Known as the one-armed bandit, the fruities if youโre English, and the puggy among the Scots, the slot machine has made its way all over the world, robbing unsuspecting gamblers of their hard-earned coin. Today, there are around 200,000 slot machines in the city of Las Vegas alone and over a million worldwide. But what are the origins of this devious machine? Who invented this addictive pastime and notorious thief? And how did it rise to such international infamy?
The slots have become the most popular casino game in the world and typically constitute around 70% of any casinoโs revenue. Once entirely analog, slot machines have since been digitized and can now accept credit card payments as well as cash, vouchers, and tokens, so players can spend all the bills in their wallets and then dip into their credit account to keep gambling. In the words of Keenen Ivory Wayans, โSlot machines are like crack for old people.โ And the man who started it all, a man to be worshipped by casino owners and scorned by old gamblers, went by the name of Charles Fey.ย
Technically, slot machines were around before the time of Charles Fey; however, he was the man responsible for bringing the slot machine into the modern age and helping it grow to its current level of prominence. And while Feyโs slot machine was quite different from the neon-clad, entirely electronic slots we see in todayโs casinos, his invention would pave the way for these harbingers of bad luck that now line card rooms from Vegas to Venice. Letโs take a look at the life of the man who started it all.
The Life of Charles Fey
Charles Fey was born in Vรถhringen, Bavaria, Germany in 1862. He began his career as a mechanic at a small farming tool manufacturing company as a teenager, and this experience would shape his career and work for the rest of his life. He eventually moved to France to continue working in mechanical engineering before migrating to New Jersey at the age of 23 to go work with his uncle. Fey traveled around the United States for several years before settling in San Francisco, where he would spend the majority of his career.
When he arrived in San Francisco, Fey got a job with Western Electric Works, a company that was at the center of San Franciscoโs blossoming coin-operated machine industry. Unfortunately, Fey was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the 1880s and was told that he only had a year to live. So, in keeping with the medical beliefs of the time, he moved down to Mexico, hoping that the warmer climate would help his affliction. As it turned out, Feyโs tuberculosis was not quite as terminal as his doctors had told him, and he returned to the United States and started working for Western Electric again.
While back at his job in San Francisco, Fey met two people that would influence him greatly in the coming years: Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Schultze and Theodore Holtz, both fellow German transplants working and living in the United States. In 1893, Schultze was awarded a patent for his so-called โHorseshoe slot machineโ and Fey and Holtz quit their jobs at Western Electric to form Fey Electric Works. The office of Fey Electric Works was located very close to Schultzeโs place of business, and they provided model work and gear-cutting for Schultzeโs Horseshoe slot machines.
In 1895, Fey created his own modified version of the Horseshoe slot machine called the โ4-11-44 slot machine,โ which was based on the popular lottery game Policy in which 4-11-44 was a rare winning sequence. He installed this machine in a saloon in San Francisco and it became so wildly popular that he decided to produce more. Unlike the other slot machines of the time that paid out checks or tokens that had to be redeemed for actual money, Feyโs machine paid out coins, making it far more appealing to players who wanted an instant payout.
The success of Feyโs slot machines led him to leave Fey Electric Works and form a new company called Charles Fey & Company. He later moved out of his basement and got a new facility at 406 Market Street in the heart of San Franciscoโs financial district. At the time, he was working on the Card Bell slot machine, a three-reeled, staggered-stop machine that became the basis for slot machines today. The machine featured a series of poker suits on its reels that aligned to form poker hands when they stopped. The machine offered automatic payouts and introduced an element of suspense and drama that would propel slot machines to new levels of popularity.
The Liberty Bell Slot Machine
A year after he created the Card Bell slot machine, in 1899, Fey modified his invention by replacing some of the suit marks with stars, bells, and horseshoes, and the revolutionary Liberty Bell slot machine was born. The machine sat on a countertop with a lever on the right side and featured 10 symbols on each of its three reels, which meant that there were 1,000 different possible combinations. It was designed to pay out fifty cents when three of the same symbols aligned, and it returned 86% of the money put into it, leaving 14% as guaranteed revenue for the owner. Yes, even from the first slot machines, the odds were stacked against you.
The Liberty Bell slot machine soon became extremely popular and could be found in nearly every cigar store and saloon in San Francisco in the early 1890s. The design for the Liberty Bell machine proved so effective and influential that it served as this type of machine dominated the industry until electronic elements began to be introduced into slot machines. Players would insert a nickel into the coin slot, pull the lever, and the payouts were as follows:
- 2 horseshoes = 5 cents
- 2 horseshoes + 1 star = 10 cents
- 3 spades = 20 cents
- 3 diamonds = 30 cents
- 3 hearts = 40 cents
- 3 Liberty Bells = 50 cents
Californiaโs Anti-Gambling Push
The booming popularity of the Liberty Bell slot machine caused some San Franciscans to grow concerned. Headlines such as โFifteen Hundred Swindling Machines in One Cityโ started appearing in local newspapers and the anti-gambling crusade in California began to take full swing in the early 20th century. And although Fey was apparently not interested in patenting his slot machines, Californiaโs anti-gambling laws would have prevented him from doing so anyway. Feyโs lack of a patent opened the door for competitors to come in and threaten his business. Despite this, Feyโs business continued to thrive until 1906, when his office and manufacturing facility were destroyed in an earthquake and fire.
Since California gained statehood in 1850, it quickly became the center for gambling in the United States. Card games and lotteries were very popular throughout the state, and the proliferation of Feyโs slot machines brought the stateโs gambling industry to another echelon. However, at the turn of the 20th century, a more Victorian code of morality started to instill itself in the American public, and public policies against vices like gambling began to take shape. Soon, more than half of the states in the country had anti-gambling laws, and in 1909, San Francisco passed a law banning slot machines altogether.
In the years that followed, the popularity of slot machines in San Francisco continued to wane, especially with the start of the Prohibition era and World War I. However, at the start of the โRoaring Twenties,โ slot machines once again started to appear in saloons across the country, and this resurrection continued up until the dawn of the Great Depression. But despite their rampant popularity, the state of California still considered slot machines illegal. In 1933, the police raided Charles Feyโs factory and disposed of as many as 200 of his machines.
Despite the best efforts of policymakers and law enforcement, slot machines continued to rise in popularity, and Fey continued to get rich off slot machines until he retired in 1944. Ten months after his retirement, Fey died of pneumonia in San Francisco. Even with Fey gone and the legislators of California doing everything in their power to cleanse the world of his famous one-armed bandit, the slot machine has lived on and continues cleaning out peopleโs wallets all across the globe, all around the clock.
Over time, slot machines have become the most popular form of gambling in casinos, both traditional and online. Their appeal is attributed to the simplicity of the game, a wide variety of themes and styles, as well as the potential for significant winnings. Personally, I enjoy both slots and other gambling games.
The invention and history of the slot machine is a fascinating journey that dates back to the late 19th century. Initially designed as a simple gambling device, the first mechanical slot machine, known as the Liberty Bell, was created by Charles Fey in 1895. This revolutionary invention laid the groundwork for the modern slot machines we enjoy today, complete with vibrant graphics and engaging themes. Today, platforms like Rocketplay Canada offer an extensive selection of slot games, providing players with thrilling experiences and the chance to win big.