As we’ve discussed in our previous article about the history of slot machines, where we learned about the invention, evolution and the future of the machines. Now we’ll dig a little deeper and be focusing more on the slot machine symbols and icons.
The difference between them are that the symbols appear on the game’s reels and paytable. From the paytable is where you can learn about the different symbols for a specific game as well as what they represent, and of course the combinations you need to be able to trigger from them an actual payout.
The icons on the other hand are more like the slot machine’s logo and what the game represents as a whole. For example, the icon from the Wheel of Fortune machine in Vegas is represented by their famous wheel, followed by the name of the game, which is Wheel of Fortune. If you’re familiar with casino games online, you’ll be able to see all the different game’s icons, which we’ll go into more detail about later. In addition to all of this, we’ll be taking a look at the famous Fruit Slot Machines that you may or may not be familiar with.
Slot Machine Symbols
Believe it or not, slot machine symbols have come a long way since they’re very beginning. The first one was invented by Charles Fey around 1895. However, after looking back even further, we’ve learned that there was another gambling machine invented, which was actually more like a poker machine and used playing cards as their symbols.
With that said, many people believe that the first known symbols to appear on these machines were playing cards. In fact, even today you can see that there’s still a lot of them that use these symbols, mainly only the 10 card through the Ace. From the card symbols is where one of the most famous casino symbols comes from, which is the lucky number seven.
From the card symbols being used on the first gambling machine, Charles Fey used the suit of the cards as well as horseshoes and liberty bell symbols. Just like the first card symbols, you can still find these symbols being used on machines. As slots continued to grow and were even banned at one point, the machines had to come up with other forms of payouts besides using real money. One good example are the famous fruit symbols that would payout different types of fruit flavored gum based on the symbols that landed on a winning line, such as the cherry symbols. These payout rewards also attracted many young people, therefore these machines had to come up with other payout forms to appeal to the older crowds, such as money.
Types of Slot Symbols
There are a lot slot symbols out there, and they’re all unique in offering different kind of bonus games and features. In that case, let’s go over some of the common types of slot symbols.
- Standard Reel Symbols are more of the classic ones we’ve just discussed, such as fruit symbols (cherries, grapes, oranges, melons and lemons) and the playing card symbols (Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Tens). These are still seen on some of the classic slots, however you will find a ton of different symbols on the newer video slots.
- Scatter Symbols can award both regular winning payouts and trigger bonus rounds
- Bonus Symbols trigger bonus rounds, however they’re different from the Scatter symbols as you have to land a certain amount of them on specific lines.
- Wild Symbols have many types; however, the most common Wild symbol will replace any of the other symbols on the reels to help create a winning combination.
Slot Machine Icons
Slot Machine Icons are very important in representing all the thousands of types of slot machines out there. They are the branding behind the machines, or sort of like the book cover for them. The images and the names usually found on the icons can tell someone a lot about the game. From the colors you can find on them, the animations, characters, text styles, etc. As little importance as they may seem, especially online, a lot of careful designing goes into making them. All this detail is important when trying to target a specific or broad audience. If you’ve ever played online before, you can click here to see an example of what all our video slot game icons look like at Caesars Casino online.
Fruit Slot Machine
Taking a look back in time, some of the first symbols on the slot machines in the U.S. all had fruit on them, such as (cherries, grapes, oranges, melons and lemons). These were called Fruit Slot Machines. The first one to come out in the States was from the 20th century. The original payouts back in the day were in the forms of fruit gum. Originally, you would win a certain flavor of gum depending on which fruit symbols would land on the reels. For example, if you landed three grape symbols on the reels, you would be rewarded with some grape flavored gum, and if three oranges landed, you would be walking home with some orange flavored gum in pocket.
The reason why these machines were rewarding chewing gum in the first place was because gambling was entirely illegal at that time, and this was one of the creative forms of payouts at that time. With popularity growing around the machines, some people were actually calling them chewing gum dispensers, rather than slot machines.
With so many new symbols being represented now, it’s not easy for these classic symbols to keep up with these new ones. Regardless, there’s still a ton of people out there that stay true to their roots and stick with the classic style games which can create a nostalgic feeling. There’s just something about these cherries and liberty bells that can bring you back down memory lane. Just seeing one of these symbols makes most people think right away about what they represent. Simply put, it’s a classic. And it will never go out of style. In fact, you can start playing some of these free classic slots here at Caesars Casino online for free, 24/7.