Fey quite remarkable? Who knows, you could be like him too one day. But until that day, enjoy playing his invention; the slot machine.