Navigation

The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services gaming and coin-operated amusement equipment including slot-machines, video games, instant ticket lottery games, and German wall-machines, which are wall-mounted slot-machines. The fun and games began in 1931, during the Great Depression in Chicago, current site of Bally headquarters. Dec 19, 2015 My life long pal 'Mr Pinball Wizard' brings old school pinball and slot machines back to life to preserve a fun bit of history. This guy is amazing! Have fun viewing and don't be afraid to leave a.

Home
Best Casino Bonuses
No Deposit Bonuses
Slot Tournaments
Casino Reviews
Mobile Casinos
Free Prizes
How to Play Slots
Slots Articles
Slots Software
Slots Categories

New SlotsAll Free SlotsMobile SlotsBonus SlotsCasino Game SlotsCasino SlotsFruit MachinesFree 3 Reel SlotsProgressive SlotsFree 5 Reel SlotsSlots By PaylineOther Slots
Free 3D Slots

On this page, you'll find a comprehensive overview to answer the question, How Do Slot Machines Work? The original land-based slots machines that went onto to inspire a virtual gaming. Along with the gambling revolution in the form of the thousands of slots machines we all know and love. If you're new to the exciting world of slots machines this is the perfect place to start!
We'll be touching on the history of slot machines. Showing you how do slot machines work. Taking an in-depth look at slot machine payouts and even debunking some slots machines myths.

Slots Explained!

So what exactly is a 'Slot machine'? You must know this in order to know how do slot machines work. Well at its very basic form, a slot machine is simply a 'one-armed bandit' type of machine. Where a player puts a coin in the slot and pulls the lever (or 'arm'). Or in the modern era simply presses a 'Spin' button to trigger reel spins. When the reels stop spinning the player may or may not win a prize depending on what particular symbols are showing.
Modern slots machines (also know as Pokies in Australia) can be found in casinos, bars etc all over the world. They're now a very well established and incredibly popular form of easy to play game. They make up a multi-billion dollar industry in their own right.

The History of Slots Machines

In order to help you understand how do slot machines work a little better. Let's take a look at the history of the slot machine. The history and development of slot machines is a fascinating subject in its own right. While we don't have space here to give you chapter and verse. It's well worth highlighting a few key moments.
Starting with what's considered to be the invention of the first of what we would recognize as the slot machine. When In 1887 Charles Fey built his 'Liberty Slots' machine. Complete with 3 spinning reels and 5 game symbols (diamonds, hearts, horseshoes, spades and the Liberty Bell). Fey probably couldn't have predicted the impact his machine would have on the world. Nor could he have guessed that his inspired choice of symbols would stand the test of time and remain in use in today's games well over 100 years later!

Fun fact: The Liberty Bell was the first ever jackpot symbol. 3 of these in a row was the highest payout for Fey's Liberty Bell game. With a top jackpot of fifty cents!

Fey's gaming machine proved incredibly popular. Variants on the basic setup soon followed. Including the mighty Operator Bell machine and games that awarded Fruit flavored gums as prizes. A response to strict anti-gambling laws which were brought in response to the growing popularity of slots machines. That prevented cash prizes and in some regions. Including San Francisco, Nevada, and California where there were outright bans. So the fruit symbols we know today such as cherry and melon appeared on the slots. Joined by the famous BAR symbol which was based on the logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company.

In 1963 Bally Technologies Inc developed Money Honey which is considered the world's first 'electromechanical slot machine'. Instead of operating solely via mechanical components. Modern electrical components were used in the design of the machine. To give players something new and exciting. As well as to breathe new life into what was in the early 1960s something of a moribund & declining industry.

Across the United States, casinos were actually reluctant to remove older stock to make way for Bally's new machine. However, any initial reluctance soon fell away. As operators saw their takings per machine increase by as much as 400%. With the electro-mechanical slots and by 1968, Bally was producing 94% of all the slot machines sold in the state of Nevada alone!

Get hangouts app for mac. The first video slot made its debut in the mid-1970s in the form of Walt Fraley's Fortune Coin game and while it looked impressive (by 1970s standards). Players were initially skeptical of such a game due to the simulated reels and random number generators. Everyone understood that such machines could be programmed to favor the house.

IGT (International Game Technology) purchased the rights to Fortune Coin and turned out the multiple pay-line version in 1980. It turned out to be a good move as IGT are still in the business of slots to this day. Helped no doubt by increased consumer interest in home computer and arcade games. The electronic type of slots machines rapidly went from strength and strength. Soon they came to dominate the sector leaving the older electro-mechanical style slot machines in the dust (quite literally in many cases!)

Enough of the history lesson lets move on to how do slot machines work.

How Do Slot Machines Works

So let's take a look at how do slot machines work. Typically players will play a slot machine game with 3 reels or 5 reels. Players insert coins, starting from one Penny or Cent. This is to determine how much to wager and then press the 'Spin' button. Animation on the screen will show the reels (or actual reels will spin round in the case of older slots machines).

At the heart of every modern slot machine is the random number generator. Special software code that determines the outcome of your spins. The software that powers modern slots machines must meet strict legal and regulatory testing. To ensure fairness but, ultimately, the house always has the edge as they say.

Once the reels have stopped spinning. The games software will determine if and what the player has won. With wins usually accompanied by suitable sound FX and flashing lights or animations (in the case of video slots).

Different slots machines have different themes, prizes, symbols and features of course. In fact, there are thousands of variations of slot machines out there. With new games developed and released on a regular basis. Machines generally come in two types. Either a 'Classic' slot with 3 reels or a more advanced and feature rich 'Video' Slot with 5 reels.

Slot Machine Parts

Understanding the parts of a slot machine is fundamental to understanding how do slot machines work.
As you are no doubt aware. Today's slot machines come in both virtual (eg online browser-based games) and real-world land-based games. The likes of which you can find in casinos. In this section, we'll take a look at the common parts of both types of slots.
First up we have the reels which are obviously the most important part of any slot game! The reels are where you'll find the symbols for the games, of course. In modern virtual slot machines, the reels are 'fake'. Simply in that, you are seeing an animated simulation of real reels! Ultimately, in these games, a random number generator determines the nature of the finished spin. Typically you get to see 3 symbols per reel. So if you are playing a 5 reel game you would be able to see 15 symbols at any one time.
All slots games have a minimum of 3 reels while the vast majority of slots games nowadays have 5 reels. You can find a few games with 7 reels such as the WGS technology powered Farming Futures slot game (and we even have our own 7 reel slot game) and there are also games with 9 and 12 reels.
Next, up for how do slot machines work, we have the Paytable. Which is where you'll find all the key information about a slots machines payouts and rewards. At its very basic, such as on classic slots, a paytable simply provides an easy to understand table of winning symbol combinations. For example 3 cherries in a row with the winning credit amount next to it - very easy to understand.
As a slot machine become more complex, with more features and paylines, so inevitably does the paytable. But hopefully, the designers will have done their job properly. All the key information you ne