Introduction to Why Slot Machines Say Bar
Aug 24, 2019 - Cats, Hats & Bats is a real money slot machine that is all about Halloween fun. It includes a free spins game, wilds, and even progressive jackpots. A slot machine informally known as fruit machine or puggy or slots or poker machine is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed. Slot machines are also known as one-armed bandits because they were originally operated by one lever on the side of the machine as distinct from a button on the front pane.
Why do slot machines say bar on their reels? Well, to understand why this tradition came to be, we’ll have to delve into slot machine history. First of all, these gambling devices weren’t always called slot machines. Slot machines were originally referred to as a one-armed bandit, then later in Great Britain as a fruit machine.
A slot machine gambling device is activated by pulling a handle or pushing a button. This can only be done after coins, tokens, cash, or casino credits has been entered. Consequently, reels with symbols begin to spin. When done spinning, the symbols shown lined up along pay lines are used to determine the payout, if any.
Reel symbols are often traditional, including stars, bars, numbers, and various pictured fruits. Fruits can include cherries, plums, oranges, lemons, and watermelons. The number seven is also very popular. And, finally, then there are bar reel symbols.
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Bar Reel Symbols
Fruit reel symbols were first used in slot machine by the Industry Novelty Company in 1909. This was quickly followed the next year by Mills Novelty Company of Chicago, recently inherited by Herbert Stephen Mills. But, with a slight addition.
Mills added the photograph of a chewing gum pack along with the fruit reel symbols. Soon after, these photographs of a chewing gum pack were replaced with a stylized bar symbol.
Slot machines have a very rich history. Within gaming device circles of the time, it was well known that Charles Augustus Fey of San Francisco refused to sell or lease the design of his first coin-operated slot machine, the Liberty Bell, which he invented around 1887.
So, how did Mills get the design from Fey? There are two theories. First, that Fey cooperated with Mills to spread the use of slot machines. After all, Fey is known as the “Father of Slots” both for his invention of the coin-operated device as well as popularizing its use.
The second theory is Mills somehow “obtained” a Liberty Bell as a result of a San Francisco saloon robbery in 1905. Less than a year later, Mills produced a new version of the Liberty Bell called either the Mills Liberty Bell or Operator Bell.
During my review of the history of early slot machines, there are also suggestions the bar symbol may have another origin story. It is generally accepted that the bar symbol is a stylized image of a chewing gum pack, as well as a company logo.
According to some historical sources, however, the company having that logo may have been the Bell-Gum Fruit company.
A Bit More History
As mentioned, slot machines have a very rich history, especially in their early days. Besides Why Do Slot Machines Say Bar, there are a few other interesting historical items of interest.
In 1916, another historic slot machine innovation created by the Mills Novelty Company was the jackpot. When a specific combination of reel symbols resulted from a bet, the slot machine would empty its coin hopper of all coins as a prize.
The Mills Novelty would later go on to produce slot machines with wooden cabinets, rather than the original cast iron construction materials.
Photos of early slot machines are online at Cyprus Casino Consultant, Casino Observer, the International Arcade Museum, and elsewhere. I especially enjoy photos of antique slot machines in my copy of Slot Machines: A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years by Marshall Fey, grandson of “the Father of Slot Machines” Charles Fey.
The Cyprus Casino Consultant website shows 4 slot machines on a waist-high counter top. They appear to have wood cabinets and are each perhaps 30 inches high by 18 inches wide. In metric, that’s about 76 centimeters by 46 centimeters.
Each slot machine is of the one-armed bandit variety, meaning they appear to are activated by first inserting a coin and then pulling a large lever on the right side of the machine. Each of these models appears to accept coins at the top, as well as dispense coins for winners at the bottom.
The Casino Observer website also shows 4 slot machines. Two of these machines are some of the first slot machines, from about 1890, while two others are more modern, ~1940s. The two older slot machines receive coins, but only the poker machine appears to not be able to dispense coins. This poker machine has typical card suits as reel symbols and a cast metal-type cabinet.
It appears to be missing its one-armed bandit lever, perhaps due to damage, or it never had a lever. One older slot machine with coin dispenser capability is clearly identified as a “Liberty Bell”. It rests on cast feet located on each corner. The reel symbols show three Liberty Bells, but its “pay table” shows card suits – not fruit or bars.
The International Arcade Museum website shows a single slot machine. It’s a very old slot machine showing the symbol of the Liberty Bell on its front next to three reels showing Liberty Bell, bar, and fruit reel symbols.
This is probably a “Liberty Bell” by Charles Fey, but must be a slightly later version due to it having obvious fruit and bar reel symbols. It also has a cast metal-type cabinet and the distinctive “feet” of a Liberty Bell. It also has a small tray for coins, suggesting it has automatic payouts.
Charles Fey manufactured about 100 Liberty Bell slot machines for distribution in and around San Francisco. However, there are few of them remaining in existence. The scarcity of Fey’s Liberty Bell is a direct result of a natural disaster occurring shortly after their manufacture: the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.
Summary of Why Slot Machines Say Bar
Starting in 1907, Bell Fruit Gum slot machines were manufactured by Industry Novelty Co. They were followed by the Mills Novelty Company in 1910.
The reels on these slot machines included cherry, melon, orange, apple, and bar symbols with non-cash payouts in the form of fruit-flavored gum, allowing machine owners to avoid prosecution under the anti-gambling laws of that time.
The cherry and bar symbols became traditional to slot machines, and are still commonly used today. The bar symbol was a company logo, originally a photo of a chewing gum pack before being stylized as a bar.
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By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
Batman is one of the most prominent fictional superheroes in comic book history. The billionaire superhero is property of DC Comics with whom Playtech makes a deal to translate their most famous works into slot games. Considering the popularity of this character, it was only right for the software developer to provide a Batman slot machine inspired by him. Playtech did get around to doing it and released the game in January of 2018.
Taking place in the city of Gotham, this slot, based on the comic DC book rather than the Batman film, is a Playtech’s creation of 50 paying lines and 5 reels. At the time the slot was made, Playtech worked with NextGen group which is why players can see their logo together with the NYX one at the start of the game. However, in 2012, CL became a part of WagerLogic.
Though Batman slot is based on the comics, being familiar with the new Bat movies is also enough for recognizing all the machine’s elements. Here, you’ll find the notorious villain, Joker, policeman Gordon, and the superhero Batman along with his Batmobile. The machine is full of special effects, sounds, animations, and moving symbols that make it look more than a slot especially when you are playing the featured bonus game. Moreover, when activating the “Bonus Bet”, all the Gotham’s lights turn, on and the whole atmosphere changes.
Basic Info about the Slot
- All wins are counted from left to right in a consecutive row on the 5 reels.
- Return-To-Player is 95.2%.
- Min coin size is 0.01, and the max is 2.00, leading to the max total bet of 100.00 (50 lines x 2.00).
- Users can check the arrangement of paying lines at the last page of the “Info” filter.
- AutoPlay is available for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 or 100 automatically turned reels.
- Not all the bonus features can be used in a regular round. For this, you need to activate the “Bonus Bet” button.
- The highest paying (regular) icon is the Joker one – 5 of them on a winning line will result in a 2000 coin price.
Game Design
Batman slot machine by Playtech is inspired by the film Batman Begins. The slot is also labelled as so to avoid confusion with slots based on the same superhero released by other game developers. Free Batman slot machine lets gamblers accompany Bruce Wayne on his hunt for bad guys on five reels and twenty bet lines. The game is set on the snowy foot of grey mountains that flank each side of the screen. The grey tone of Batman slots matches the dated nature of the film that inspires its creation. The music in the background is soft but hits powerful notes to coincide with the game appearance.
Bonus Features
This game boasts with its bonuses; the only additions it misses are multiplier symbols and regular free spins:
- Wild: The main slot’s feature, Batman, is a wild. It acts as a substitute symbol but can also act as a stacked wild that stays held throughout the re-spin;
- Bonus Bet: This feature is activated by clicking on the same-called button. Now, the gameplay changes a bit – when the bet is on, up to 20 extra coins are added to your total stake. Moreover, the 2 bonus features, “Descent into Madness”, as well as the additional Batman symbol on the 2nd 3rd and 4th reel, are triggered only when the button is active. You can turn it on and off at any time during the play;
- Re-Spin: The feature is triggered only if the policeman Gordon is found on the reel number one and the Batman’s Signal on the reel number five, and vice versa. This is when the stacked Batman wild shows up, and all the winnings are doubled. Re-spins can be triggered again during the play;
- Descent into Madness: This round is shown in a new screen and is activated when the scatter symbol appears on the first, second and third reel. The gameplay is simple; by using the Batman Boomerang, players will try to defeat the hostile forces of Arkham, and if they do so, a chance to take down the Joker will appear, which can result in a big cashout;
- Gamble Option: Here, you can gamble not only by guessing the colors of cards but their signs too. If you are right about the card’s color, the winnings you gambled will be doubled. However, if you guess the sign, which is riskier, the winning amount will be quadrupled. Don’t forget that the chances to win, as well as to lose it all, are the same.
Values of Symbols
The two different-colored Batman’s icons that stand for “bonus” and “scatter” bring the win of 5000 coins (plus the bonus features) if 5 are landed when the stake is set on max. Those two symbols, along with the Joker, Gordon and Bat motorcycle or car, bring the price even if only the same two are landed, while the pistol, Bat signal, flower and Joker’s card need to be hit at least three times on the reels in order to give benefit.
When playing free Batman slots, punters can land winnings at random after any spin.
The twenty paylines featured in Batman slots are activated when symbols of a kind appear on them. The awarded value differs depending on the type of combination that is created, and they are as so for each one:
| Character | Winnings for Three | For Four | For Five |
| 9 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
| 10 | 5 | 15 | 30 |
| J | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| Q | 10 | 25 | 50 |
| K | 15 | 30 | 60 |
| A | 15 | 40 | 70 |
| Bruce Wayne | 30 | 60 | 200 |
| Commissioner Gordon | 30 | 70 | 250 |
| Scarecrow | 40 | 80 | 300 |
| Dr Jonathan Crane | 40 | 100 | 500 |
| Ra’s al Ghul | 50 | 200 | 700 |
| Batman | 75 | 500 | 1000 |
The values from the paytable are then multiplied by the line bet
Gameplay Procedure
Playing Batman Slots is nothing complicated, with only two steps being required. The first step is choosing a wager, which can be anywhere from 0.01 to ten credits. Since the twenty bet lines cannot be adjusted, the Batman slot machine allows stakes between 0.20 and 200 credits. The spin and autoplay buttons are placed to the right of the UI bar.
Who Can Play Playtech’s Batman?
Batman online slot is provided in the free demo version at Slotozilla gambling site. Here, players can access a range of other slots, including free Buffalo slot machines and their reviews.
Anyone can play it for free and without the limitations such as the need for registration, wagering or checking your country’s restrictions. The “Free Slots” app is supplied for mobile consoles and can be downloaded with the help of Flash Player from the Play Store on any Android, Blackberry, and iPhone.
On the other hand, playing for real money requires signing up by using a genuine personal data, as well as being eligible to play within your borders. This way, all the coins/credits will stand for a real cash amount which means that you need to gamble wisely by, for example, setting a daily or weekly limit that you are allowed to spend on betting.
Bat Splat Slot Machine Casino Game
Mobile Compatibility
Batman Slot’s mobile version is available to users of popular operating systems including iOS, Windows, and Android. No app or flash player is necessary for the no downloads slots to run as it is supported on web browsers.
Bottom Line
Batman Slots Free
Batman slot machine by Playtech is not the only one of its kind online, but it is among those that have captured the film as a slot the best. The transportation through different destinations as gameplay continues is a smart addition to an already powerful free online slot games. The four progressive jackpots of the Batman slot machine add a nice touch for real money players to look forward to.
FAQ
📌 Can I win real money in Batman online slot?
Yes, you can. Real money wins are awarded in the Batman slots when the same is used to place bets. The cash variation of the game is only available to gamblers in Playtech online casinos. The higher risk of real money bets is accompanied by not only payouts that can be withdrawn but also the chance at one of four progressive jackpots included in the game.
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📌 Is Batman slot machine available to play on mobile gadgets?
Yes, it is. Batman mobile slot is similar to the desktop version beginning with its availability in instant play mode. The Batman slot machine is available on a wide range of operating systems since it does not require the use of a flash player.
📌 Does Batman slot game feature a progressive jackpot?
Yes, it does. Playtech is one of the most prominent providers of pooled jackpot prizes, which makes it no surprise that Batman Slots would be on the list. Instead of having just one progressive jackpot, Batman slot machine spots for of them which are Mini, Minor, Major, and Grand. The payouts in the progressive jackpots are only available to gamblers who use real money to launch Batman Slot’s gameplay.