The first pokies were invented in the 19th century. They successfully existed until the beginning of the XXI century (until about 2005). Their scrapping was not caused by a sudden loss of popularity, but by legislative prohibitions. The government of the Russian Federation actually put an end to this kind of activity, establishing a requirement for the size of the prize fund, which was supposed to be 90% of all accepted money. This became unprofitable for the owners of this business, and they began to massively abandon this venture. Nowadays a really large percentage of people prefer virtual gambling and choose no id verification casinos and lounges with other favorable conditions.
However, mechanical pokies are still found in museums, whose exhibits tell about the history of the gaming theme. In addition, such machines have become an adornment of some gambling houses. Sometimes you can even stumble upon the earliest models equipped with levers. However, on many machines the lever remained only as a tribute to tradition.
Despite the seeming simplicity and lack of electronic elements, mechanical pokies have served their owners for a long time. This is due to the fact that they have many advantages, for example, over the same pokies and pokie machine emulators.
Special highlight:
- The ability of a mechanical machine to change pay tables and symbols. That is, the pictures were simply glued together, which made it possible to provide a variety of games. At the same time, the very essence of the game did not change at all.
- All visitors to the gaming hall saw how the reels in the pokie machine were constantly spinning at rest, thus demonstrating the essence of the game. It was a kind of marketing ploy to attract potential punters.
- Adjustable mechanical forces on the levers or trigger buttons of the machine guns ensured the cutting off of underage punters. Modern software, such as products from Microgaming (official website – https://microgaming.co.uk/) reminiscent of them very remotely.
People were constantly looking for new ways to cheat machines. Sometimes they succeeded due to some shortcomings, for example:
- The machines were sensitive to mechanical stress. Disgruntled punters would often kick the machine, believing they were cheated. This led to the fact that the mechanism for issuing money was triggered.
- The size of the machine was greatly increased due to the peculiarities of the device for accepting money. For example, now to play for money, the money itself is not always necessary. As players can get very good offers – for example using national casino bonus codes (about them in detail here – https://www.onlinecasinotips.info/national-casino-review-bonus-codes-and-no-deposit-bonuses/).
- The ease of changing images sometimes played a cruel joke with the owners of the pokie, because the frequent change of images made some visitors think about the fairness of the game.
Nevertheless, the very idea of creating pokies was unique and ingenious. This is what allowed this class of machines to exist for such a long time.