History of Slot Machines: From Liberty Bell to Yes or No Slots

Three spinning reels, a lever and a row of symbols is one of the most recognisable machines ever built. Its history is also a good example of how fuzzy "firsts" can be: even official sources disagree on when the first true slot machine appeared. This is what the records show, from the 1890s to the computer chip, and why the reels make a fun no-money way to settle a yes or no question.

Before the Liberty Bell: card machines

Coin-operated games of chance were already appearing in American bars in the early 1890s. One well-known design, made by Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York, used five drums carrying playing card faces and was based on poker. A coin started the drums, and the result was a poker hand. These machines had no automatic payout. Any prize, often a drink or a cigar, was handed over by the bar, because a poker hand has too many possible winning combinations for a simple mechanism to pay out on its own.

Charles Fey and the three-reel machine

The machine that set the pattern for every slot since came from Charles August Fey, a Bavarian-born mechanic who had settled in San Francisco. Fey cut the idea down to three reels and five symbols: horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and a Liberty Bell. With only three reels, the machine could recognise winning lines mechanically and pay out coins automatically. Three bells paid the top prize, and the bell gave the machine its name, the Liberty Bell.

The exact date is where the sources disagree:

  • California's Office of Historic Preservation says Fey invented the first coin-operated, three-reel slot machine in San Francisco in 1895.
  • The plaque for California Historical Landmark No. 937 says he began making slot machines in 1894 and built the original three-reel bell machine in 1898.
  • The Nevada State Museum, which displayed the Fey family collection, has given 1899 as the Liberty Bell's debut.

The honest answer is that Fey's three-reel machine appeared in the second half of the 1890s, and the oldest documented date for the design is still debated. Fey also could not patent the machine, because gambling was illegal in California at the time, so other manufacturers soon copied it. His workshop at 406 Market Street was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. He went on designing machines for many years afterwards and died in 1944.

Fruit, gum and the "one-armed bandit"

The Liberty Bell was widely copied. Herbert Mills produced his own "Liberty Bell" in 1907, and by 1908 bell machines stood in cigar stores and barber shops. A later model called the Operator's Bell could be fitted with a gum-vending attachment, and because the gum was fruit-flavoured, fruit symbols went on the reels: lemons, cherries, oranges and plums. A picture of a stick of Bell-Fruit Gum is usually given as the origin of the BAR symbol. Handing out gum or candy was also a common way to sidestep gambling laws, though courts did not always accept the excuse.

The nickname "one-armed bandit" is easier to explain. Early machines had a big lever on the side, and they had a reputation for emptying players' pockets.

Electricity, video and random numbers

For decades slot machines were purely mechanical. In 1963 the American company Bally released Money Honey, usually described as the first fully electromechanical slot machine, with a hopper that could pay out up to 500 coins without an attendant. Once the reels were driven by motors, the side lever became mostly decoration.

In 1976 the Fortune Coin company built a video slot that showed the reels on a modified television screen instead of physical drums. The bigger change came with the computer chip. A patent granted in 1984 to the Norwegian mathematician Inge Telnaes, US 4,448,419, describes a gaming machine that uses a random number generator to choose where each reel stops, mapping one physical reel position to several "virtual" positions. That is how modern machines work: a random number decides the result, and the spinning reels are just a show.

Where Fey's machines ended up

Fey's grandsons, Marshall and Frank Fey, displayed the family collection of early machines at their Liberty Belle Restaurant and Saloon in Reno from 1958 until it closed in 2007. Part of the collection, 24 mechanical machines dating from 1895 to 1937 including two Liberty Bells, along with models named the Klondike, Little Chief, Silver Dollar and Three Cadets, was then shown at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City. According to a 2001 report, only seven original Liberty Bells were known to survive at the time.

From betting machine to decision game

Strip away the money and a slot machine is just a randomiser with great suspense: each reel stops one at a time, and you know the result only when the last one lands. That makes it a fun way to answer a yes or no question.

Our Yes or No Slot Machine uses three reels of YES and NO symbols plus a rare star. It costs nothing and uses only play coins that have no cash value, so there is nothing to win or lose except bragging rights. Ask your question, pull the lever and read the reels. It works best for light choices; for a decision that really matters, try one of the methods in how to make a decision when you can't decide. If you prefer a plain 50/50, the Yes or No Button gives an instant answer.

To use the reels for a decision, agree before you pull what counts as a yes: three YES symbols, a majority of YES, or any star. Say or write the question down first, so you cannot reword it after seeing the result. If you catch yourself pulling again and again until the machine agrees with you, stop there. You already know your real answer, and it did not come from the reels.

Fun facts

  • The Liberty Bell's five symbols were horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and the bell; no fruit at all.
  • Fey could not patent his most famous invention because gambling was illegal in California.
  • The Fey family's Reno saloon spelled its name "Belle" with an extra "e" in honour of the machine.
  • Modern slot reels are decorative: the result is chosen by a random number before they stop.
  • In a real slot machine the odds are set so the house wins over time, which is why our version uses play coins only.

Sources

FAQ

Who invented the slot machine?

Charles August Fey, a mechanic in San Francisco, built the three-reel Liberty Bell machine that every later slot is based on. Earlier poker-based coin machines, such as Sittman and Pitt's, did not pay out automatically.

When was the first slot machine made?

Sources disagree. California's official landmark listing says 1895, the landmark plaque says 1898 and the Nevada State Museum has used 1899. All agree it was in the late 1890s.

Why is a slot machine called a one-armed bandit?

Early machines were worked by a single lever on the side, and they took far more money from players than they paid back.

Is the Yes or No Slot Machine gambling?

No. It is free, uses play coins with no cash value and has no prizes. It is simply a fun way to get a random yes or no answer.

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