FulaBy Carla Harris
One of the most iconic symbols of a casino is the slot machine and the world’s first mechanical slot was created by a car mechanic in 1895. A German man called Charles Fey was living in America when he designed a machine that would be called the Liberty Bell. It consisted of three spinning reels and the icons that he used were diamonds, spades, hearts, horseshoes and cracked Liberty Bells. You were paid out according to the number of identical symbols you got and the highest payout was for three bells.
His machine proved so popular that he joined forces with the Mills Novelty Company in 1907 and they used the design of the Liberty Bell to create another machine called the Operator Bell. His icons were replaced with fruit symbols and these are still used today.
The first slot machines in Las Vegas were meant to amuse and occupy the wives and girlfriends of the important players, however they were quickly bringing in more revenue than table games and so they became a standard feature. Charles Fey died in 1944 and in that same year his invention became the most popular game to play in casinos in Sin City.