They may share many similarities, reels, symbols and much more, but the truth of the matter is, the modern online slot is a very different beast to the olden-days, mechanical style machine that first made these types of games so evidently popular across the globe.
The very first true slot machine was developed by an American inventor called Charles Fey and was called Liberty Bell. It used a system of mechanised reels and symbols which were set into motion and then randomly stopped, awarding payouts based on one payline and a relatively small number of winning combinations.
The first machine was developed in 1899 and was based on previous machines which used poker hands as the basis for their payout system. Fey's genius was to simplify the number of symbols down to three reels with five symbols across each reel. This reduced the complexity of the machine and allowed him to offer the first slot jackpot, 10 nickels if the user hit three Liberty Bell symbols across the payline.
The amazing thing was that although the slot was refined over the coming decades, more reels introduced for example, it took until the 1960's for the next big development to come when Bally's introduced the first electro-mechanical slot.
By introducing electronics into the equation, the abilities of the slot were greatly increased. Jackpot's suddenly jumped from just a few coins, up to 500 coins per game and no attendant was needed in order to oversee the payout. It was the first step in automated gaming.
Over the next 30 years, technology developed still further and computerised technology saw further developments in the slot. Computer chips saw more winning combinations possible across reels, games were linked together to create larger games with bigger jackpots but at this time, these games were still only available in bricks and mortar casinos.
The next big step in the evolution of the slot came with the development of the Internet. It did not take online casinos and entrepreneurs long to realise that this new technology offered them a brand new way to offer gaming to the masses.
However, a mechanised slot game would obviously not work online. So a new tool was used to develop the new era of slot gaming for the 21st century. Software.
This is where the big changes in modern casino gaming have been made at a fundamental level, thus altering how the modern online slot works in comparison to older games.
Instead of a mechanised series of reels controlled by a computer chip and processor, the new online slots operate in a very different manner. In the central programming of the slot, there is actually no such thing as reels at all.
What the software uses instead is a random number generator (RNG). This does two things, firstly it does away with the actual need for reels of any kind and secondly, it increases the number of possible symbols and combinations that the slot machine can generate vastly.
In effect, the RNG is the engine of the modern online slot. It is this which, upon every click of the button, effectively decides whether the symbols revealed across the reels are a winning combination or not.
The major difference the RNG has over a mechanised or even electrical slot is that it can work through a vastly increased number of possible combinations on every spin and by differentiating between paylines, can offer the slot game developer the chance to develop games with bigger jackpots than ever before.
The upshot of this is that it was not long before online slot developers realised that the massive new potential of their software allowed them to develop games that could pay out a jackpot that more than matched the biggest jackpots available at the top casinos around the world in Vegas, Macau, Monte Carlo and more.
Furthermore, the integrated nature of the internet meant that these new jackpot slots could be played by more people, more often. Rather than existing on a network of slot machines at a single casino, the new internet games could be placed in numerous online casinos, hundreds even, and played by huge numbers of players every day and every night.
This simple fact means that not only are the modern slots vastly different in how the results of each slot are determined, but that they are more easily available for more people to play. The question remained however, would people want to play this type of game?
As obvious as it may seem to us now being well used to online slots, there was actually no onus on the original online slot designers to display their game in the same format as a mechanised slot. Sure, slot players may be used to certain symbols and reels, but there was no requirement for the new generation of slots to display information that way.
Perhaps it was tradition, perhaps familiarity but the decision to represent the results of the RNG in a slot format for online games certainly helped persuade many people to play the game. There is a certain familiarity people have with spinning reels that is innately more appealing to this type of gamer, than simply seeing the result of your random number selected across the screen.
How the modern online slot is designed and developed also allows for many other differences compared to typical mechanised slots. Modern slots can feature a host of bonus games and features such as scatter symbols and wilds, all of which enhance game-play and allow the user to become more involved in the slot.
As such, the modern day slot, complete with a wide range of sound effects, animations and other stunning visuals (including 3D on some new slots), is a far more immersive experience. Video slots in particular have the ability to draw the player in to the game more so than a simple mechanised slot could ever do.
So does this mean the modern slot is more complex? Well, yes and no. There are still a large percentage of modern slots that are simple to play and offer just a few pay lines and a relatively small number of payouts. However, for slot veterans, there are equally a good number of games that offer a more detailed, and complex game-play.
So, upon reflection, the modern day online slot only shares a few tenuous connections with the original type of slot machine. We may use similar terms to describe the game but the development of software and technology has meant that we can play this 100-year-old form of gaming, in a 21st century style.
New online slots may offer more features, bigger prizes, more pay lines and many other new features, but they remain as simple and enjoyable as ever.
Next Post: Going Wild - The different types of Wilds you'll encounter playing slots
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