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Slot Nostalgia
Dear Mark,
My first day gambling was in Reno the day President
Kennedy was killed. An
unlucky day to say the very least. I remember which
casino I was in,
Haroldıs Club, but Iım not quite certain what type
of slot machine I was
playing on when I heard the grim news. I believe,
though not 100% sure, it
was a triple-line machine by Ballyıs. The maximum
jackpot was $7.50, which I
hit, and I remember it having an owl near the top.
Surprising what you
remember the day Kennedy was shot? Does any of this
help?
I am asking about this machine because I am in a
position to purchase (for
sentimental reasons) a Ballyıs triple-line, sight
unseen from a friend of a
friend. Would this be the machine I played 40 years
ago? Clark R.
You gave me three nice clues, Clark, and they
absolutely rule out Ballyıs
triple-line slot machine. The leads were, the
timeline, the $7.50 jackpot
and the owl, which tell me that it was a Mills
Hightop, manufactured by a
Reno company called Mills Bell-O-Matic.
Ballyıs possibly did have a machine on the casino
floor that day, (though I
believe its debut was more like somewhere in 1964
than in November of 63),
that model was the Money Honey, the first slot
machine to have a hopper as
part of its innards. This machine was the first to
have electronic circuitry
to read the reels, a hopper, relays for protection
against slot cheating,
and a brightly lit front end. The latter, mind you,
was not for esthetics
but for inducing play. Whoıd a thunk it?
So, why is this important? Because the older slots
like the Hightop could
only pay as much as their stacked coin tubes could
hold. A Mills slot could
only guarantee a $7.50 jackpot on a nickel machine.
But with a hopper,
jackpots could be increased a hundredfold. Besides,
Clark, it was not until
1968 -- your 10th trip to Reno? -- that Ballyıs
introduced their first
machine that paid on more than one line. Ballyıs
three-line pay machine had
a three-coin option. The first coin activated the
middle line, the second
the top line and the third brought the bottom line
to life.
So, no, your friendıs friendıs machine was not the
one that painted your
young palm with nickels, but it might go nicely in
your den, anyhow, and
help out with party costs.
Dear Mark,
I have a question regarding the history of slot
machines in Vegas and
Nevada. I am working on a story for the Travel
Channel called Made In
America, and am doing a short piece on Vintage Vegas
and gambling. Do you
know where the first slot machines were
manufactured? L. L.
Ja wohl! A Bavarian immigrant named Charles Fey, a
San Francisco mechanic,
invented the first mechanical slot machine, which he
astutely named the
Liberty Bell, in 1895. Fey linked the three reels to
the slide payout
mechanism, creating the first, exclusive, reeled
gambling machine, and as
the saying goes, " twas the clang heard around the
world."
His reel symbols were playing-card spots, and each
spinning reel was
decorated with diamonds, spades, hearts and one
cracked Liberty Bell. When
the bells lined up, they produced the mightiest
payoff: 10 nickels. WOW!
The original Liberty Bell is on display in Reno at
the Liberty Belle Saloon
& Restaurant, on 4250 S. Virginia. I believe Feyıs
family still runs the
Saloon. If Iım wrong, well, some reader is bound to
correct me.
Fey eventually made a deal with the Mills Novelty
Company of Chicago to
manufacturer his machine. Mills re-engineered the
game as its own Liberty
Bell in 1909, which was quickly copied by Caille
Brothers Company, then by
Watling Manufacturing Company. By 1925, a whole
slather of companies had
sniffed the wind and begun making similar-type slot
machines.
Online Gambling quote of the week: "Every time I see
someone writing down past
numbers at a roulette table, I want to grab his pen
and notebook and yell in
his face, "It donıt mean diddly squat!" VP Pappy
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