Introduction to Fruit Reel Symbols
Why do slot machines use fruit reel symbols? To understand this tradition, we’ll delve into slot machine history. Slot machines are gambling devices that, at first, weren’t slot machines and not always fruit machines, either.
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One-Armed Bandits
In history, slot machines were first one-armed bandits. Why? Because pulling a handle activated it. That’s how you’d make a bet. Nowadays, of course, we can also push a button.
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After entering coins, tokens, cash, or casino credits, making a bet happens. Subsequently, the player makes a bet, and the reels with symbols begin to spin. The reel symbols which are lined up along pay lines determine the payout, if any.
Only later in Great Britain did they become fruit machines.
![Antique slot machine displaying fruit [Fruit Reel Symbols]](https://professorslots.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/1-Fruit-Reel-Machines.jpg)
Fruit Reel Symbols
The Industry Novelty Company, run by O. D. Jennings, first used fruit reel symbols. This moment in history was when legal restrictions on slot machines were beginning. For instance, in 1909 San Francisco banned all 3,300 slot machines within the city in 1909.
To circumvent these new laws on cash-paying slot machines, manufacturers turned their gambling devices into chewing gum dispensers. They did this by replacing card numbers and suits with fruit reel symbols. With this slight change, the reels showed fruit symbols.
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And as a result, any wins were various flavors of gum, as indicated by the winning fruit reel symbols. Reel symbols are often traditional, including stars, bars, numbers, and various pictured fruits. Fruits can include cherries, plums, oranges, lemons, and watermelons.
Plus, every “bet” resulted in a win. Therefore, these machines stopped being betting machines and authentically became automatic vending machines.
![Other fruit symbols [Fruit Reel Symbols]](https://professorslots.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2-Fruit-Reel-Machines.jpg)
A Bit More History
Before 1907, slot machines that paid out in coins had already existed for 20 years. Charles Fey of San Francisco invented coin-dispensing slot machines in April 1887. Before then, slot machines were one-armed bandits.
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The game played was a form of poker. Winning combinations resulted in allowing the player free drinks or cigars. These machines usually had five reels with ten cards per reel. This collection of reel symbols totaled 50 cards from the standard 52-card deck where the two cards excluded were the Ten of Spades and the Jack of Hearts.
If you like playing poker, you’ll understand that leaving these two cards out of the deck halved the chance of receiving a Royal Flush. This jackpot was the big prize. You can see antique slot machines at Cyprus Casino Consultant and International Arcade Museum.
![Slot machines with traditional fruit and bar reel symbols [Fruit Reel Symbols]](https://professorslots.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/3-Fruit-Reel-Machines.jpg)
Summary of Fruit Reel Symbols
The reels on early slot machines included cherry, melon, orange, apple, and bar symbols with non-cash payouts in the form of fruit-flavored gum, allowing machine owners to avoid prosecution under anti-gambling laws.
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