We look at the humble Fruit Machine which has grown to become the most popular means for gambling in the world.

Fruit Machine
Arctic Treasure Sparta Spin 2 Million $
As the name suggests Arctic Treasure is a popular theme running throughout this Fruit Machine from the famous Playtech stable. Symbols covered in ice and an Ice Queen Arctic Princess wild symbol. Themed after the historic Spatans, the Sparta fruit machine is a 5 reel slot with an expanding wild symbol. Apart from the usual deck of cards other symbols are the warship, catapult, Greek Urn, Sword and Shield. Last updated in June 2009 the Playtech Fruit Machine Spin 2 Million $ is a multiple line multiple bet slot machine with multiple paylines and features based on the very popular cops and robbers theme.

Iron Man Incredible Hulk
Based on the famous 1960s comic superhero, Iron Man Fruit Machine is the slot machine version of the popular sci-fi film. As expected from a Fruit Machine based on a Marvel comic the game is a visual masterpiece. The Incredible Hulk Fruit Machine is as the name suggests based on the popular TV series. It is action packed and comes with a range of features and bonuses including a Hulk Smash Bonus and Expanding Hulk feature.

There will be few people in the modern world who are unfamiliar with gaming machines. Representing the ideal opportunity for spending some leisure time and some loose change within airports, bars, holiday resorts and all manner of places where people gather, the humble fruit machine has grown to become the most popular means for gambling in the world. The first machines were created just over 100 years ago and immediately took hold of the public imagination; an enduring relationship which persists today in the interaction with a multitude of different machines available.

There have been many changes in technology and leisure since the first slot machines were invented but the principles established then are as sound today. Based around the idea of poker and the player receiving a random hand, early machines substituted the five card hand with three spinning reels and the card values with symbols, many of which are still in use. Originally called the Liberty Bell, they became quickly known as one armed bandits since they operated by pulling on a lever, like an arm, on the side of the machine and invariably took your money.

The object of the game has always been to get a winning combination of symbols on a defined line when the reels stop spinning. A classic game of chance, the appeal is the immediate emotional fulfilment waiting for the reels to stop and frequent, albeit usually small, payouts which keep the interest in maintaining the play. Big wins occur less frequently but encourage further play from individuals who win and those around who hear the sounds of someone winning money, often in the form of a machine-generated fanfare.

Fruit machine symbols incorporate the liberty bell just as the original machines did alongside many others such as the BAR symbol and of course fruit, such as cherries, pear and watermelon. These date back to a time when the early machines were installed in a great many places such as shops and stores and to get around gambling legislation, prizes were in the form of candy bars and fruit gum. That particular loophole in the legislation was closed pretty quickly but the symbols remain in honour of the attempt. Gumball machines and other such existing candy distribution systems found within shops today are the non-gambling alternative which arose as a result.

Much of the original fruit machine mechanisation has been replaced as new technologies are introduced. Largely gone are the levers to pull, replaced by buttons and even touch screen technology and in place of the spinning reels in modern machines is a computer graphic representation. There have been changes in the way machines deal with money too, firstly using tokens as an alternative and in many places a card-based credit system. New technologies have provided more choice of games to play and chances to win and have incorporated more user control such as with spin, stop and nudge buttons.

Increased user interaction, better graphics and more sophisticated gameplay have certainly added to the functionality and enjoyment of gaming machines but underneath it all they are still games of chance, where any winning combination has a certain predetermined probability. An early fruit machine with three reels and ten symbols per reel would generate just 1000 different combinations. While this results in the frequent payouts which make these machines so popular it limits any large payouts due to the nature of probability where given the longest odds are one in a 1000, large jackpots would be paid out too often for the machine to be viable.

Computerised systems have had a dramatic effect on the range of possible outcomes and so bringing the fruit machine into the realms of the high roller and allowing for multi-million jackpots. This was achieved initially through electronics, where certain valuable symbols were weighted against and so they appeared on the winning line less than their number would be suggested by chance.

Nowadays machines are fully computerised with very few working parts. Computer algorithms determine the outcome of winning lines and the computer systems and graphics within such gaming machines paved the way for all the video games people enjoy today. In addition, the graphic interface and underlying model in modern machines allows for any number of reels and predetermined set of outcomes negating the need for unequal weighting of symbols but rather just assigning them each a certain probability. Additional elements of gameplay can be introduced this way, most notably with ‘near misses’, when the symbol you want is close but not close enough.

While the benefits of modern technologies in enhancing the experience of the game are many they have their downside for those who like to think of ways to see patterns and beat the system. Outcomes in modern machines are based on a random number generator which ultimately still follows a pattern and is not truly random but where once was put into action each time the machine was played now operates whether the machine is played or not making it impossible to detect any underlying patterns.

The best bet for increasing the chances of a return is simply by playing machines which pay out more. The payout percentage of any machine is written into the code and so is fixed for the life of the machine. This value is usually somewhere between 82% and 98% but may be less depending on the particular gambling laws and regulations in any specific area, country or territory.