History Slot Machine

The year was 1891, the place was Brooklyn New York. Two people by the names of Sittman and Pitt developed a game in which 50 card faces were placed in five separate drums. The player would insert a nickel into the side and press a lever that spins the drums. The object was to get a good poker hand when the drums stopped spinning. This early version of slots was very popular in bars and instead of winning money players won free beer or cigars.

Not long after 1891, a San Francisco born man by the name of Charles Fey developed the first “one arm bandit” slot machine. The year was in 1895. He created three spinning wheels that each had five symbols. This made it easier to automate the game in order to give automatic payouts because it was much simpler to read whether or not a player won.