There are more varieties of slot machines than you may have ever imagined. Slots were created as a simple game in the 1800s, working as three spinning mechanical reels. The first gambling slot machine had only five symbols: horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts, and a Liberty Bell.
The First Slot Machine Symbols. If you want to understand the history of slot machine symbols, the first thing to focus on are the symbols that were used by Charles D. Fey when he originally designed the Liberty Bell slot machine. As you might well garner from the name of his machine, the highest paying symbols available on the reels were the.
Video Slot Machines and Reel Slot Machines
Since that first slot machine, many things have changed, but the concept remains the same. The slot machine will choose a random number for each reel and will slot a symbol into a position on the reel when it stops spinning. The player wins if the reels line up symbols incorrectly on a payline.
There are now video slot machines with multiple pay lines, traditional reel slot machines, and progressive slot machines that can have huge jackpots. You can now play slot machines online and on a mobile phone. While slot machine technology has changed a lot aesthetically, the game still essentially works the same.
Random Number Generator
A Random Number Generator chip operates Today’s slot machines. These RNG chips choose outcomes of the video or reels at random for every spin. There are no patterns or hot/cold streaks, and your odds are the same for each spin with today’s slot machine. The only specific number that an RNG must adhere to is the payout scheduled by the game operator. Slot machines are set to return a specific amount of money played. The minimum amount of money returned to the player is designated by the gaming control board.
The format of a slot machine still plays a role in selecting a machine. Reel slot machines continue the tradition of the original slot machines. Many players continue to enjoy the sound of the reels whizzing around before landing on a payline. Newer reel slot machines still feature that traditional gameplay while competing with video slot machines that have as many as nine different pay lines.
Technology allows video slot machines to have as many pay lines as can fit on the screen. Today you’ll see video slot machines and online slot machine games with up to 100 pay lines. These games can be so elaborate to incorporate video clips of movies, television shows, and music videos. There are even communal video slot machines in some casinos where bonus rounds and progressive jackpots are generated and played by multiple players at different machines.
Higher Limits = Higher Payouts
One of the reasons that players still gravitate to reel slot machines is because many have fewer pay lines so they may take fewer credits to play. Slots with low credit needs come in handy when playing higher limits slot machines. Typically higher limits slot machines will return a higher percentage of money than lower limits slot machines. A slot machine where one credit is equal to $5 will return a higher percentage of the money played, than a $1 slot machine, a 25 cent slot machine, and so forth.
Some slot machine players feel more comfortable playing three credits for $15 in a $5 slot machine because of the higher return percentage than they do by playing 50 lines in a 25 cent slot machine. It’s easier for a player to understand the math behind a slot machine with fewer lines and symbol combinations.
A reel slot machine can only hold up to about 20 symbols per reel, so possible combinations are limited. A video slot machine may have up to 100 reels and symbols. Without reading the actual odds on each video slot machine, it’s almost impossible to predict the probability of winning video slot machines. It can be confusing for players who are looking for a mellow activity.
Progressive Jackpots
This math comes into play when looking at progressive jackpots on both video slot machines and reel slot machines. Players look at the progressive jackpots and wonder if it will be easier to win with fewer reels than it would be with more. The RNG will dictate when the progressive jackpots will pay out, but the psychology of the game may impact players preference for playing a certain progressive jackpot game.
Progressive slot machine jackpots build by players contributing a portion of their play to a prize pot to be won by one person. Progressive jackpots can be individual slot machines, groups of slot machines in a casino and now even in multiple states. Some progressive jackpots can be so massive that they will change someone’s life, so it’s worth it to know what you’re doing.
Be sure to check out the Ultimate Online Slots Guide for even more in-depth information into how to play slots, slot strategy, as well as, slot payouts and symbols!
Slot machine reelsymbols have been constant features since slot machines were inventedmany years ago. The most common of these symbols are the cherrysymbols and the BAR symbol which have been seen on standard slotmachine reels since 1909 and 1910. Initially, BAR was the companylogo of a particular firm and it was a picture of a bubble gum packthat was eventually redesigned as a BAR. Depending on how many reelsthe machine has, the BAR symbol that secures the win could either besingle or multiple.
History of the BARSymbol in Slot Machines
In 1910, HerbertStephen Mills of Mills Novelty Company rebranded the famous fruitreel symbols by adding the picture of a bubble gum pack. Eventually,it wasn’t just a combination of fruits and chewing gum packs, it wasjust a stylized bar. Some writers believe that the BAR symbol was thelogo of a Bell-Gum Fruit company. Keep in mind that in the early1900s, slot machines were illegal in the United States. At the time,slot machines were not called slot machines. They were calledone-armed bandits and they were known for literally swallowing moneyand hardly paying out.
The bad reputationof slot machines and the ban that was placed on slot machines didn’tdiscourage people from using them at all costs. The government had toput in several measures to make sure people stopped using machinesthat promised users significant cash prizes as the payout. To makethe slot machines more interesting for players who didn’t want tobreak the law, producers eventually added the fruits and bubble gumsymbols to the reels. Rather than getting cash payouts, the machineswere set to pay out noncash prizes.
The Bell-Fruit Gumcompany was among the many companies that started taking advantage ofthis innovation. The company logo was added to almost every slotmachine that was produced at the time and it looked just like a BAR.Rather than serve as a slot machine, these machines were seen asvending machines because the pictures and logos of bubble gumcompanies were added to the side of every machine. There is still alot of controversy regarding the real name of the Bell-Fruit GumCompany but whatever the case may be, it is one of the most commonorigin stories of the BAR symbol.
There is anothertheory that Mills Novelty Company partnered with the Bell-Fruit GumCompany to use their logo on their slot machines. Eventually, theMills Novelty Company started creating slot machines with woodinstead of iron. This company was also responsible for inventing theslot machine jackpot. When the same symbol appears three times or acertain combination of symbols appear at the same time on the reels,the player would hit the jackpot and win big. All the coins in themachine will be paid out to the player.
What’s TheDifference Between Slot Machine Symbols And Icons?
Every slot machinehas a rich combination of symbols and icons. Both terms are used fortwo different things even if some individuals tend to interchangethem. All slot machines have pay tables and reels. It is on thesereels and pay tables that slot symbols appear. During each spin,different symbols spin around the reels. When the reels stopspinning, the outcome of the game is determined by the last symbolsthat are displayed on the reels. If you want to learn what eachsymbol will fetch you, you should study the paytable. All the detailsabout the symbols are displayed on the paytable. You’ll know whichcombinations you need to hit the jackpot or win any amount at all.
The first-ever gamemachine symbol was created by Charles Fey in 1895 and it was thesymbol of a playing card. The symbol was used for a machine that issimilar to the slot machine but was meant for poker. Different cardsymbols were created for these machines at the time. Many slotmachines today still use card symbols. Fey also created the libertybell symbol and horseshoe symbols.
The icon is the logoof the slot machine. It is usually designed based on the theme andname of the game. For example, if the name of a slot machine is Wheelof Fortune, the icon would be a wheel. If the title of the game isGods of Egypt, the icon can be a picture of Anubis or any othermythical creature in Egypt. The icon usually appears next to the nameof the game. Most games have more than one icon but all of them arebased on the theme of the machine. An icon is to a slot machine whata book cover is to a book. It is the manufacturer’s way of brandingthe slot machine so it can stand out from others in the market.
Types of SlotSymbols
Available Slot Meaning
We’ve mentioned afew of the most common slot symbols out there. However, there are somany others and different manufacturers are still coming up withunique slot machine symbols to make the game more interesting toplayers. We can’t talk about every symbol out there but we can talkabout the most common categories of slot symbols. Some of the mostcommon are as follows;
- Fruit Slot Machine Symbols
After the cardsymbols, the fruit symbols are the oldest slot machine symbols in theUnited States. The most common fruit symbols and the first to becreated were grapes, cherries, melons, lemons, and oranges. Machinesthat displayed these symbols are called fruit slot machines. Some ofthese machines paid people fruit gums instead of cash as statedearlier. When players saw lemons on the slot reels, they will be paidin lemon-flavored gums. If the reels displayed oranges, they would bepaid in orange-flavored gums. The number of gums players got dependedon the combination. The higher the winning combination, the more gumsplayers would get. These sorts of slot machines have beendiscontinued. Now, fruit slot machines payout cash prizes like otherslot machines. You can get bubble gums from your regular vendingmachines or chewing gum dispenser.
- Standard Reel Slot Symbols
The standard reelsymbols include but are not limited to symbols of Tens, Kings, Aces,Jacks, and Queens. They are as old as the slot machines themselves.The classic slots of old still come with these standard symbols butthe more modern slots like the video slot machines come with so manynew and beautiful symbols.
- Bonus Symbols
Every modern slotmachine comes with bonus symbols which give players numerous bonusamounts each time they appear on the reels.
- Scatter Symbols
Mail Slot Meaning
You’ll also see thescatter symbols which can either pay your regular amount or give youyour regular amount along with a bonus.
- Wild Symbols
Let’s not forgetabout the wild symbols that are of different types and typicallyrepresent a winning combination. Having a wild symbol or two alongwith another symbol can give you a winning combination. Wild symbolsin slot machines can be compared to wild cards in card games.
These are just themajor categories of slot symbols that you should expect to see in atypical slot machine. Each machine has subcategories and designs thatrepresent their theme. With the production of new slot machines, itis a surprise that classic symbols are still in existence today.There are still many regular players who would rather not play a slotmachine game than play a game without classic slots. These are thepeople that keep the tradition going and help them retain theirrelevance.
Bottomline
Slot Machine Symbols
Whether it is theBAR symbol, card symbol or any other symbol listed above, you cannottalk about the origin of slot machines without talking about slotmachine symbols. Slot machines are here to stay. To make things evenmore exciting, you can play a slot game with your computer or mobiledevice when you don’t have the time to visit a landbased casino. Thecreation of online slot machines has only helped in promoting andmaintaining this game that has become a crucial part of the gamblingculture. As a final note of caution, you must gamble responsibly. Youmay not need a lot of money to play a single slot game but the amountcan pile up quickly. To minimize losses while playing slot games, gofor machines that offer unconditional free spins. This will help yousave money. Most importantly, make sure you play within your budgetno matter how interesting it is.