Slots and pokies are a number of the oldest gambling games in the modern world. They saw their beginnings in the beginning of the 20th century, and also have attracted a vast audience since. Here is an overview of slot machine history and how they will have developed over the years.
The initial ever version of the slot machine game was observed in 1891. Anti Rungkad and Sachs created a machine with five drums, each showing poker hand symbols. When players would win at these games, the machine would not spend; rather, the bar housing them would provide players with drinks.
It might be four more years before Charles Fey would create the version of the slot machine with which we have been most acquainted today. The machine provided players with cash payouts when it revealed matching symbols. The popularity of these games caught on very quickly, until anti-gambling groups enacted a ban on slots in the first 20th century.
The ban only lasted a couple of years, and it wasn’t long before slots became popular again in casinos. It was during the 1950s that slot machines started to become popular all over the world. In 1953, Australian gaming company Aristocrat took note of the new trend and made a decision to manufacture its own make of electronic gaming machines called pokies. The company’s first machine was called the ‘Clubman’.
Although it would be quite some time before we’d see online slots, casinos in Las Vegas started making electronic slot machines, moving away from the typical, mechanical slot games that had recognition through the years. These machines were more secure than mechanical slots and managed to get more difficult for folks to cheat casinos. During this time, electronic slots also saw the invention of the random number generator which made playing slots a lot more unpredictable.
Over the next few decades, slots would remain the same. It wouldn’t be before turn of the Century that we begin seeing the advent of online slots. The first online slots games were seen around 2001, once the first internet casinos went live. Companies like Microgaming got on the ground floor, creating a few of the first online slot machines open to the public.
For the past a decade, slots have become probably the most popular games at online casinos, besides making up over 80% of land-based casino revenue. In the online world, players can find hundreds of different online slots games, a lot of which feature fun and inventive themes. Players are also able to find a wide range of branded and themed slots games, featuring innovative gaming technology.
