The History of Slots – In today’s modern world, we have access to so many different varieties of slots. There are land-based video slots, online progressive slots, and we’re even starting to find VR slots on the market!
The online slot machines UK industry really has come a long way, so we thought we’d pay our tribute by breaking down the history of slots over the last century or two. If you’re interested in joining us, read on to find out more! We’ll be looking at:
– Early mechanical slots
– The first digital slots
– Online Slots
Back in The Old Days
Did you know that the first ever slot machine didn’t even output coins? That’s right, the first machines developed in the early 1880’s actually output bubble-gum, and the flavour of the gum was determined by the fruit symbols that you matched. How interesting is that!? It wasn’t until 1895 that the first ever jackpot slot machine was invented by Charles Fey, but it was still completely mechanical. The machines were clunky and noisy, but we bet they were so much fun at the time.
The jackpots sound small when compared to today’s standard with a maximum of ten nickels payout, but that was a lot of money back then. Mechanical slots continued to rise in popularity all the way up until 1975 when the Fortune Coin Company created the worlds first digital slot! This used revolutionary computer chip technology to display a slot machine on the screen through pixels, and it was mind-blowing. It was impressive at the time, but by today’s standards, it looked pretty simple. Let’s see where slots developed from there on!
The Digital Age
Digital video slots became massively popular after 1975 as different computer enthusiasts competed to get in on the trend. But it wasn’t until the mid ‘90s when things really kicked off. CGI technology became increasingly popular throughout the early ‘90s and this allowed slot developers to integrate amazing video graphics into their games. It really did look futuristic at the time. The slot world was now developing exponentially – video slots were popping up in casinos across the world, but things really went bonkers when the internet began to get extremely popular and accessible. Before we knew it, CGI-based video slots were popping up all over the internet, it truly was mind-boggling stuff that felt like a real-life sci-fi movie. It was a long time ago so it’s hard to think back to the first online slots, but the ones we remember most fondly included:
– Cash Splash
– Pharaoh’s Fortune
– Holden Dragon
Final Thoughts
Ever since online slots were invented, slots have just got better and better. It’s very easy to take this for granted. However, we think it’s great to take a step back sometimes and think about the amazing history of slots. Who knows, perhaps you’ll take a historical trip back to online slots in the future when we’re all plugged into virtual reality slots!
