The online slots industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with a long history of technical innovation.
It would be easy to view modern slots as part of the wider video game industry. However, the truth is online and mobile(https://thinkcomputers.org/category/articles/mobile/) slots are direct descendants of the original slots invented in the late 19th century.
The only difference between the early slots and modern slots is that in the old days slots makers had to build the hardware themselves. Nowadays, slots manufacturers spend their time developing slots for desktop as well as mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android.
Let’s look at the main events in the evolution of slots hardware.
- Coin-Based Slots Invented in 1890s
It’s hard to believe, but the first slot machine was created well over a century ago. Charles Fey, a German immigrant living in California, is generally considered to be the inventor of the slot machine, as seen here https://www.britannica.com/topic/slot-machine He experimented with various technologies before introducing his first coin-based machine to the market in 1894. The game was known as “4-11-44” and was so successful that Fey earned enough money to open up his own slot machine production warehouse.
By the end of the 19th century, Fey had launched several other coin-based slots, the best known of which were Card Bell and Liberty Bell. These games were three-reel slots with automatic payouts that were dispensed to the player in coins. Four of the original 100 Liberty Bell machines can still be found at various casino museums in the United States.
- Video Slot Machines Appear in 1950s
America experienced a tech boom following the Second World War, and the slots industry cashed in. In 1963, Bally developed the first completely electromechanical slot machine, called Money Honey. This was the first slot with an automatic payout of up to 500 coins without the need for human assistance. Its popularity led to a boom in electronic slots games.
In 1976, Las Vegas company Fortune Coin Co introduced what would later be credited as the first video slot machine. This slot had a 19-inch Sony Trinitron color display and was mounted on a display cabinet at Las Vegas casinos, starting with a trial at the Las Vegas Hilton. IGT, now a leader in online casino slots, bought Fortune Co and its technology in 1978.
- First Online Slots
The first online slots didn’t appear until the mid-1990s, but the seeds for what would become online slots were planted a decade earlier. In the mid-1980s, electronic systems enabled slots manufacturers to connect machines in different locations, enabling the invention of the progressive jackpot.
The internet changed the slots world forever. No longer did gaming manufacturers have to create their own hardware; instead they could just program online slots to be played on computers and laptops. These days, online gamblers have a choice of literally thousands of online slots. To read reviews of some of the best online slots and slot bonuses, check out https://www.justslots.com/.
- Mobile Slots
After the first smartphones came out in the mid-2000s, it was only a matter of time before slots developers brought out games for this new medium. It actually took a few years before online gamblers began using their mobile devices to play slots, but now the mobile slot market is virtually doubling every year.
The principle behind mobile slots is the same as online slots: Apple, Samsung, and other smartphone manufacturers make the hardware. All that the slots developers need to do is program their games to make them suitable to the requirements of these smartphones and tablets.
