History of Slot Symbols

Some great man once said that to understand the present, you have to know about the past as well. This is more than true even here.

Many of us might not know this, but a lot of the symbols seen in today’s slot machines have actually been found in slots since the beginning of this very industry. It has been well documented that the very first one-armed bandits appeared at the end of 19th century already. Some of these slot machines had symbols such as poker cards, horseshoes, diamonds, spades, hearts and bells – all of which can be found in today’s games as well. It’s not easy to say whether online game providers are using these symbols as a homage to these old machines or if they only want people to feel at home while playing.

Low-paying Symbols

It is funny how often you will run into games that use card-game symbols as low-paying symbols. These would include 10, J, Q, K and perhaps even A. These are of course the highest numbers in a deck of cards, yet they oftentimes only give you the smallest wins available in any given slot machine.

One of the reasons that you see these symbols so often might be that it’s a lot easier to get into a new game if you’re not feeling like a total newbie while playing it. The attention span of modern people has been reduced to mere seconds. Not many of us are willing to spend pound after pound on a game that doesn’t look like much to begin with. We want to at least understand the rules before we are ready to invest our hard-earned cash. Thus, a few familiar low-paying symbols can go a long way in telling us what we want to see and what we don’t want to see.

When you see that the game is going to give you 3 of a kind with plain jacks, you instantly know that it’s probably not going to be a huge win. This helps you in adjusting your expectations and shields you from becoming disappointed. The same can be said if you actually manage to get a lot of card symbols on your screen right out of the gate. Feelings of disappointment can go a long way in making the player not want to give the slot any more chances.

High-paying Symbols

Like with low-paying symbols, there are some symbols in video slots that you just know are going to be giving you a lot of money. Symbols such as lucky 7’s, diamonds, bars and even bells are often high-paying symbols and can therefore net you plenty of them pounds. Heck, we have never seen a game where diamonds were a low-paying symbol! When you think about it, it does not even make sense to have something so valuable be just another throw-away symbol.

Scatter symbols

Scatter symbols are basically your way to bigger winnings. These symbols often become the most sought-after thing that a slot machine can have, as without these symbols, you cannot really access the most refined and fun parts of most slots. Normally, you have to spin 3 to 5 scatters into place in order to access the game’s bonus features. Most slots only require you to have these symbols anywhere on your screen—they do not have to be part of a single active pay-line. Most of the time you will know that you’re going to win big when you get three scatters on your screen, but sometimes you might still get the short end of the stick and end up winning less than you wanted to. It’s like getting your shot at the Superbowl—you have a chance to win or you might as well end up going home feeling sorry that you didn’t.

Wilds

The last symbol type that we want to cover here is the wilds. In most online casino slots, you can easily spot a wild a mile away because it actually reads on the symbol. However, we have also seen plenty of games that do not have the word wild appear there explicitly. 9 times out of 10 the wild will then be the symbol with the game’s name plastered there. This makes sense, since you do have to make the game’s title be worth a lot. Otherwise it would be like telling your players that your game isn’t that special.

Thanks to so many games adhering to these few basic rules, it really makes our job as players easier. We are allowed to just expect things instead of having to make too many wild guesses!