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Parts of a Slot Machine

Guide to the Parts of a Slot Machine

Added: August 1, 2013

For a small recap, slot machines were invented in 1894 by Charles Fey. He designed the very first slot machine and named it The Liberty Bell. Even though slot machines have gone through a lot of changes since that time, it is interesting that the parts remain almost unchanged. In this article, you will learn about the parts of a slot machine with some depth, so that you can better understand how they work and how they are made.

Slot machines have a lever or a button that players push or pull to activate the movement of the reels. Online casino slot machines have a virtual lever or button that players click on to activate the reels. This button or lever used to be tied to a mechanical system that would physically spin the reels, but in modern slot machines (which means almost all slot machines we see nowadays, whether land based or online) the button or lever triggers the random number generator (RNG). RNGs are microchips that create random combinations for the symbols on the reels, guaranteeing that the results are fair and always random.

Slot machines have a minimum of three reels and one payline; however, they can go up to combinations of up to 7 reels and five paylines. In case this is confusing, reels are the vertical columns that "spin" or go around when you activate the slot machine; paylines are the horizontal lines that show if you have a winning combination that will allow you to take money home.

The next part is the symbols, and these are the little shapes and figures palced on the reels. Nowadays, slot machines are developed around a lot of themes so the symbols vary and they can be anything. This is what makes slot machines a lot of fun, some have symbols that interact with each other. The main purpose of symbols is to create the winning combinations that will get you paid. Every reel will spin, and the symbols will land on the payline, you have to be attentive to which combinations are required to win at your favorite slot machines and hope they will show up."

Basically, those are the parts of a slot machine in a nutshell. We hope you find this guide helpful and please let us know if you have any questions about slot machines or any other casino game.