The Evolution of Slots

A San Francisco Mechanic Creates the Liberty Bell

San Francisco mechanic Charles Fey is often dubbed the Father of the Slot Machine although some believe he borrowed the idea from Sittman and Pitt, who manufactured a similar coin-operated gaming machine in 1891.

Sittman and Pitt’s creation resembled a video poker machine in that it used five rotating drums and fifty playing cards (ten cards on each drum). The gaming device could be played for as little as a nickel. The player would insert the money into a coin slit and pull a lever to rotate the drums along with the playing cards they contained.

The machines were installed in many saloons and bars, quickly drawing the attention of the public. It awarded payouts for five-card poker hands, with high-rank combinations paying more than low-rank hands.

The 10 of spades and the Jack of hearts were removed, which reduced the odds of getting high-ranking hands like the royal flush. Sittman and Pitt’s machine lacked a direct paying mechanism, so players were awarded soft drinks, free beer, and cigarettes.

The prizes varied depending on the establishment offering the game. At the time, it was impossible to devise a machine that could pay out automatically due to the high number of possible winning combinations in the card-based game.

It is believed Fey created his machine between 1887 and 1895 in his San Francisco workshop but the exact year remains unknown. Fey introduced several improvements to his slot prototype. He reduced the number of drums, or reels as they are called, from five to three, with each drum containing five symbols.

The symbols were diamonds, hearts, spades, a horseshoe, and a bell. Fey named his machine the Liberty Bell after the bell symbol. With fewer symbols and drums, it was significantly easier for the player to read a win. More importantly, Fey’s Liberty Bell was capable of paying prizes automatically.

The Liberty Bell machines are no longer in operation. Most were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with only four machines surviving. A Liberty Bell machine from 1899 was exhibited as a gaming artifact in Reno’s Liberty Belle Saloon, owned by the inventor’s sons Frank and Marshall Fey, but the establishment was sold in 2006. The Nevada State Museum has been the home of the machine since then.

Herbert Mills and His Operator Bell

Fey’s invention inspired other manufacturers to design similar reel-based games. Among them was Herbert Mills of the Mills Novelty Company in Chicago. Mills’ company started manufacturing coin-based machines as early as 1896, including the Puritan Bell, the Mint Vendor Four Column, and the Operator Bell.

The Operator Bell was a knock-off of Fey’s Liberty Bell. This was a three-reel machine that weighed over a hundred pounds. Despite its significant size, the Operator Bell boasted two major improvements. Its coin slit was improved, but more importantly, it used new distinctive symbols. Instead of bells, horseshoes and card suits, the Operator Bell used fruit symbols like lemons, cherries, and plums.

The Introduction of the Bar Symbol and Other Improvements

Fey partnered with the Mills Novelty Company sometime around 1907. Slot machines were outlawed in San Francisco in 1909, which caused many manufacturers to move their operations to other cities, most notably Chicago.

Manufacturers like Mills tried to circumvent these restrictions by branding their machines as gumball dispensers. The card-suit symbols gave way to fruit symbols which represented different gum flavors.

Mills was the first to add an image of a chewing gum pack on the reels. It was then stylized as the bar symbol we all know today. The logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company served as the inspiration for the bar symbol.

Because of the ban, many slot machines at the time paid in products instead of cash. Some of the most common prizes were gum, cigars, and golf balls. The machines found their way into saloons, bars, bowling alleys, and tobacco shops. This is not to say slots with cash prizes did not exist at the time. They did, but the prizes were distributed covertly under the counter.

In 1916, the Mills Novelty Company manufactured the first “jackpot” coin-based machine. Improvements were made to the machines’ cabinets as well. Instead of using heavier and more expensive materials like iron, the manufacturers decided to use wood, which was cheaper and lighter. Some of the common themes for slot cabinets at the time included the War Eagle, the Lion Head, and the Roman Head.

Another major improvement took place in the 1930s when the Mills Novelty Company introduced the line of Silent Bell machines, which revolutionized the way slots played. The new machines awarded a double jackpot and were significantly quieter than older versions like the Operator Bell.

The popularity of slots was on the rise in the 1920s, with machines popping up across the United States. This continued until the Great Depression of the early 1930s when federal legislature outlawed gambling in all states but Nevada.

After the end of World War II, slots became a worldwide phenomenon, with an increasing number of governments embracing them to increase their tax revenue. The Mills Novelty Company expanded its operations to Europe, manufacturing more than 30,000 gaming machines during this period.