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FEY, CHARLES – Slots players owe a great debt to Charles Fey, who invented the first mechanical slot machine prototype in 1887. Fey quit his job as an inventor when he was told that he had less than a year to live from a terminal illness, and devoted himself to creating The Liberty Bell, a slot game with an automated payout mechanism. Before Fey’s brainchild, all wagers paid in and prizes paid out would have to go through the operator of the device, as the machines accepted no money.

The Liberty Bell not only took in and paid out money, but it replaced the clunky and antiquated mechanism of five tumblers with fifty playing cards inside that came up in random combinations with sleek and compact (for the nineteenth century, anyway) reels that fit inside a game cabinet and spun with the pull of an arm. Fey’s patriotic one-armed bandit also introduced the world to a slot game symbol that we have come to know very well – the ringing bell. Fey’s health took a turn for the better, and he made million off his revolutionary gaming devices. In fact, demand for Liberty Bell games was so high that his company couldn’t keep up and eventually got backlogged with orders!

FILL – A “fill” is the process of actually collecting your jackpot winnings. Maybe it’s the moment when coins start raining out of the device, or perhaps it’s when you are waiting at the line in front of the cage for an attendant to cash you out. This is known as a “hopper fill.”

FLAT TOP – This deceptive term has nothing to do with the shape of the slot machine you are playing, and everything to do with the jackpot inside of it. Unlike a progressive jackpot, the prizes attached to a flat top slot machine are static – they never change. If the top prize on a flat top game is eight thousand dollars, it will never go higher – regardless of how much money is inside of it, how much has been paid out, how how many players have taken a shot.

FRUIT MACHINE – Americans have their slot machines, Australians have their poker machines, and Brits have fruities. A fruit machine is not only another name for a slot game, but also a descriptor for a certain style of device that is most common over the pond, but is gaining popularity with players all over the globe. Fruit machines refer to the fact that classic slots featured images of fruit on the reels. Back in the good old days when gambling for money was illegal, slot operators needed some way to keep people playing. Therefore, they loaded the hopper with sticks of chewing gum, and made the icons on the reels pictures of the fruit that flavored the gum – orange, cherry, lemon, and so on.

Many fruities still pay homage to their roots with pictures of produce on the reels, but theming alone is not what defines a fruit machine. These slot games feature elements not seen in other titles… namely, the hold/nudge buttons, and cash ladders. Hold allows you to “hold” a reel in place to increase your odds of winning, nudge lets you inch a reel up or down one spot, and cash ladders are a fun and exciting way of winning some bonus bucks. We don’t think you will actually find any more slot games offering chewing gum as a prize… but with the UIGEA, you never can tell.

FULL PAY MACHINES – Full pay machines are the casino equivalent of the Holy Grail, and are in constant hot demand by punters. Many casino slot games are set at decent payoff percentages of around ninety percent, but some winners are actually set at almost one hundred percent, or even MORE if dealing with a skill-based game. (That’s right… the casino actually loses money on these terminals.) Keep in mind that every rose has its thorn, and every full pay machine is likely surrounded by a swarm of the coldest, tightest slots you ever saw. Finding these beauties can be a real challenge, and prying other gamblers off them to take your own shot can be even harder.

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