When conjuring up images of classic real money slot machines, certain iconic symbols come to mind. At the top of the list is the number 7 along with cherries as the preferred winning fruit for slot machines. Another highly popular slot machine symbol is the use of the word BAR. Sometimes it is presented as a stand-alone symbol. In other classic applications, it was used as a backdrop for other symbols. Either way, this symbol has come to define slot machines from their early origins. The BAR symbol is also recognized as a keep component for numerous winning spins in today’s real money slots.
What Is The Significance of Slot Machine BAR Symbols?
Now, let’s delve a bit deeper into this subject to provide the true origins of the slot machine symbol BAR. The bar reel symbol, as it is commonly referred to, can be traced back to the early 1900s. This is when the first fruit symbols were used in slot machine designs. Also, check out different games.
The Industry Novelty Company was one of the first companies in the country manufacturing slot machines at that time. Another company was based out of Chicago and owned by Herbert Stephen Mills. His Mills Novelty Company was the first to add a photograph of a chewing gum pack to the reel along with fruit. Not much longer, the chewing gum’s rectangular shape was simply replaced with the symbol of a rectangular bar.
In a related development, San Francisco’s Charles Augustus Fey was also in the slot machine industry. He eventually became known as the “Father of Slots” after building his first coin-operated machine, the Liberty Bell back in 1887.
The Liberty Bell Has BAR Symbols
There are varying theories of how Mills was able to acquire a Liberty Bell machine Liberty Bell machine since they were not available for resale. None the less, he developed his own version known as Mills Liberty Bell or Operator Bell.
There is also reason to believe that the bar symbol could be traced back to the Bell-Gum Fruit. This theory arose given the rectangular shape of that company’s logo and its overall likeness to the original bar reel symbol. The post also adds that the Industry Novelty Company first built its Bell Fruit Gum slot machines in 1907. Mills Novelty Company came out with its version of the Bell-Fruit Gum slots three years later.
The Mills Novelty companies was also noted in history for offering a jackpot. In 2016, the company created a slot machine that would empty its entire content of coins for a specific combination on the reels. The company was also known for manufacturing slot machines with wooden cabinets. The older designs were built with cast iron as the primary construction material.
These early machines all had one thing in common; fruit and bar symbols. Other fruits used at that time included melons, oranges, and apples. To avoid any legal issues, the payout on the Bell-Fruit Gum slots were actual packs of gum. The cherry and bar symbol to this day are associated with the real money slots that can still be found in many land-based gambling casinos.
