They remain quite popular despite the rise of high roller slots. Penny slots have been part of this entire history since the initial slots only allowed you to bet little cash. The online slots made their debut in the 90s and they are now driving the industry. It was followed by Walt Fraley’s Fortune Coin slot that was released in 1976.
Fey’s design was used until the 1960s when electromechanical slots came to life.īally developed the first one in 1963 and it was titled Money Honey. Some of them awarded players in form of cash while others gave out candy. However, Charles Fey forgot to patent his invention, hence, many other versions of his machine cropped up. The slot had classic symbols such as bells and stars and a max payout of 10 nickels. He designed and created the Card Bell slot in 1898, which was a three-reeled slot with automatic payouts. However, some people prefer to refer to them as card machines and not slot machines.Ĭharles Fey is hailed as the true father of slots. They involved drums that were holding card faces and they borrowed a lot from card games. The first slots were created by Sittman and Pitt in the year 1891 and they simply involved inserting a nickel and pulling a lever. Penny slots are essentially the oldest kind of slot since the earliest slots required you to bet a meagre coin and stand a chance of winning a free drink or a cigar.