Slot machine gameplay is so deep-rooted within the culture of gambling that you’d be forgiven for the assumption that slots have been around since the birth of casinos. This isn’t true, however, for slot machines – even the most basic fruit machines – required a certain level of technology that didn’t exist until the end of the 19th Century.
Whilst slot games have only existed for just over a century, however, versions of games such as Blackjack date back to Before Christ. Even though slots are relatively new to the gambling industry, their evolution over the last 100 hundred years has been something of a phenomenon, and slots today continue to follow rapid growth and development – play now at Gold Rush Slots.
The Origin of Slots
The very first slot machine was called the Liberty Bell, invented by Charles D. Fey in the late 1800s. This very simple game consisted of only 3 reels and a single pay line, upon a very basic, mechanical one-armed bandit. Just a few decades later, slots were already developing from the initial basic machine, with the addition of extra reels and features, and progress from then on has increased exponentially.
The introduction of online slots in the 21st Century has been the most significant recent development, closely followed by the rolling out of mobile slots. More people than ever before are now enjoying spinning slot machine reels thanks to the mobile slots industry, and we’ve come a long way from traditional fruit machine gaming.
Back to Beginnings
When the Liberty Bell was invented in the late 1800s in California, gambling was, in fact, illegal, therefore it was quite difficult to find and play a slot machine, of which were manufactured and distributed in secret.
Not before long, the government of the USA came to realize that money could be generated through taxes from the increasingly popular gambling industry, and it was legalized just a few decades later. This paved the way for a magnificent boom in popularity, with slot machines becoming more visible and many more punters being attracted to the game.
This resulted in cities such as Las Vegas beginning to develop an attractive reputation as casino hotspots, and the pastime of gambling, on the whole, became very exciting, enticing, and generally widely accepted.
On the Rise
As slots and gambling continued in their rising popularity, developers were working on new technological advancements that could be brought into the gambling industry, and many traditional slot machines were gradually replaced with modern video slots featuring impressive graphics and exciting bonus features.
The greatest advance in technology, of course, was when the internet hit households during the 1990s. Slots developers were soon working on new internet-based projects and the first online casinos were born.
Just a decade or two later and the online slots market was booming; filled with incredible state-of-the-art games, sharp graphics, mesmerizing themes, and immersive gameplay. Once again, the dynamic had shifted, with gamblers choosing to stay at home and conveniently access slot games via their home computers. Furthermore, the demographic widened thanks to greater accessibility.
Mobile Slots Gaming
Observing the boom of online slots was quite phenomenal, and it was hard to imagine that anything else would have such a grand effect on the sector anytime soon. However, whilst players were enjoying this magnificent rise of online slots games, developers were meanwhile working on something new behind the scenes.
Society had begun to rely more and more on their mobile phones; not just for calls, but for quick internet access and to carry out tasks such as online shopping, online banking, browsing social media, and online gaming. There was nothing stopping the availability of slots games on mobile, and so the developers began optimizing casinos and slots for modern mobile devices.
Nowadays, there are many more punters using mobile slot games than online slots and traditional slots combined; so, it’s fair to say that mobile slots have well and truly taken the industry by storm.
It’s no great surprise either, when you consider the convenience of accessing slots on mobile or tablet; this could be at home, on the work commute, or even waiting for an appointment. Mobile slots are super convenient to play.
How Did It Happen?
We’re not even sure that the manufacturers of mobile slots were quite ready for the staggering boom in the slots market as a result of mobile games. Their popularity is simply staggering, and have attracted a larger audience to the industry than ever before.
Whilst very convenient, the slots developers have also been hugely successful in creating fully mobile-optimized slots games; whose gameplay isn’t compromised despite being a mini version of its desktop counterpart. Thanks to HTML5 technology, mobile slots look fantastic and are brilliant fun to play.
The Future of Online and Mobile Slots
They’ve come so far over the last century, but what does the future hold for online and mobile slots? Well, we don’t expect the demographic to dwindle any time soon, with slots developers churning out slots of superior quality and graphics on a regular basis, and online casinos offering enticing and lucrative deposit bonuses, free spins and promotions.
However, technology keeps moving forward, and are excited to see what comes next in terms of slots technology. We have already seen the introduction of 3D slots, and there are talks of Virtual Reality (VR) permeating the casino industry, which has already had a major influence in the computer gaming world.
