Charles Fey, the inventor of the slot machine, invented 2 machines. The first one was in 1897 and the second one was in 1907. He invented this slot machine originally as an improved version of the one he had designed for the Mills Novelty Company.
The Mills Novelty Company was a midway between Toledo and Mills, which was run by John H. Winn. In 1907, Charles Fey went to work for the company and created the first ever slot machine, a paper plate slot machine. This machine was made up of 3 cast iron legs, with a wooden addition to raise the center section that was detached from the mechanism to allow the use of the reel. The reel had a lever on one side to operate the reels while a ball was pulled on the other.
As you may be able to tell, this slot machine was very popular and soon brought to the public’s attention when news of it appeared in the trade journals. One of the reasons for the success of this machine was that the very cheap consume was of little consequence to the better off consumers. In addition, horses were as abundant as caterpillarions and any market entrepreneur who thought of ways to sell products to the masses was very likely to try out the new machine concept.
Markedly, the slot machine became a symbol of gambling and an impracticality associated with it, but in fact the opposite was true. While it was a source of entertainment, it was with considerable cost to the owner and he generally lost favor of the anti-gambling movement.
When Charles Fey went to work for the Mills Novelty Company again, he created a new slot machine or paper plate slot machine based on the principles of the first slot machine. He was also able to attract the same inventor of the modern slot machine, since he needed to produce more units for his new machine. The new slot was a big hit, selling over a thousand units in its first week on the market.
But when Fey got his first woman customer, the company decided to discontinue use of the slot machine. Some say that it was because the company used it as a publicity stunt to promote the product.
At this time, Fey became aware of the Edwin S. Lowe Company’s invention of the Draw Poker Machine. Edgar Lowe was an inventor, known for creating lighter weight stocks and investments. The two created a new machine that was easily stored and carried by the customer. It had draw poker as well as slots for dice. This was probably the first attempt to capture the public’s attention and when Fey saw that the public would get attracted by the draw poker machine, he decided to sell it to the company.
The Edwin S. Lowe Company became very popular in the field of Dewabet and the draw poker machine became a favorite in the United States. Some people still search to find the real reasons for the switch of slot machines from being slot machines to video poker. Some say that the gambling market has increased to such an extent that the casinos have many more machines to choose from but that would it be so profitable for them if people would play video poker instead of slots. The slots business did not collapse in 2004 but the video poker machine has yet to become a decade old.
The re-form of the video poker machine has allowed us to play it at home and to play in casinos. The development of technology has allowed casino goers to play in their homes and play on their cellular phones.
