Fruits, Sevens, and the Joker: What’s the History Behind Gambling’s Iconic Symbols?
Step onto the floor of any casino, or log in to your favourite online gambling platform and you experience a lot of familiar sights and sounds. Slot machines have much-varied mechanics, jackpots and a huge range of themes to choose from as well. But when you look a little closer, some clear similarities start appearing.
Casino play is steeped in history, from the early slot machines that appeared around the turn of the 19th century to the rapid advancement and growth of today’s online platforms. With so many operators to choose from, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. So, using the list of the best boku casino UK on legalcasino.uk can help tremendously in being able to pick out the most reputable ones with the best range of games and features.
Symbols like the Joker, fruit and Lucky 7s have always been staples of slots, and they persist today in many games. Even among the newest video slots, those same symbols can be seen time and time again. But what are the origins of the popular game symbols like Bars and Cherries?
Bells and Horseshoes
Bells and horseshoes are common symbols on slots and these have an origin back in the very early days of mechanical slots. The famous slot invention, the Liberty Bell, which was created by Charley Fey in 1894 had these symbols on them. The reason why those were chosen has been lost to history, but bells typically signify good luck while horseshoes have always been deemed “lucky” (and why some people hang them over their front doors). In honour of the Liberty Bell, the symbols used on it stuck around in newer one-armed bandits.
The Joker
The Joker is another popular symbol that has always found its way onto slot machines. It was originally designed for the card game Euchre, which was invented around the mid-1700s and became really popular in North America in the 19th century. In Euchre, it represents the most powerful card in the deck and for slots like Pragmatic Play’s 6 Jokers, it’s typically used as a prominent wild symbol.
Lucky 7
The number seven has always been associated with good luck, and it’s something that a lot of people from many different cultures can relate to. Lucky 7’s (777) are one of the most immediately recognisable symbols on slot machines and usually tied to one of the highest payouts. Because of its relationship with good financial fortune, trying to hit three or more of them on a payline, naturally makes sense. A great example of this is the 9 Bells slot from Wazdan, which leans heavily on the symbol.
Fruit Symbols
Cherries, watermelons, oranges and lemons are just some of the fruit symbols that you naturally expect to see on slot machines. The origins behind fruit appearing on “fruit machines” are fascinating.
Gambling has faced a lot of restrictions throughout its history. A creative way that the Industry Novelty Company got around them was by calling their machines chewing gum dispensers, and some machines actually gave out gum as prizes. In keeping with the theme, fruit symbols representing different gum flavours were therefore used.
Fruit symbols are still heavily used today, from more classic-style machines such as Playson’s 3 Fruits Win to Super Hot Fruits Slot from Impaired. Even video slots like Fruity Treats from Pragmatic Play that have modern gaming features like cascading reels and big multipliers still use fruit symbols.
Playing Cards
Symbols related to playing cards like the Ace, King and other picture cards just naturally tie into the overall casino theme. Card games like blackjack, baccarat and poker are big staples of casino play and, likely, the symbols from those were just eased over to slots to add familiarity.
Symbols like A’s, Q’s and 9’s are very familiar but are often used as just fillers for the game and it’s extremely rare to see them provide any kind of substantial payout. It’s a popular and expected theme, which gets used over and over again, like on Big Bass Vegas Double Down Deluxe Slot from Pragmatic Play.
Bars
The Bar symbol is tied in with the development of the fruit symbols on slots. Because of the “chewing gum dispenser” phase, the Mills Novelty Company actually added pictures of gum packets on their slots, while it’s also believed that the symbol looked like the company’s logo.
Over time, these familiar motifs were gradually stylised differently by makers of machines that weren’t pushing gum products. The packets of gum simply mutated into the common Bar symbol we know today on classic fruit machines.
A touted explanation as to why the symbol is called “Bar”, is that some machines would reportedly produce a coupon as a payout. That coupon then could be used in lieu of payment at the bar to get a drink.
Fantastic History
The industry has come a long way since that first Liberty Bell machine, which sparked such a gambling craze that has taken plenty of twists and turns along the way. For anyone who loves playing the slots, there is some great history behind a lot of what we see today at online casinos. All of it, in some way, has had a lasting impact on the playing experiences that are found at modern online casinos.