Classic free fruit machines at the online casinos in any emulator may look very similar to the ones that were once commonly found in land-based, regardless they are played for fun or for real money. They practically always are random and feature the same standard symbols and the 3 reels, single pay line format, but that doesn’t mean they offer the same old-fashioned play and quality. Free slot machine games with 3 reels are the best option for the players who are just starting to play gambling games. Video slots with many reels usually have some advanced features that might be hard to understand from the first glance and the newbie in the gambling world can easily get confused.

Introduction to Fruit Reel Symbols

Why do slot machines use fruit reel symbols? Well, to understand why this tradition came to be, we’ll have to delve into slot machine history. Slot machines are gambling devices. At first, they weren’t slot machines. Nor were they always fruit machines.

Reel symbols are often traditional, including stars, bars, numbers, and various pictured fruits. Fruits can include cherries, plums, oranges, lemons, and watermelons.

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One-Armed Bandits

Initially, slot machines were one-armed bandits. Later, in Great Britain, they became fruit machines. Why? Because pulling a handle activated it. That’s how you’d make a bet. Nowadays, of course, we can also push a button.

Making a bet happens after entering coins, tokens, cash, or casino credits. Subsequently, the player makes a bet, and the reels with symbols begin to spin. When done spinning, the reel symbols shown lined up along pay lines determine the payout, if any.

Fruit Reel Symbols

The Industry Novelty Company, run by O. D. Jennings, first used fruit reel symbols. This moment in history was a time when legal restrictions on slot machines were beginning. For example, San Francisco banned all 3,300 slot machines within the city in 1909.

To circumvent these new laws on cash-paying slot machines, manufacturers began turning their gambling devices into chewing gum dispensers. They did this by replacing card number and suit reel symbols with fruit reel symbols.

After this change, the reels showed fruit symbols. As a result, any wins were various flavors of gum, as indicated by the winning fruit reel symbols.

Plus, every “bet” resulted in a win. Therefore, these machines stopped being betting machines an authentically became automatic vending machines.

A Bit More History

Before 1907, slot machines that paid out in coins had already existed for 20 years. Charles Fey of San Francisco invented coin-dispensing slot machines in April 1887.

Before 1887, slot machines were one-armed bandits. The game played was a form of poker. Winning combinations resulted in allowing the player free drinks or cigars.

These machines usually had five reels with ten cards per reel. This collection of reel symbols totaled 50 cards from the standard 52-card deck. The two cards excluded were the Ten of Spades and the Jack of Hearts.

For those readers that play poker, you’ll understand that leaving these two cards out of the deck halved the chance of receiving a Royal Flush. This jackpot was the big prize.

Here are a few pictures of these antique slot machines at Cyprus Casino Consultant, Casino Observer, and International Arcade Museum.

Tape And Reel Machine

Summary of Fruit Reel Symbols

Starting in 1907, Industry Novelty began turning out Bell Fruit Gum slot machines. Another early slot machine manufacturer, Mills Novelty Company, began producing them in 1910.

The reels on these slot machines included cherry, melon, orange, apple, and bar symbols with non-cash payouts in the form of fruit-flavored gum, allowing machine owners to avoid prosecution under the anti-gambling laws of that time.

The cherry and bar symbols became traditional to slot machines still commonly used today. The bar symbol was a company logo of a slot manufacturer meant to resemble a stick of gum.

How to play pub fruit machines

Fruit slot machines are a delight to play, fun and relaxing thanks in large part to their sheer simplicity. With today’s online 3-reel fruit slot machines you won’t find yourself overwhelmed with garish bells and whistles. There’s no need to spend copious amounts to time just trying to figure out how the machine works, as is all too often necessary with today’s super high-end 5-reel slots and 6-reel multiple payline slots.

True to its colours, fruit slots simply make life easy. Insert coin, press spin and cross your fingers in hopes of an amazing jackpot or smaller wins. It’s that easy. There’s no need to read lengthy instructions or understand how bonus round betting works.

Fruit slot machines are intentionally designed to transport you back to a less stressful, less cluttered time, when a spin of the slots reels was thrilling in an of itself, no matter the outcome.

Why play free fruit machine games online?

As slots enthusiasts the world over already know, the answer is simple… Fruit slots are relaxing, exciting, fun and a pleasant way to give yourself an inexpensive thrill in the middle of a hectic life.

Play fruit machine slots online for free or real money from the comfort of your own home or office, while waiting for the bus, train or a plane, waiting at the doctor’s office or to pick up the kids. It really doesn’t matter where you are, as today’s free online fruit slots are available in the palm of your hand, on your tablet, iPad, iPhone, Android or Windows based device, anytime any where you feel like a bit of fun.

A brief history of pub fruit machines

Known as the one-armed bandit in the United States, the fruit machine in Great Britain and pokies in Australia, the exciting and ever-changing world of slots began back in a dusty workshop in San Francisco at the end of the 19th century.

Fruit Machine Reels Heavy Duty

A German immigrant, mechanic and tinkerer by the name of Charles August Fey developed a mechanical machine in which players could insert a coin, pull the lever and watch the reels spin by and fall into place in hopes of a prize.

The reels were covered in images of fruit, lemons, cherries, oranges, plums and watermelons as well as an image of the Liberty Bell, signalling the grand prize. Winners were paid out by the barman in the form of fruit candies, pieces of fruit flavoured chewing gum, cigars or drinks as gambling was technically illegal in California at that time.

Fruit Machine Reels Combo

Later machines would offer out actual cash prizes as slots gambling was legalized in different states the slots craze spread across America and the world.

While slots have evolved from their early mechanical versions to electromechanical slots to today’s video and online slots games using sophisticated algorithms and random number generators to ensure fairness, traditional 3-reel slots continue t