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Surely when Charles Fey built his first slot machine in 1896 he never
could have envisioned where the contraption would travel and how it would
transmogrify. In fact, for a hundred years his innovation hardly changed
at all, except cosmetically. The external design, consisting of an ornate
metal box was wrapped around the mechanism and became fancier or plainer,
larger or smaller, in attempt to attract the eye. But as always, when
a player primed the machine with coins and pulled the handle, the reels
spun randomly and, governed by stoppers eventually came to a halt. Each
reel was decorated with a variety of symbols that, when matched according
to a pay schedule (printed somewhere on the face of the machine), the
player won; when no matching symbols appeared, the player lost.
Though Fey is given credit as the Father of the Slot Machine, prototypes
existed years before he came up with the idea of converting them into
gambling device--which he believed would enhance the profits on his sales
routes. These early "amusement devices" could be found in saloons where
polite society would not be exposed to them and where proprietors stood
on the edge of breaking the law.
These first apparatuses had a major drawback. They were designed in
such a way that after a certain number of coins were inserted the weight
of these coins would tip the scales and some of the stored coins from
previous play would spill out, thus providing a winner. It didn't take
long for street-smart players and wise guys to figure out that the coins
would come out automatically with a little pushing and shoving and slamming
the machine around. So it was back to the drawing board where clever
builders devised first a metal bar to help prevent "tilting," and then
came up with smaller devices that could be bolted to a counter top or
wall.
Meanwhile, in dignified establishments such as grocery stores and mercantiles,
a similar piece of equipment began popping up and being played by even
the snootiest of patrons. Called the trade simulator, this machine operated
much like other contemporary devices except that the winners produced
could be exchanged or traded for goods within the establishment--thus
the name "trade," perhaps a forerunner to the modern cents-off coupon.
Playing slots was (and is) both a tactile and sensory experience involving
the feel of the coins and the touch and pull of the handle. It involved
the sense of vision, the sense of hearing, and the innate sensation of
anticipation.
Winning and losing depended on a simple mechanism that included symbols
(usually fruit of some kind, perhaps bars and/or sevens, and of course
hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades, Fey's original choice) affixed to
the three reels and a shaft. With ten symbols per reel, the machine was
capable of a thousand possible combinations.
Cabin Fever
is a five reel, twenty payline, and two hundred coin slot machine
with a wild, multiplier symbol, a scatter symbol, a Free Spins
bonus game, and a Gamble bonus game. A two Sun symbols combination
activates the Free Spins bonus game, provided one symbol is displayed
on reel 1, and one symbol is displayed on reel 5. There is no
payout for any Sun symbol combination. The "Wild Blizzard" symbol is a wild, multiplier symbol. This means it substitutes
for other symbols to complete winning combinations. The Wild
Blizzard symbol doubles the payout of any combination it completes.
The Wild Blizzard symbol does not substitute for the Sun symbol
to activate the Free Spins bonus game. And it does not substitute
for the Squirrel symbol to complete scatter winning combinations.
Multiple Wild Blizzard symbols on an enabled payline create Wild
Blizzard winning combinations. Wild Blizzard winning combination
payouts are not doubled. The Wild Blizzard symbol only multiplies
payouts if it acts as a wild symbol. The Squirrel symbol is a
scatter symbol. This means that it does not need to appear in
a line on an enabled payline to win. It can be scattered anywhere
on the five reels, provided two or more Squirrel symbols appear.
Slot machines are actual free-standing "machines" easily identified by their spinning reels and pull handles. The concept is simple, drop in some coins, pull the handle and hope the reel
symbols line up. Different symbols win different amounts, and there's usually a jackpot available to be won.
Slot machines are a total game of chance. There are no rules to learn, and the outcome is totally random. The ease of play, the potential huge payoffs, the noise and the excitement level
around the slot area all contribute to a high entertainment value for some.
Slot machines come in a variety of forms with diverse symbols on the wheels and numerous payout systems. Slot machines can have from three to five reels/wheels and one to five payoff lines.
In all of them the basic idea is the same, to line up particular symbols on the payout line. The less likely a combination is to occur, the greater the payoff.
The most basic slot machines require you to bet one coin (a fixed amount such as a dollar), they have only three reels, only one payout line, and pay a multiple of the bet coins value
(e.g. Three cherries on the payout line will result in a payout 300 times the bet coins value). The player inserts the coin and pulls a handle (or presses a button on the front panel) and waits for
the wheels to stop on the payout line to see if, and how much they have won (the payout symbols and payoff values are posted on the front of the machine). The more complex machines accept
more than one coin (up to five), can have up to five wheels, and many also have up to five payout lines (three across and two diagonal).
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