Due to the vast number of possible wins with the original poker card based game, it proved practically impossible to come up with a way to make a machine capable of making an automatic payout for all possible winning combinations. The original machines had no payout mechanism, so a pair of kings might get the player a free beer, whereas a royal flush could pay out cigars or shots, the prizes wholly dependent on what was on offer at the bar. Players would insert a nickel and pull a lever, which would spin the drums and the cards they held, while the player crossed his fingers for a good hand. Regardless, the machine proved extremely popular and could soon be found in bars all over the city. With the ten of spades and jack of hearts removed, the odds of landing a royal flush were cut in half. Why not all 52 cards? To give the house the edge, of course. The original game contained five drums holding 50 playing cards and was based on poker.
In 1891 Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn, New York, developed a gambling machine, the precursor to the modern slot machine, and the fruity’s great grandfather. Where did the idea of putting fruit in a fruit machine come from? The history of today’s fruit machine is a story about chewing gum, free beer, and legal loopholes.