A fruit machine (British English), slot machine (American English), or poker machine (Australian English), is a certain type of gambling machine. Classically, a slot machine is a coin-operated machine with three or more reels that rotate when a lever on the side of the machine is pulled. The machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or money inserted to play. (The slot machine is also known informally as a one-armed bandit because of its appearance.) The machine typically pays off based on patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern computer technology has resulted in many variations on the slot machine concept. Today, slot machines have become one of the most popular attractions in casinos.

History

The slot machine was invented in 1895 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California. The first machine, known as Liberty Bell, had pictures of diamonds, hearts, spades, and cracked Liberty Bells on three mechanical reels. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payoff, ten nickels. Liberty Bell was a huge success and spawned a thriving mechanical gaming device industry. Another early machine gave out winning in the form of fruit flavoured chewing gums with pictures of the flavours as symbols on the reels. The popular cherry and melon symbols derive from this machine. The “BAR” symbol now common in slot machines was derived from an early logo of the Bell-Fruit Gum Company. In 1964, Bally developed the first fully electromechanical slot machine called Money Honey.

Terminology

The coin hopper is where the coins are held in a slot machine. The hopper is a mechanical device that rotates coins into the casino tray when a player wants his credits/coins (press Cash Out button). Often hoppers are filled to overflowing by players, so they don’t only run empty they sometime are overflowing.

Shortpay refers to a payout made by a slot machine, less than the amount indicated by the payout schedule. Occurs when the coin hopper becomes depleted during a payout and the remaining amount is paid to the player by a hand pay.

Hand Pay is when the slot attendant or cage gives the player a cash payout, rather than the actual slot machine paying out from the coin hopper. A hand pay may be automatically requested by the slot machine if the total credits on the machine is greater than 800 coins.

A hopper fill slip is a document used to record the replenishments of the coin in the coin hopper which are required as a result of payouts to players. The slip indicates the amount of coin placed into the hoppers, as well as the signatures of the employees involved in the transaction, the slot machine number and the location and the date.

Weight count is is an American casino term, refering to the dollar amount of chips and tokens removed from a slot machine coin hopper and counted by the caino’s hard count team through the use of a weigh scale.

Optimal play is a payback percentage based on a gambler using the optimal strategy in a skill-based slot machine game.

The Theoretical Hold Worksheet is a worksheet provided by the manufacturer for all slot machines which indicates the theoretical percentage that the slot machine should hold based on adequate levels of coin-in. The worksheet also indicates the reel strip settings, number of coins that may be played, the payout schedule, the number of reels and other information descriptive of the particular type of slot machine.