Popularity Liberty Bell Slot Machine memorial, San Francisco The payouts for the Liberty Bell were as follows: Three Liberty Bells offered the largest payout of fifty cents (10 nickels), which was ejected by the machine. If the same symbol appeared on all three reels a bell would ring and the player would be awarded with coins. Once the player deposited a nickel, he could pull the lever on the side of the machine and the reels would begin to spin, stopping on any random combination of symbols.
How it worked Įach of Liberty Bell's three reels were imprinted with a symbol of a diamond, heart, spade, horseshoe, star and a cracked Liberty Bell.
An original Liberty Bell slot machine is currently on display at the Liberty Belle saloon in Reno, Nevada as a historic artifact. Created in 1894 by Charles Fey (1862–1944), a car mechanic from San Francisco, the Liberty Bell's popularity set the standard for the modern slot machine its three-reel model is still used today despite great advances in slot technology over the past several decades. The Liberty Bell was the first variation of the modern mechanical slot machine we see today, originally being referred to as a 'fruit machine' or 'one-armed bandit'.