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Fruit Symbols In Slots Machines – Why They Persists Today?

As the prizes for the first slots machines were fruit-flavoured chewing gum, then it's no surprise that the idea of fruit symbols was so important. The slot machine has evolved into another beast today, with advanced electronics and computer chips. Yet the old traditional fruit symbols still can be found across a huge number of modern branded slot machines. Oranges, cherries, strawberries and melons are regular features on so many reels. We think it's a nod of respect to the machines of old.

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Fruit Symbols On Slot Machines – How It All Started

If you head over to any online casino today, you’re going to come face to face with a huge variety of video slot machines. There are 3-reel, 5-reel, 243 ways to win, Superhero, Avalanche or progressive jackpot reels. In fact, if there’s a system or a theme to be thought up, then the probability is you’re going to find it featured on an online slot machine. many of them will have the same symbols, with the most common being fruit symbols.

The Persistence Of Fruit Symbols

What’s interesting is that going back just a few years you’ll find that some of the most popular video slots all feature the same symbols. These were fruit symbols; cherries pineapples, plums, strawberries and melons, to name just a few. These symbols were also universal and you could find them on slot machines coming from many different game developers. Even today, you can find many slot machines at online casinos like 22Bet Casino, which may feature a huge number of various and outlandish themes. And yet the reels will still feature fruit symbols. So what is it that makes the symbols persist? What made them say popular in the first place? And how did fruit symbols come about? Let’s have a look….

Chewing Gum Prizes Instead Of Cash

At the beginning of the 20th century, America saw its first fruit machines appear. These devices were known as “Trade Simulators” and the winners didn’t receive cash, but simply chewing gum in different flavours. You can probably see where this is going. The various flavours you could win were depicted on the reels. For example, if you hit three melons then you won a pack of melon-flavoured gum. Likewise, if you hit three cherries, then a cherry-flavoured gum was yours. It wasn’t just chewing gum that was available. The manufacturers deliberately used rewards as a means of getting around anti-gambling laws that existed at the time. A certain OD Jennings founded the famous Industry Novelty Company and he was responsible for introducing the first fruit symbols. These machines were simply called “chewing gum dispensers.”

Fruit Symbols: The Liberty Bell Slot Machine

All these slot machines that dealt out chewing gum were based on the famous Liberty Bell slot machine. Today we regard this machine as the big daddy of all modern slot machines. The inventor, Charles Fey, built a machine that featured playing card symbols, three reels, and the famous Liberty Bell icon. In fact, so famous is the Liberty Bell, that you’ll find it still exists today on many modern video slot machine reels. Fey’s next machine was known as the “Operator Bell” and this one incorporated the now-infamous fruit symbols.

The American Psyche Is Ready To Gamble

It wasn’t long before almost every convenience store across America had one of these machines. They offered something entirely new in that they were of bright appearance and featured cartoonish graphics. With a prize giveaway of chewing gum, the machine had somehow managed to mix together the idea of a vending machine and the process of gambling. It wasn’t long before other game developers started getting in on the act. New models came to the marketplace that was constantly being improved and redesigned. And as these machines evolved, the payout’s on these jackpot slots got larger in order to attract more customers.

Bally & Williams And Money Honey

Jumping forward to 1963, we find that one of the biggest slot developers of the 20th century, Bally and Williams, developed the first slot machine which worked electro-mechanically. Interestingly enough, the payout from this machine, known as “Money Honey”, was actually assisted by a human attendant. The reels of Money Honey featured many fruits, including lemons, cherries, oranges, and melons. The standout feature of this machine was the fact that it featured an electronic hopper. This was originally invented for coins to be counted in banks. On the slot machine, it allowed Money Honey to hold a lot more coins than its predecessors. In reality, this meant that with jackpots growing ever bigger, then hundreds of coins as opposed to a handful, could be paid out at once.

Fruit Symbols: Into The Electronic Age

One of the craziest slots machine was also introduced in the 1960s. It was called Big Bertha and with good reason. So big was the machine that it needed a five-horsepower engine to power the spinning reels. For the first time, 160 reel symbols were introduced, which also helped increase the degree of randomness. Not stopping there, Big Bertha would continue to grow and evolve from three to eight reels, with bigger and bigger jackpots on offer.

Here Comes New Technology

As gambling became a more mainstream pastime, these new slot machines were attracting thousands of new players every day. So it’s not surprising that many slot machines came equipped with chairs so that more than one person could be seated at a single machine at the same time. The introduction of micro-processes and other electronic systems made it harder to cheat the machines. This in turn made them a much more attractive proposition for large land-based casinos.

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Times Were Changing

As time progressed, the size of the slots machines became smaller. For the casinos, this meant that they were able to pack many more of them onto their gaming floors. This of course meant that these casino companies were able to drastically increase their profits. Outdated machines like Big Bertha would become museum pieces. And yet in spite of all this advanced technology, today you can still find slot machines with many of them still using fruit symbols. We imagine that they are a hat tip to the early days of slots.

Fruit Machines Help Make Gambling Mainstream

Crossing over the Atlantic to the United Kingdom, we can see this in the 1950s and 1960s, slot machines exploded in popularity. Interestingly enough, they were not called a slot machine at the time. But were called “fruit machines.” Today you can still find these “fruities” at amusement arcades, pubs, and cafes. In fact, your struggle to find any amusement arcade in any seaside town in the United Kingdom that doesn’t feature a huge number of fruit machines. Or should we call them “fruit-themed slot machines”?

The usual layouts of these are with five pay lines and three reels. You immediately notice that all the reels feature such fruits as strawberries, cherries, plums, oranges, and lemons. The UK fruit machine is different from the American slot machine in that they offer both a “nudge” and “hold” feature. These certainly were certainly able to increase your jackpot winning chances.

The Dawn Of Video Slots

With huge sums of money pouring in on a daily basis to American brick and mortar casinos, many of these companies started investing in technological advances. In 1973, the Fortune Coin Company introduced the first electronic slot machine. Within this device were more advanced microprocessors. Including such things as random number generators. But the bottom line was that all these electronics were, by design, solely to increase the house edge for casinos.

Fruit Symbols: The Fortune Coin Video Slot

The world is the first video slot was called “Fortune Coin.” Though it looked like it was utilising mechanical spinning reels, in reality, it was a three pay line slot with a video screen depicting reels. The machine still had the custom one arm mechanism and being in the 1970s, was covered in awful wood panelling. It also came with many fruit symbols. In the beginning, many casinos were sceptical about security when it came to using video slots. This was probably a simple fear of technology. Nevertheless, in 1978 IGT gaming bought out Fortune Coin and used it as a springboard for their own video slot machines.

Video Slots Still Have Fruit Symbols

It wasn’t long before IGT introduced the first Megabucks progressive slot. Not only was this the first progressive video slot to hit the marketplace, but the machine once again featured many old school symbols. These included cherries, melons, and strawberries. With US states starting to take more interest in gambling laws, then changing legislation in Atlantic City opened up a new market for even bigger and much brighter fruit-based video slot machines. During the 80s and beyond, we can see a huge uptake in the number of video slots coming to market. As well as the ever-developing number of themes, characters, story genres, and game titles.

The Introduction Of Digital Slots Machines

The dawning of a new century came with the advent of online video slot machines. Not surprisingly, many developers simply produced copies of their land-based machines. That’s probably the main reason why you see images of real fruit machines in modern online casino slots. Some will even feature a single arm on the side to give the authentic “one-armed bandit” experience. Though non of these features will help you win the jackpot online, nevertheless, being familiar with the gameplay might do so.

Fruit Symbols: A Nod Of Respect To The Past

Today you’ll find that online slots technology is constantly evolving. This comes from a desire to increase a player’s immersion in the game. By doing so, the game producers hope to increase the player’s spending as a result. To further entice players to spend more, many of today’s slot machines will feature such things as 3D animation, elaborate bonus rounds, and an amazing soundscape. Today, it’s true that fruit symbols have their limitations. Yet you’ll still find plenty of fruit symbols on modern slot machines at the best casino sites to play, like 22Bet Casino. In some ways, you could say that the game producers are giving a nod of recognition to the early days of slot gambling.