It’s funny really, because when Charles D. Fey was applying the finishing touches to his now-legendary Liberty Bell machine he wouldn’t have ever thought that he would be responsible for creating the biggest gambling success story of the 20th century, but there you go.
Sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to start until after you do it… Mr. Fey certainly started something with the Liberty Bell machine – the modern slots industry that pulls in billions of dollars of revenue every year.
Of course, Charles D. Fey isn’t the only one to thank for the remarkable rise of slots over the past century or so, but he was definitely the person that set things in motion. You have to also thank the developers who first came up with how to use an RNG to power video slots, as without this technology video slots wouldn’t be possible, and neither would online slots – visit Slots Baby.
But who wins between video slots and fruit machines? It’s a tricky question, but we’ll try to answer it here.
A funny history of fruit machines
Whilst fruit machines are pretty much the same as slot machines, they do actually have a fairly interesting history, and it’s one that isn’t always related to slot machines too. A lot of this is because of the prior illegality of gambling in the US before the 1920s – slot machines could only be played in shady saloons and taverns for money, but for innocent fruit machines? Well, things were different.
Developers took Charles D. Fey’s Liberty Bell concept here and flipped the script, using more fruit icons, and making the pay out prize something simple like fruit flavoured gum. There was no money involved, so fruit machines could sidestep the gambling law!
The technological story of video slots
Video slots also have a pretty remarkable history, however this one is more focussed on the cutting edge technology that actually made video slots possible. All of the slot machines before video slots worked using a mechanical set of reels, something that ended up being fairly restricting when developers were trying to think up new ways to keep their games interesting and exciting.
In the end they worked out a way to use a RNG to keep virtual reels on a video screen spinning randomly, something that was a huge breakthrough in the slots industry. In fact, without RNGs you wouldn’t have video slots either!
Video slots: The good and the bad
The best thing about video slots is that developers are free to be a lot more creative with how their slot works, which is why online slots continue to be so innovative and pioneering.
One bad thing, however, about video slots is the fact that older gamblers may not find them as appealing.
Fruit machines: The good and the bad
The first thing to say about fruit machines is simply that they are a classic, and for many people they will never tire of fruit machines.
The only bad thing, of course, is that they aren’t as technology advanced.
