So, we’ve all seen them. &‘s, cherries… Where exactly did those icons come from? Why not, say, apples or something? Were they just randomly picked or what?

According to Wiki, apparently the first slot machine-like mechanism used card faces and since the wins were so high, the first person who created THEE slot machine used 5 symbols, such as a horse shoe and a liberty bell so it was harder to win at the game.

Oh, so they were just picked at random and really don’t have any meaning?

You know, I never really thought of that before. To be honest, I just accepted that the symbols were there, and, well, that was it.

I think they picked objects that people were familiar with, and not some weird squiggles or something. I don’t really know, but that’s my guess. I always wondered how the cherries got on there.

The icons are picked up at random. At one casino in Las Vegas I saw an brand new slot machine named horror slots…. It had all sort of horror signs on it.

acer - 24 February 2009 05:00 AM

The icons are picked up at random. At one casino in Las Vegas I saw an brand new slot machine named horror slots…. It had all sort of horror signs on it.

Ooh, like skulls and stuff?

Sounds pretty neat, and I guess we concluded from all this that they were, in fact, chosen at random.

Alright, thank you everyone for answering my questions.

Well they can really use whatever icons they want and it’d be cool with me. I’ll play a slot machine regardless of its symbols.

I’m not really sure why they use things such as cherries and BAR though…

Why don’t they dare to totally change all the icons? Instead of cherry, they can use a GUN or something. This would be a great slot machine!